Where is wealth inequality going?

[james.hendrickson]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to pipe up here - this question isn't strictly financial per say - it delves into a policy a bit - but I'd love the forum's thoughts on where wealthy inequality in the United States is headed in the next few years.

Will there be a greater or lesser difference between the poor and the rich moving forward?

[97guns]

I believe we will see a greater disparity between the rich and poor with the middle class getting squeezed out of their own class. The mentality of the rich is to get richer and the mentality of the poor is to stay poor, achievement is all in the mindset

[bjl584]

The rich will continue to get richer and the poor will continue to stay poor. The middle class will still run up their credit cards and buy new cars every 3 years.

[corn18]

There is a dichotomy between your title and your hypothesis in that you used two different words: wealth & rich.

Are they the same thing? There are millionaires that make a middle class income. Are they wealthy, rich or both? There are 1% income people who are nearly broke. Are they wealthy, rich or both?

Please clarify what you mean.

Tom

[TexasHusker]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to pipe up here - this question isn't strictly financial per say - it delves into a policy a bit - but I'd love the forum's thoughts on where wealthy inequality in the United States is headed in the next few years.

Will there be a greater or lesser difference between the poor and the rich moving forward?

Per say?

[Singuy]

The rich gets richer due to compounding interest.

The poor gets richer due to increase standard of living.

The gap, however, will widen because that's just how math works.

[Milly]

I see the rich getting richer and the middle class becoming poor but it has everything to do with education and technology. In the industrial age, people could get an education, get or make a high paying job and work hard to bring home middle class money.

In the information age, people have the potential to jump into the rich quickly with very little start up cost. Poor/middle class people can become rich if they can find a place to learn the technical stuff and the business stuff. Both of those are only occasionally gained when pursuing a college degree.

The trained rich people will be able to keep their status because they can spot places to put their money and invest in companies or buy up new companies to keep their business current. The untrained rich will act the same as the middle class and loose their money through unsustainable living and become poor.

This is already happening, but the disparity will just get bigger faster as technology gets rid of the industrial age jobs that school systems prepare their students for and replaces them with information age jobs.

If you are interested in this type of dialog, most of these thoughts I learned from Robert Kiyosaki's books and broadcasts. Look them up.

[disneysteve]

the middle class becoming poor

Is there really any evidence to support this statement? Are middle class folks truly "becoming poor"? Maybe they're having to work a little harder to keep up or having more trouble paying that private college tuition or buying the shiny new car but is there proof that previously middle class individuals and families have dropped down the ladder and now qualify as lower class?

[TexasHusker]

These terms - rich, poor, and middle class - are about as nebulous as defining the hue of the sky. It all depends on your own perspective.

Sort of like saying if your neighbor loses his job, it's a recession, but if you lose your job, it's a depression.

[disneysteve]

These terms - rich, poor, and middle class - are about as nebulous as defining the hue of the sky. It all depends on your own perspective.

Exactly. And is the "middle class" really shrinking or do we just keep changing the definition of "middle class"?

[TexasHusker]

Exactly. And is the "middle class" really shrinking or do we just keep changing the definition of "middle class"?

I think the average IQ is shrinking for sure...

[commoncentsmike]

I see the rich getting richer and the middle class becoming poor but it has everything to do with education and technology. In the industrial age, people could get an education, get or make a high paying job and work hard to bring home middle class money.

In the information age, people have the potential to jump into the rich quickly with very little start up cost. Poor/middle class people can become rich if they can find a place to learn the technical stuff and the business stuff. Both of those are only occasionally gained when pursuing a college degree.

The trained rich people will be able to keep their status because they can spot places to put their money and invest in companies or buy up new companies to keep their business current. The untrained rich will act the same as the middle class and loose their money through unsustainable living and become poor.

This is already happening, but the disparity will just get bigger faster as technology gets rid of the industrial age jobs that school systems prepare their students for and replaces them with information age jobs.

If you are interested in this type of dialog, most of these thoughts I learned from Robert Kiyosaki's books and broadcasts. Look them up.

I can't add a whole lot to the conversation as to predictions of things to come, but I'm really interested in what happens when AI and automation really start chipping away at jobs. The idea that we may NOT be able to do a job better than some software or robot is probably going to affect our lives as much as anything else.

[AJ444]

I can't add a whole lot to the conversation as to predictions of things to come, but I'm really interested in what happens when AI and automation really start chipping away at jobs. The idea that we may NOT be able to do a job better than some software or robot is probably going to affect our lives as much as anything else.

I think that hits us sooner than later, we may very well live in a future of guaranteed income because there aren't anywhere near enough jobs to go around. That should make for an incredibly interesting debate when the time comes.

[TexasHusker]

If wealth is moving from someone to someone else, that is a choice.

Good friend of mine is a physician here. His son is extremely bright, and went to an exclusive private university and graduated with honors.

He works in a coffee shop in Denver.

So he is essentially conceding wealth that he quite easily could have. That's no one's fault - he wants to work in a coffee shop for $11 an hour plus tips, wear his flannel shirts, grow his beard, and smoke a stogie every now and then.

I get it, but he's shifting wealth from choice. He wants a no-responsibility lifestyle and is perfectly willing to sacrifice the loss of income to have it.

What's wrong with that?

[disneysteve]

he's shifting wealth from choice. He wants a no-responsibility lifestyle and is perfectly willing to sacrifice the loss of income to have it.

What's wrong with that?

I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as he's happy and he is taking care of all of his responsibilities. If he took out student loans and is now on IBR that will never repay them, that's a problem.

What does "shifting wealth" mean, though? If he isn't sacrificing anything he used to have, nothing is being shifted. Sure, he could go out and earn more but if he doesn't want to, he isn't losing anything.