Tag Archives: Distribution of wealth

January 12, 2012 · 11:48 AM

Mitt Romney’s Idiot Quote of the Day

 

Mario Piperni

Romney was asked whether questions dealing with distribution of wealth and power were a matter of jealousy or fairness.

You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on 99 percent versus one percent, and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent, you have opened up a wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. The American people, I believe in the final analysis, will reject it.

And asked if there is any legitimate question one can ask concerning the discrepancy of wealth in America, SilverSpoon had this to say…

I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like.

Of course. If there’s no real problem with wealth distribution, then there’s no point in discussing it out in the open, right?  Better to relegate talk of that sort to the back rooms where important rich folk can discuss such matters in private.  After all, no point in getting the masses riled up with nonsensical talk which does little more than confuse and anger them.  Better to let the little people believe that any talk dealing with the increasing divide between the haves and have-nots is simply one of envy and class warfare.

Nothing there, people.  Move along.

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September 24, 2010 · 8:50 AM

Americans Vastly Underestimate Wealth Inequality, Support ‘More Equal Distribution Of Wealth’: Study

For decades, the wealthy have grown richer while the middle class shrink and poverty increases exponentially.  Most Americans are clueless regarding wealth inequality in this nation.  FDR fought off the bankers and corporatist in the 30′s.  Yet today, they thrive more than ever, leaving many of us a paycheck away from destitution…

Huffington Post

Americans vastly underestimate the degree of wealth inequality in America, and we believe that the distribution should be far more equitable than it actually is, according to a new study.

Or, as the study’s authors put it: “All demographic groups — even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy — desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo.”

The report (pdf) ”Building a Better America — One Wealth Quintile At A Time” by Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School (hat tip to Paul Kedrosky), shows that across ideological, economic and gender groups, Americans thought the richest 20 percent of our society controlled about 59 percent of the wealth, while the real number is closer to 84 percent.

More interesting than that, the report says, is that the respondents (a randomly selected 5,522-person sample, reflecting the country’s ideological, economic and gender demographics, surveyed in December 2005) believed the top 20 percent should own only 32 percent of the wealth. Respondents with incomes over $100,000 per year had similar answers to those making less than $50,000. (The report has helpful, multi-colored charts.)

The respondents were presented with unlabeled pie charts representing the wealth distributions of the U.S., where the richest 20 percent controlled about 84 percent of wealth, and Sweden, where the top 20 percent only controlled 36 percent of wealth. Without knowing which country they were picking, 92 percent of respondents said they’d rather live in a country with Sweden’s wealth distribution.

As the new Forbes billionaires list, released Wednesday, testifies, the richest Americans are getting richer, even as the country as a whole gets poorer. After 2005 income inequality continued to balloon.

See report here…http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=55202482

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