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income inequality debate

It's interesting to look at Houston, with no zoning, that just sprawls for days. Not that cities with zoning don't have that, but it's an interesting case study re: zoning.
 
Agree with article. Government regs always make it harder on the small guy or entrepreneur.

Need more libertarians to grow economy. Bootstrapping beats handouts any day.
 
knowell said:
Agree with article. Government regs always make it harder on the small guy or entrepreneur.

Need more libertarians to grow economy. Bootstrapping beats handouts any day.
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All regulations are not the same and all businesses are not the same. Regulations as pertaining to labor laws are not the same as zoning restrictions.
 
"There was a time when I would talk about a difference between 'makers' and 'takers' in our country, referring to people who accepted government benefits. But as I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong. 'Takers' wasn’t how to refer to a single mom stuck in a poverty trap, just trying to take care of her family. Most people don't want to be dependent. And to label a whole group of Americans that way was wrong. I shouldn’t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point.

"So I stopped thinking about it that way—and talking about it that way. But I didn’t come out and say all this to be politically correct. I was just wrong."
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http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/full-text-speaker-ryan-state-american-politics
 
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What happened in 1980?

Oh yeah. Mexicans and radical Muslim extremists.
 
It's the same increase or more under Clinton. Less under W with respect to productivity.
 
The 100 largest CEO retirement accounts contain more assets than the combined retirement accounts of 50 million American families (41% of the American population). http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/ceos-savings-more-than-41-percent-americans-combined/476124/

The CEO with the largest nest egg on the report’s list was David C. Novak, the former chief of Yum Brands (which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), and now its executive chairman. At last count, Novak had nearly $250 million in his retirement account, according to the report, which got its data on CEOs from companies’ SEC filings.

For the purposes of comparison, the average Yum employee had about $70,000 in his or her 401(k). That means the Novak’s retirement savings are more than 3,330 times the size of the typical Yum employee’s, which makes the ratio of average CEO pay to average worker pay—300:1—look relatively small.
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The demolition of American antitrust enforcement has been getting more and more attention lately. The Economist did a good piece on monopoly power and its impact on the American economy a few weeks ago. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21695385-profits-are-too-high-america-needs-giant-dose-competition-too-much-good-thing

This Atlantic article is overlong and suffers from under-editing, but nonetheless is a good read. It focuses particularly on St. Louis, and how corporate consolidation and the growth of monopolies have kneecapped St. Louis by sucking many of its corporate headquarters to bigger cities and shuttering many of its locally owned businesses. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/04/how-americas-coastal-cities-left-the-heartland-behind/478296/?utm_source=SFFB

Bottom line: in the "good old days", America actually had a functioning antitrust system that protected smaller companies and smaller cities. Capitalism is great but it has flaws, and one of the flaws is that each individual participant wants to get as close to 100% market share as possible. Then that participant essentially becomes a rentier, with no motivation to invest or innovate. Government intervention is sometimes necessary to protect a capitalist economy from some of the flaws inherent in the system.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
So?
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I don't think most people would consider a job that pays $50k with employer paid health care and profit sharing as a public assistance level wage but it could be included if they are looking at eitc recipients.
Eitc the way it is calculated is not a good gauge in this regard.
 
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