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Off topic, but we really should subsidize free internet for the poor.
What do you think? We're told it's an epidemic.Is their point that the war on poverty worked?
God forbid that poor people have a FLAT SCREEN TV. They should go out and buy those cheap CRT TVs.
I wasn't really planning to engage the tax question anymore, as it is off topic in this thread, but I like stats. $223,000 (a "middle class income" according to the post) puts a family in the top 8% of American households. http://www.whatsmypercent.com/
If you run that AFTER TAX number on a worldwide basis, that family is in the top 0.2% of all humans on the planet, and has income 60.4 times the global average. http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/how-rich-am-i. And before you ask, that number is adjusted for cost of living and weighted for household composition.
So, cry me a river, you poor, poor $223,000 earner in Chapel Hill.
Can you even buy a CRT in a store anymore?
You can't hardly even give away a CRT any more.
Truth. I left a nice one by the curb for three days. Eventually I had to pick it back up and haul it to the recycling place.
To me there is merit in both sides.
Have advances in technology changed poverty and wealth measures in absolute terms? Certainly, and this is a good thing. And some of this is due or accelerated by the same factors that drive wealth concentrations.
Does relative poverty still matter? Yes. For one thing, the relative value of these technological advances has decreased so much that they aren't as worth as much comparative to other wealth. In other words, your snazzy cellphone sold will only keep you in food for a couple of weeks.