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"Disparities" in Income & Wealth - Sowell

Texan

Well-known member
December 29, 2006
"Disparities" in Income & Wealth
By Thomas Sowell


People in the media, in academia and among the intelligentsia in general who are obsessed with "disparities" in income and wealth usually show not the slightest interest in how that income and wealth were produced in the first place.

They are hot to redistribute the existing income and wealth but seem wholly unaware that how you do that today can affect how much income and wealth will be produced tomorrow. Any number of schemes for redistributing wealth have ended up redistributing poverty in a number of countries.

"Progressives" in the media and among academics and intellectuals claim to be interested in ending poverty but the production of more output is the only way to end poverty for millions of people.

It not only can be done, it has already been done in many countries, for all countries were once very poor by today's standards. But most self-styled "progressives" show virtually zero interest in economic history or in economics in general.

Even in the United States, most people did not have a telephone or a refrigerator as late as 1930. Today, most Americans living below the official poverty level have not only these things but also color television, air-conditioning, a microwave oven and a motor vehicle.

How did this happen? The progressive intelligentsia show no interest in that question.

Even such historically poverty-stricken countries as India and China, repeatedly struck by massive famines, have within the past two decades adopted changed economic policies that have raised vast numbers of people out of desperate poverty.

An estimated 20 million people in India rose out of destitution in just one decade and more than a million Chinese per month have risen out of poverty. But have you heard any progressive intellectuals explaining how such a dramatic change for the better came about?

Progressives are in the business of complaining and denouncing -- as a prelude to seeking sweeping powers to control other people's lives, in the name of curing the ills of society.

The last thing they want is to discover and discuss how millions of people rose out of poverty by entirely different methods, often by freeing economies from the control of people with sweeping power over other people's lives.

Poverty and economic disparities are the raw materials from which the political left manufactures a sense of moral superiority, self-importance and political power.

Against that background, it is understandable how they strive to keep poverty alive as an issue, even as they claim to want to end poverty, by playing lady bountiful to the poor.

Even as they define deviancy downward, many of the progressive intelligentsia define poverty upward, so that people with amenities that even the middle class could only strive for, two generations ago, are still called "the poor" or the "have-nots."

Except for people who can't work or won't work, there is very little real poverty in the United States today, except among people who come from poverty-stricken countries and bring their poverty with them.

Talk about "the working poor" still resonates in politics, but most of the people in the bottom 20 percent of American households are not working full-time and year-round. There are more heads of household who work year-round and full-time among the top 5 percent of American heads of households than among the bottom 20 percent.

The left has striven mightily to make working no longer necessary for having a claim to a share of what others have produced -- whether a share of "the nation's" wealth or "the world's" wealth.

They have also striven mightily to inflate the number of people who look poor by counting young people with entry-level jobs, who are passing through lower income brackets at the beginning of their careers, among "the poor," even though most of these young people have incomes above the national average when they are older.

The real obsession of the left is in gaining power or, at the very least, engaging in moral exhibitionism.

Copyright 2006 Creators Syndicate
 

sw

Well-known member
HOW much you want to bet that the intelluectual, most highly educated people on this forum, that know so much more than you and I will totally ignore this, will pass this over and go on to another thread where they can bash Bush, bitch about the war (which is not a war, it is an invasion, of an entirely pure Muslim nation) and go on furthering their agenda. Kiss mine. I will bet that I spent more time in the hallowed halls of academia than most of these enlightened people, I just chose to ignore the propoganda and the further "enlightening" of myself. If you ask my opinion, the more degrees, the more liberal, the more disdaining, the more self serving, the better than anyone else. Does this remind any one of you about a poster or two on this forum? I can think of at least a couple but my moral attitude does not let me name names.
 

memanpa

Well-known member
sw said:
HOW much you want to bet that the intelluectual, most highly educated people on this forum, that know so much more than you and I will totally ignore this, will pass this over and go on to another thread where they can bash Bush, bitch about the war (which is not a war, it is an invasion, of an entirely pure Muslim nation) and go on furthering their agenda. Kiss mine. I will bet that I spent more time in the hallowed halls of academia than most of these enlightened people, I just chose to ignore the propoganda and the further "enlightening" of myself. If you ask my opinion, the more degrees, the more liberal, the more disdaining, the more self serving, the better than anyone else. Does this remind any one of you about a poster or two on this forum? I can think of at least a couple but my moral attitude does not let me name names.

do you mean those that fly by private jets as opposed to commercial flights because she is just to busy to drive to an aiport?
as well as those that have studied in foregn lands and know all the top professors in the nation? having studied under so many she must be 200 yrs old?
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Oh, R2, sorry that I bother you.
If someone has access to information that I don't and I agree
with what they say, I'm always going to back them up.
I learn a lot from this site.

Gosh, come to think of it, I don't agree much with what you
lecture us on from your elevated stature. As I didn't much care for
you telling us on a RANCHER'S WEBSITE about the vegetarian
meal you fixed for your daughter for Christmas. That's fighting words right there to someone that has been a CattleWoman for over 40 years.
But I let it go...til now that is.
You could fix it, but you didn't need to offend us by telling us.
I certainly didn't need to know.

You know, if you are tired of what you are getting back here, may
I make a suggestion? Perhaps you need to change what you are
giving out.

Quit offending us. You can be here, with
respect for who we are. Just like at a coffee shop in town, a new person
shows up and preaches their views to the locals. Soon they better
learn to join in or shut up, or they aren't welcome at coffee any longer.

I don't think you try very hard to make friends here.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Well, only you would notice I was rah rahing for the guys.
If you really notice, I rah rah for the ladies as well.

I have LOTS of friends who are guys. Maybe if you did,
you wouldn't notice such a minor thing and make a big deal
out of it. I mean real friends, not boy friends, not male companions,
I mean friends as in equals...

I don't need your respect, so don't go there.

Oh boys, you are so cute, strong; YUK. Those are your words not
mine. That type of thing never enters my mind. I respect the
RANCHERS on here for what they do, not because they are cute, strong, etc. I'm very proud of them for being so well spoken. I'm sure it is a shock to you that they are as sharp as they are.

"Cute, strong", WOOO HOOOO; what a mentality for the
opposite sex you have.
 

katrina

Well-known member
I have to agree with fh on this one too.....
Rah, Rah, Reeeeeee, kick em on the knee...
rah, rah, ratssss kick em in the **** I'm mean knee........ :D
 

jigs

Well-known member
I think I want to pop in here and do a little rah rah pom-pom shaking for FH....

so she agrees, does this piss you off so much that you unlesh on her for being supportive?? as for how it makes her look as a woman, I think it looks just fine. she has taken a position and backed up a friend. perhaps you ought to look at how YOU come across as a woman...... it is not much that a man desires....

so you are dating an Irish man, well good for you. nice to know someone will take a guy who wears a skirt. well, you know, other than those guys out in San Francisco.

the way you rip into FH for being supportive makes me wonder what type of person you really are, wasn't it you who went nuts over the tampon thing??? asking for people to respect, then you turn on someone for supporting and agreeing????

on a side note, calling Irelands rise out of poverty as a tribute to the Catholic school system is a bit of a stretch. frankly, with the number of priests getting caught as sexual predators, I would not give the catholic church much credit for anything....
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
"dumber than she is"...oh boy. What a mouthful...you crack me up...

You need to qualify that as IMHO...(in my humble opinion)...
:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :help:

...and there ya go, showing your superior mentality...setting one
or two of us straight again... :roll:
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Cute and Catholic (which Jigs thinks is an abomination but I disagree) :D
???? Me? I'm about as cute as I am catholic I guess. My trouble is I am a Baptist, and an ugly one to boot. :lol:
 

jigs

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Jigs - I forgot to say that if you mock an Irishman for wearing a skirt, you take your life in your own hands. I may get irritated by FH's constant cheerleading and finally say something but ONE remark to an Irishman's face about a skirt and you'll find yourself unconcious with your head split open.

Which is I expect something you would think was admirable in a man.

Once again showing how much you know about other cultures and how little you think before you speak. :D
only difference between a Scot and and Irishman is the type of bottle in front of them as they pass out.

they both could not beat the English......

I respect women who know their place......you don't
 

katrina

Well-known member
Reader2 says,
Again, you know nothing about me or about my marriage or my family life. All you know is that I work outside of the home and have political views. If that is an abomination to you then you truly are not a nice person.

There you go again, telling us how much more superior you are..
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
reader (the Second) said:
Red Robin said:
reader (the Second) said:
Cute and Catholic (which Jigs thinks is an abomination but I disagree) :D
???? Me? I'm about as cute as I am catholic I guess. My trouble is I am a Baptist, and an ugly one to boot. :lol:

I am confused. I thought I said you were a Baptist and you said you were a Catholic. You must have been joking with me.
Other way around. You said you had a neighbor that was a devout catholic and you thought I was catholic. I told you I was a Baptist.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
You also said that conservatives were much more manly , smarter, and just all around better men. You said that if it wasn't for your liberal upbringing and lifestyle, including your education, you'd love to be conservative yourself. You said it seems to you ,our ideas are better and that we have a cohesive line of thought on origins , life , and after life. You also said I was your favorite here on Ranchers. You weren't just saying all that were you R2?
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Geeezzz Louise!!

FH are you so thin skinned that you get into a hissy just because someone tends to have a veg/vegan way of eating? Lady, you need a job is that's all you got to get upset over!!!!

That's just silly!
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
Geeezzz Louise!!

FH are you so thin skinned that you get into a hissy just because someone tends to have a veg/vegan way of eating? Lady, you need a job is that's all you got to get upset over!!!!

That's just silly!

I don't care for vegetarians, either. It's not promoting what our livelihood is based on....raising tasty, wholesome beef.

Libbies tend to be tolerant of everything around them. I have a soapbox and I will continue to stand on it.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

What and how people choose to eat is only their business and they may even have medical reasons why they can't eat beef or beef products. Does that mean that they are also not ' worthy' and make then an instant liberal?


What did a veg/vegan every to do you to make you dislike them so? Do you even know any?
 
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