2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy we need Bernie in WH: "Income inequality is by design. We can't fix it by tweaking capitalism"
Bernie is the ONLY candidate in 2016 who is focused like a laser beam on this issue, and who
has the chops to actually begin aggressively addressing income inequality on day-one in the WH.
Hell, I doubt that income inequality would even be an issue at all in 2016 elections, were it not for
Bernie courageously throwing his hat into the ring, to force the issue into the national spot-light.
~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ * ~~~~ *
Income inequality happens by design. We can't fix it by tweaking capitalism
by Steven W Thrasher * December 6, 2015 * The Guardian
The economic hoarding by those at the top has been termed “income inequality”, but that’s neither a strong nor accurate enough phrasing. I have never heard poor people complain about “income inequality”; poor people complain about being screwed out of housing , or about working more hours for less pay or about having to choose between medicine and food.
“Inequality” sounds like something that happens by accident and can be remedied by fiddling around the edges. It is not as if the rich are a little more equal and the poor a little less equal, and if we shift a bit we’ll all come out in the middle. What we’ve been calling “income inequality” might be better understood as a war waged by US political and economic policy on the poor.
A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies issued this week analyzed the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans and found that “the wealthiest 100 households now own about as much wealth as the entire African American population in the United States”. That means that 100 families – most of whom are white – have as much wealth as the 41,000,000 black folks walking around the country (and the million or so locked up) combined.
Similarly, the report also stated that “the wealthiest 186 members of the Forbes 400 own as much wealth as the entire Latino population” of the nation. Here again, the breakdown in actual humans is broke down: 186 overwhelmingly white folks have more money than that an astounding 55,000,000 Latino people.
The disparities in wealth that we term “income inequality” are no accident, and they can’t be fixed by fiddling at the edges of our current economic system. These disparities happened by design, and the system structurally disadvantages those at the bottom. The poorest Americans have no realistic hope of achieving anything that approaches income equality; even their very chances for access to the most basic tools of life are almost nil.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/05/income-inequality-policy-capitalism
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)You are simply not going to win the presidency by campaigning against Capitalism and free trade.
I am sorry, my dear frustrated old-guard Communists, but it's just not going to happen.
You can't even win that sort of election in Europe, much less in America.
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)... Unless Bernie is elected POTUS in 2016. Thanks for making my point so
well, by tacitly admitting that HRC will NOT take on her "friends" on Wall St. 
ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)Okay.
I happen to believe that campaigning on income inequality isn't the greatest winner of an issue either, because many voters think they'll be the ones losing income, instead of gaining it, in any sort of government wealth redistribution. But regardless, that's not what the OP is talking about. It's talking about getting rid of capitalism completely.
Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
No one is going to vote for going to Communism, an abject failure everywhere it's been tried. Hell, you couldn't even peddle that crap in red China these days.
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)despite David Brock's lame smear campaign against Bernie, calling Bernie a commie ..
you know, that attack-ad that backfired to raise Bernie $1.2 million in new donations.
Bernie intends to reign-in Wall St. and start democratizing capitalism from the
ground up, through a revitalized union movement and through worker-owned
enterprises.
ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)Income inequality happens by design. We can't fix it by tweaking capitalism
If think you can't fix it by tweaking it, then the only thing left to do is to get rid of it.
Honestly. Do you even read your own stuff before posting it?
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community
/ p.s. there are plenty of worker-owned enterprises out there doing quite well, thank you very much. They're hardly illegal. So if you want to start one, you certainly can.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)so much so, you feel compelled to distort it, to mean something it doesn't say, by
conjuring up red herrings like that Bernie wants to "destroy capitalism"
NO WHERE in the OP is "destroying capitalism" ever mentioned. No. where.
Rather, the point of the article is summed up nicely in it's last paragraph:
Allowing any of the 100 richest Americans to choose how they fix “income inequality”
will not make the country more equal or even guarantee more access to life.
THIS ^ would appear to be Hillary's approach: i.e. to work with her "good friends" on Wall St. to tweak capitalism
just enough to keep the rabble pacified. Bernie's approach is much more comprehensive, transformational, and
way more beneficial to most Americans.
I suggest you stop embarrassing yourself with ridiculous and outlandish claims that have no bearing whatsoever
on the OP you are posting under.
ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)And saying that the implication is that you clearly do want something else is a distortion?
Oh brother. 
Well, okay pal. Whatever floats your boat.
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)This is how politics works in America. Nothing changes for decades. But when you reach a tipping point, then suddenly you get big, sweeping change.
Most Americans have grown weary of politics because they have never really seen anything change in their lifetimes. That's why they're willing to settle for people like Hillary Clinton. If you want real change you've got to take a chance. You know what (or who) that means...
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)catchy, winning campaign slogan eh?
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)You are displaying obtuseness re: the work Bernie did in Vermont as Mayor, turning it
into the national mecca for Community Land Trust housing, and a strong worker co-op
sector in the local economy.
MaggieD
(7,393 posts)He wants to destroy it.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)This is exactly what Hillary said when she shellacked you at debates.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)suggesting she would do more than "tinker" around the edges,
like telling Wall St. to "cut it out". Surely this isn't what you
are referring to.
taught_me_patience
(5,477 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)No way could he win a general election after spouting that.
Recced, because the world needs to see this level of ineptitude on the part of this candidate.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)who's 'ineptitude" are you pointing to?
Bernie didn't write this article, nor did he specifically mouth the
words of this article.
I posted it because I loved how it pointed to how income inequality
is screwing over minorities even more than it is the 'average American'.
Do you have a problem with this ^ ? You don't think this is true?
Bernie's the ONLY candidate who's not beholding to Wall St. donors, and
therefore is eager and willing to take on Wall St.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Income inequality and racism have a lot in common: their victims.
