More on Income Inequality

In my last post, I discussed income inequality from a historical perspective, or more precisely, from the standpoint that income inequality has always existed, that there is a sweet spot somewhere between too much income in too few hands and the same income (equality of outcomes) for all, and that technology tends to enhance income inequality which does not bode well for the future and its imminent onslaught of medical, robotic, and information advances.

In this post I thought it might be interesting to review the concepts of too much, not enough, and just right as applied to income, spending and possessions.

One of the more insidious aspects of the GOP agenda as it relates to safety nets, is the dual premises that only lazy people need government help, and that "giving" money to the poor creates a dead end cycle of need addressed with hand outs rather than providing the means for self-sufficiency.   This tough love philosophy is reflected in the spate of mandatory drug testing and work requirements being appended to receiving everything from unemployment to disability to Medicare.  And, of course, it is an easy sell to the hardworking middle class who are presented with stories of welfare recipients eating surf and turf, or purchasing big screen TV's. 

Is there welfare fraud?  Are there people taking government checks who could and should be working?  Undoubtedly.   Depending on which source you believe, somewhere between 8-15% of government assistance is received in bad faith.  Is that percentage any higher than fraud that takes place in the private sector, among people with incomes far higher than those perpetrating fraud which takes our tax dollars?  From defense contractors overcharging for military funding to doctors and hospitals bilking Medicare and Medicaid to the everyday bribes and slush funds that are used to alter zoning regulations in the construction industry or OSHA regulations in the work place, fraud goes part and parcel with a money driven society. 

The fact that fraud exists at all levels of business, does not justify a poor person from taking welfare when they can work, or an unemployed person receiving unemployment monies while working under the table.  It is one thing to wish to reduce the tax money spent on fraudulent activities, but quite another to pretend that only poor people engage in it.  If we are to conclude that the vast amount of people of means are acquiring their wealth legally, then perhaps we should assign the same attribute to those who seek temporary assistance from the government.  If it is our assertion that rich people have, by and large attained their vast stores of money through immoral and illegal means, that in fact, all people are prone to do so, then shouldn't we be focused more on the billionaires than those receiving $6,000 a year in welfare payments?

But I digress.

When is too much, too much, and not enough actually not enough, and how much is just right?  And how are these amounts relative?

I have maintained that salaries should be capped, just as there should be minimums.  While I have never earned tens of millions of dollars in a year, I would like to believe I could struggle by if I earned only $20 million as opposed to $25 million.  Or even $5 million as opposed to $10 million.  Do those who innovate, create businesses from the ground up, imagine the impossible and then achieve it, do they deserve more for their efforts than most?  Surely, but 100 times more?  1000 times?  1 million times?

If we are to agree that all who work should earn a livable wage, even if that job require the most basic of skills, then it seems pretty easy to cap the salaries of those at the top to more evenly distribute to those in the middle and at the bottom.  Same expense, just less extremes at either end.  Would it not reduce the dependence of the working poor for government assistance, thereby reducing taxes for all?

If, accumulating wealth is the only goal, wealth without limits, then is seems pretty hypocritical for the wealthy to grumble about paying taxes when it is their greed that is partly causing the poor to need assistance in the first place. 

Still, there is some responsibility for those living with less income to spend more wisely.  The newest phone is not a necessity,  200+ cable channels are not required to live.  Some things can be fixed, not automatically replaced.   Does one really need 20 pairs of shoes, or 50 sports tee shirts, or 40 pairs of pants?   Is there something inherently wrong with leftovers, or packing a lunch?  Do we need to buy a 35 pack of bottled water every week, or can we drink from the tap, and if not, how about buying a gallon of water at a time and refilling a water bottle everyday? 

And, why isn't recycling, plastic, glass, cardboard, paper, metal, etc, not a daily habit?

There really is no need for poverty or malnutrition in a country where politicians have $10,000 a plate fundraisers merely so they can run for public office.    No need for schools to run out of books or pens when we manufacture and sell a fighter jet for $1 billion.  No need for lead leaching pipes to slowly poison poor inner city children when we have off shore oil rigs and fracking technology that can remove fossil fuels from the depths beneath our feet.

Income inequality has always existed, but it exists because we choose to tolerate it.  We lack the will to place the welfare of those who have less, were born with less, have been victims of unfortunate accidents, or were simply born the wrong gender, or in the wrong country, or to the wrong parents on an equal footing as our own.  We lack the vision to understand that any one of us, at any time, might find themselves in the exact same position as those we demonize as being lazy, or "takers" or without ambition.

Just right?  It will always be relative to the speaker and the listener.  Just right in Hong Kong is much different than just right in Ames, Iowa, or Sri Lanka, or Bolivia.  Just right might be that second house on the Jersey shore, or a yearly trip to Europe, or a roof that only leaks in really hard rains.  Just right might be pizza every other Friday night, or lobster salad at the club, or meat once a week. 

If just right is impossible to define then perhaps the best way to understand it is to imagine too little, then go from there.   

Too little means working as hard as you can and still not having enough to provide food for your children, let alone a better life.  Too little is reading about CEO's, athletes, entertainers, hedge fund managers who make as much money in a month as you will make in your life.  Too little is contributing the best you can within a society that rates those efforts as inconsequential.  Too little is how too many people feel when their money runs out before the end of the month, even though it is through their efforts that so many of the rich have accumulated such wealth.

I have generally not been in favor of one issue voters.  People who decide that as long as the candidate agrees with them on one main point, everything else can be overlooked.  It is hard to imagine this philosophy being displayed more pointedly than the support that President Trump receives from the evangelical community.  

But perhaps it is time for the American electorate to focus on one issue, income inequality, by voting for the least rich of the candidates, demanding that only public funds be used to pay for election campaigns, and by demanding that the vast resources of America be distributed in such a way that we can maintain our democracy, invest in our schools and infrastructure, eliminate the phrase working poor from our vocabulary, and, perhaps, even the more despicable phrase filthy rich, which connotes more the method of acquiring riches than the toilet habits of those described.