The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

[sweeps]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

Sweeps, right now I believe the cap for deductible salaries is $1 million - though that's arbitrarily set. The idea you mentioned above is pretty interesting.

Good point, Jesse. But as usual, there are loopholes.

[jmjj215]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

Good point, Jesse. But as usual, there are loopholes.

I was going to bring that up, but didn't want to muddy the water

[VJW]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

In the U.S. you have every opportunity to become wealthy.

Actually, I previously posted (somewhere in this forum) the study recently released by the Federal Reserve that indicated that income mobility has been falling. Sadly, more than ever before, most children of rich parents stay rich, and most children of poor parents stay poor.

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[VJW]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

The great thing about America though is that you really don't need "millions to your name"! As long as you commit yourself to living beneath your means, you will open up the doors to being able to afford the risk necessary to generate wealth.

That is just more of the “Millionaire Next Door” theory, which has been shown to be a rigged study.

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[sweeps]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

Sadly, more than ever before, most children of rich parents stay rich, and most children of poor parents stay poor.

I won't disagree with that, but I'm interested as to why. Is it really because the tax laws are rigged or is it due to a host of other reasons?

One thing that comes to mind is that rich kids have not just the money but also the time to participate in activities, travel to many places, enjoy college, etc. Meanwhile poor kids often have to go straight to work or worse get involved in crime to make ends meet.

[VJW]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

Yeah, but that’s always been the case. Why has income mobility gotten so much more dramatically worse since the early 1980s, when at the same time there has been such a concentration of wealth from massive tax cuts ?

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[jmjj215]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

That is just more of the “Millionaire Next Door” theory, which has been shown to be a rigged study.

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That statement was made based on my own personal experience - mainly with relatives who lived below their means, prudently invested, and now live quite well. Not decamillionaires, but comfortable. Both of them w/o college degrees actually. Their dad taught them to work and it paid off.

[asha]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

I believe a big factor in the rich getting richer is that they can afford risk. So in the long run, their returns are much, much greater.

agree 100%

[asha]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

I'm, like, the 56millionth richest person in the world which is pretty good given there are 5.5 billion people in the world. It makes me feel as if though Billl Gates and I should be on first name basis!

[disneysteve]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

In the U.S. you have every opportunity to become wealthy.

The idealistic part of me wants to believe this, but the realistic part of me has a hard time doing so.

I work in the poorest city in the state and I see the lack of opportunity all around me. Kids raised in broken homes by abusive parents or parents with addiction issues. Some are constantly bounced from one parent to another to grandparents to neighbors. They go to lousy schools. They get raised on junk food and get inadequate medical care. They live in homes without heat or air conditioning or telephone service. It is pretty tough to imagine any of these people ending up rich. Could it happen? Sure, but it's pretty darn unlikely.

[pyotr]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

There's always the Lottery. Also they could always sue their doctors for tons of ready cash.

[disneysteve]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

There's always the Lottery. Also they could always sue their doctors for tons of ready cash.

The sad thing is that many of these people play the lottery religiously. If they would just save that money, they could be much more comfortable even if nothing else changed. I heard a report a while back that something like 70% of lottery tickets are bought by people earning less than 25K/year.

As for the doctor comment, being a physician I won't even comment on that.

[VJW]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

That statement was made based on my own personal experience - mainly with relatives who lived below their means, prudently invested, and now live quite well. Not decamillionaires, but comfortable. Both of them w/o college degrees actually. Their dad taught them to work and it paid off.

Jesse,

Which is why, as we previously discussed, anecdotal examples are not a wise basis for general theories.

:]

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[poundwise]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

The idealistic part of me wants to believe this, but the realistic part of me has a hard time doing so.

I work in the poorest city in the state and I see the lack of opportunity all around me. Kids raised in broken homes by abusive parents or parents with addiction issues. Some are constantly bounced from one parent to another to grandparents to neighbors. They go to lousy schools. They get raised on junk food and get inadequate medical care. They live in homes without heat or air conditioning or telephone service. It is pretty tough to imagine any of these people ending up rich. Could it happen? Sure, but it's pretty darn unlikely.

The opportunity still exists, there are just many unaware, uninterested, and disillusioned among the disadvantaged. Mentality plays a large part in how "these people" turn out. I know many success stories of men and women born in projects to broken homes who are now business people, nurses, doctors, and one who is a judge.

Fact is, in many other countries, people who are born in poverty have no realistic hope of doing anything excepting living their entire life in poverty. In America, you do have opportunities to do something about it through many routes.

[VJW]

Re: The Rich Get Richer, AGAIN

Fact is, in many other countries, people who are born in poverty have no realistic hope of doing anything excepting living their entire life in poverty. In America, you do have opportunities to do something about it through many routes.

The evidence is just the opposite.

As I mentioned upthread, the recent revelations concerning the lack of income mobility in America was advanced in a whitepaper done by an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As I posted then:

"The paper reveals that income mobility between generations has been falling since the radical change in our tax system in the early 1980s, whereas in prior decades to that it had been rising. Now, most children of rich parents stay rich, and most children of the poor stay poor. This is in stark contrast to nations such as Canada, Finland, France, and Germany, as well as to our own nation’s history prior to the shift to failed RightWing economics in 1981."

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