anthroguy wrote:Phatscotty wrote:anthroguy wrote:Scotty, your criticism of my understanding of socialism is compelling (though socialism can exist at the city level as well). From my perspective, one of the main reasons (though not the only reason) that modern governments in industrialized nations exist is to protect people from rampant power. In developed countries like the U.S., a lot of that protection means protection from corporations that are by their very nature driven by greed.
I wouldn't and didn't say that everyone has a fighting chance. That is something that many of us like to believe, but in reality it isn't true. The wealth gap is widening at a startling rate and that, to me, is an indication that people in fact have even less of a fighting change than they used to. Sure, there are people who overcome seemingly insurmountable odds, but the fact that there is a whole section of the movie industry devoted to telling their story should make it clear how rare those individuals are; that's exactly why those movies are "inspiring." Meanwhile, there are tens of thousands of similar people who try just as hard but never make it because that is how this system works.
I've had this argument too many times to have it again. The income gap is always gong to widen. The people with the most money are pretty smart when it comes to money and even smarter about keeping it. However the income gap gas nothing to do with the poorest person being able to stand out and work hard and eventually set up a pretty good life for him/herself, if not their children. Oops, is that too priviledged?
toungue in cheek
I don't think it's as black and white as either allowing parents to provide for their children or not allowing them to. Few would deny parents that right.
The fact the income gap is actually not rising in some industrialized nations (e.g., in the United Kingdom, I believe) disproves the idea that it must always grow. That's a fairly bleak outlook on the world, in fact, because a widening income gap translates as increasing poverty for ever vaster portions of the majority.
The Income gap will always be large and usually grow
wherever freedom exists. period. Of course, the fact about the lowest percentage of the income gap in the USA in fact do live a
far higher standard of living than most other countries.
The plain on which the income gap scale exists in the USA is a at much higher dimension than almost if not all other countries in the world. This is not bragging, it's a fair counterpoint.
And as for your specific example (I will thank you for that rarity
) of Britain, I am going to have to introduce the reality that Britain pays a higher percentage of their GDP to service their entitlements and debts than EVERY other country in the world.
