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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the eat-the-rich dept.

Donald Trump and Angela Merkel will join 2,500 world leaders, business executives and charity bosses at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland which kicks off on 23 January. High on the agenda once again will be the topic of inequality, and how to reduce the widening gap between the rich and the rest around the world.

The WEF recently warned that the global economy is at risk of another crisis, and that automation and digitalisation are likely to suppress employment and wages for most while boosting wealth at the very top.

But what ideas should the great and good gathered in the Swiss Alps be putting into action? We'd like to know what single step you think governments should prioritise in order to best address the problem of rising inequality. Below we've outlined seven proposals that are most often championed as necessary to tackle the issue – but which of them is most important to you?

  • Provide free and high quality education
  • Raise the minimum wage
  • Raise taxes on the rich
  • Fight corruption
  • Provide more social protection for the poor
  • Stop the influence of the rich on politicians
  • Provide jobs for the unemployed

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/19/project-davos-whats-the-single-best-way-to-close-the-worlds-wealth-gap

Do you think these ideas are enough, or are there any better ideas to close this wealth gap ? You too can participate and vote for the idea that, you think, works best.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:14PM (34 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:14PM (#625388)

    My grandfather was born on a farm in Iowa. It was probably about 1910. He was one of seven kids. The house consisted of a single small room with a dirt floor. There was no plumbing, phone, or power. They couldn't afford a horse, donkey, ox, or tractor. They had a mule. They grew crops to survive. They had to stuff cardboard in their shoes when there were holes, even in winter, because they couldn't afford better.

    All seven kids went beyond a Bachelor's degree.

    It wasn't some magic privilege. They worked their asses off. At the time they were even recognized and hated. There were signs on businesses that said "No Irish", and there was no hiding the red hair and freckles.

    Everybody worked hard and saved. They put the first kid through school, and then the second, and so on. They bootstrapped themselves out of poverty and subsistence farming.

    Healthcare? Hah! There was no healthcare. Malnourished? Yep, that happens with subsistence farming, and a couple generations prior there was that whole potato famine in Ireland. Education out of reach? It would have been if they didn't save and work their asses off like responsible Americans, because at the time you couldn't just sit at home and watch video of MIT lectures for free or head over to Khan Academy for free. It's pretty shameful if you think poor Americans have it bad today. Most of the world has a situation that is delightful compared to what my grandfather endured.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by julian on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:25PM (9 children)

    by julian (6003) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:25PM (#625392)

    Ripping yarn, and also totally irrelevant. Other people suffered worse and succeeded in the past, therefore we shouldn't do anything to mitigate suffering or unfairness today. That's a fallacy (relative privation [wikipedia.org]).

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:46PM (#625403)

      Yours is the assumption that a list or fallacies is relevant outside of a high school debate team contest. Scoring points isn't the goal here.

      In the real world, relative privation actually matters. I can and I will dismiss the idea that things are so bad and terrible now.

    • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:00AM (7 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:00AM (#625496) Journal
      What isn't a fallacy is the observation that in the past people routinely fixed their own problems without requiring a government nanny and these problems were in general worse than the problems that we are demanding government fix now.
      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:20AM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:20AM (#625580)

        This is just wrong. Seriously, self-deluding wrong. Who do you think gave (note, gratis, if not under the Homestead Act) land to these "self-sufficient" subsistence farmers? Yes, the government, after they got done stealing it from its native occupants and rightful owners. So I am going to demand, as a Native American, the right to self-help in pushing these damn Washita off my land, and I demand you withdraw the government subsidies (Farm price supports, the entire Dept. of Ag.) from them, and any protection by armed forces or police. "Without requiring a government nanny"!! What the fuck are you, some Vienna Circle Libertarian Sophmoron?

        • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:54AM (5 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:54AM (#625613) Journal

          Who do you think gave (note, gratis, if not under the Homestead Act) land to these "self-sufficient" subsistence farmers?

          Themselves. Farms don't spontaneous form out of the aether.

          Yes, the government, after they got done stealing it from its native occupants and rightful owners.

          What makes you think the native occupants owned the land? Where's the foundation for that assertion?

          So I am going to demand, as a Native American, the right to self-help in pushing these damn Washita off my land, and I demand you withdraw the government subsidies (Farm price supports, the entire Dept. of Ag.) from them, and any protection by armed forces or police.

          Non sequiturs don't help your argument a bit. You can demand whatever you want to demand in a land of free speech. Just don't be surprised when the rest of us don't care.

          "Without requiring a government nanny"!! What the fuck are you, some Vienna Circle Libertarian Sophmoron?

          The language is appropriate, so not seeing the need to care that you're worked up over "government nanny".

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:20PM (4 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:20PM (#625775)

            So yes, you are a libertarian moron. Thanks for clearing that up! Your persistent adherence to ignorance leaves only simple derision as an option. Though people routinely try to help you anyway.

            • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:46PM (3 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:46PM (#625878) Journal

              So yes, you are a libertarian moron. Thanks for clearing that up! Your persistent adherence to ignorance leaves only simple derision as an option. Though people routinely try to help you anyway.

              Ah yes, the gracious way of announcing to the world that you've lost the argument.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:31PM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @10:31PM (#626288)

                Moron :) I wasn't the one arguing the point, that person gave up when it became obvious you were just soapboxing and denying things you don't like.

                • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Monday January 22 2018, @10:48PM (1 child)

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 22 2018, @10:48PM (#626304) Journal
                  No problem here. Rationalize it however you'd like.
                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:39PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:39PM (#626816)

                    That is exactly what you are doing. Basically take every insult you hurl and if you're honest you'll find out you're mad at yourself.

  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:48PM

    by captain normal (2205) on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:48PM (#625404)

    And...? Your point is??

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:55PM (15 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20 2018, @11:55PM (#625406)

    What a load of shit.

    My uncle went beyond a bachelor's degree and he was unemployed his whole life. My mother went beyond a bachelor's degree and she spent half of her working years unemployed. I went beyond a bachelor's degree and I am spending half of my working years unemployed.

    My father went beyond a bachelor's degree and he is the only member of my family who worked his entire life. The rest of my family should be so lucky.

    Degrees weren't worth anything to my uncle, and working your ass off doesn't accomplish anything. It takes two to make a contract, meaning no matter what you do, your success ultimately depends on someone else being willing to pay you or you end up with nothing.

    • (Score: 3, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:36AM (12 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:36AM (#625434) Journal

      So, tell us, you entitled snowflake - what were the degrees for? And, how far beyond a bachelor's degree are you talking about? You do realize that uneducated, unwashed people manage to earn decent livings, because they work in fields that are in demand. Maybe if you weren't to proud to pick up a shovel, you could be employed. Tell me, what do you think of DACA? Should be bring more Mexicans across the border to do the jobs that you don't want to do, so that you have more time to whine about being unemployed?

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:21AM (11 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:21AM (#625454)

        I dunno, old man! What were the degrees for? What can you do with degrees in mathematics, library science, computer science, professional degrees of the middle class.

        We're talking about master's degrees for all! Except my grandfather, he was a dentist. He was such an unsuccessful dentist that the IRS audited him because they couldn't believe a dentist could have income so low. That's right, I'm a direct descendant of Zoidberg, DDS.

        I'm never too proud to shovel shit. Nobody will hire me to shovel shit, because with my tech degrees and my faggy nerd demeanor, they expect I'll stop shoveling shit as soon as I get a tech job. Nobody will hire me for a tech job either. They tell me I should take my nerdy skills and my years of tech experience and go shovel shit. The circular reasoning is perfect in this fucking game of keep-away the job-creators play.

        I hear the tech field is in demand. That's a lie. I hear the tech field pays well. That's also a lie. Maybe the Mexicans are getting the tech jobs? Or was it the Blacks, or the Chinese, or the Indians? You're old enough to be an old racist bastard, maybe you know how racist exclusionary hiring works?

        Education! Good god, ya'll, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing....

        • (Score: 4, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:31AM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:31AM (#625462) Journal

          Runaway's a real piece of work isn't he? Modded +1 because people need to see the vicious circle you're describing, even if the asshole you replied to would never acknowledge it. Don't worry, he'll end up in Hell where he belongs soon enough...

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 21 2018, @02:02AM (3 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @02:02AM (#625473) Journal

          So - your entire family has masters degrees, and the lot of you are unable to find work. There is something seriously wrong - and at least part of that is the business culture today. But, I can't help wondering if you're not part of the problem.

          Apparently, you're something of a racist. I ask a question, and all you can think about is race? WTF? So, what race are you? You seem to be not Black, or Chinese, or Indian, because you're pointing fingers at all of them.

          Zoidberg? Never heard of him - did a search - all I find is cartoon and cosplay references. So - you're not a real person, right? You're a cartoon character trying to describe real life?

          So, to cut to the chase, you're full of shit, just blathering on about how unfair life is. Sorry, sux2bu.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:25PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:25PM (#625779)

            Egads yer an idiot.

            • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 21 2018, @10:27PM (1 child)

              by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @10:27PM (#625839) Journal

              Well, yes, of course I'm an idiot. And, some random idiot on the internet has led a more successful life than you and all of your doctorate relatives. The only times in my adult life when I didn't have gainful employment, were those times when I didn't WANT to work. Those times were always to brief though - I plan on taking a month off, and a week goes by, I get a phone call. "Runaway, we really need some help here - can you be here Monday?"

              Yep - I'm an idiot. But, I've never painted myself into a corner!

              Tell me - have you ever thought about just LYING on your resume? In fact, don't do a resume. Just do the standard "application for employment" that most uneducated people use. I'll lie in a heartbeat. I get the feeling that the interviewer doesn't like veterans, I don't mention being a veteran. He doesn't like farmers, I don't mention that I started out on a farm. He doesn't like guns, I don't mention guns. At least, I don't mention these things until I"m on the job site, doing whatever I was hired for. And, when in business for myself, I just didn't mention ANY of that shit to customers. So - you're "over qualified", right? Don't mention your degree. Or downplay it - just tell them you've got a little community college behind you. The bastards are happy to lie to you, don't feel guilty for lying to them.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:42PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:42PM (#626820)

                Nothing like personal anecdotes from a baby boomer to throw salt on the wounds of people struggling. Gee as a regular white guy who went through the military you never had trouble finding work? Say it ain't so? What are all those college grads doing? They must be sitting on their asses all day waiting for a hand out, otherwise they'd totally have decent careers going!!!

                Clue bat incoming, they'll probably steal your shitty phone while they're at it.

        • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:03AM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:03AM (#625498) Journal

          I dunno, old man! What were the degrees for? What can you do with degrees in mathematics, library science, computer science, professional degrees of the middle class.

          Apparently it doesn't go far in your family. Too bad you wasted your time. My family did quite well by education.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:35AM (3 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:35AM (#625586)

            If this guy had a wider concept of reality I'd make a *whoosh* airplane noise, but I think airplanes might have too far a reach for this one. Maybe simple biographies from a variety of cultures, an extended course.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:47AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:47AM (#625610) Journal

              If this guy had a wider concept of reality I'd make a *whoosh* airplane noise

              I figured the previous post was bullshit. Turns out it was bullshit. Who knew? ... Who knew?

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:40PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:40PM (#625792)

                When everything you touch turns to shit it may be time to do some introspection.

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:44PM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:44PM (#625877) Journal
                  Indeed. Not my fingerprints on that post though.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:52AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:52AM (#625445)

      My uncle went beyond a bachelor's degree and he was unemployed his whole life.

      On the way home from a job interview, he ran a red light and got hit by an 18-wheeler. He did however get a job offer, post-mortem.

      My mother went beyond a bachelor's degree and she spent half of her working years unemployed.

      She decided to be a mother.

      I went beyond a bachelor's degree and I am spending half of my working years unemployed.

      You decided to be a mother.

      My father went beyond a bachelor's degree and he is the only member of my family who worked his entire life.

      He had to support you and your mom.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:30AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:30AM (#625461)

        Nice try, idiot.

        My uncle was gay in a time when it wasn't hip to be gay yet.

        My mother was female in a time when it wasn't empowering to be female yet.

        My father was Archie Bunker when, guys like him, he had it made!

        Me, I'm white in a time when it's not cool to be white anymore, bro.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:00AM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:00AM (#625409)

    My dad was born post world war II. He went to a state university in the late 1960s. At that time, you could "work your ass off" flipping burgers or pumping gas for minimum wage through the summer and EARN FULL COLLEGE TUITION for the fall and spring semesters.

    The times, they are a changin'.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:42AM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:42AM (#625441) Journal

      Actually, times haven't changed as much as most people believe. My youngest son pretty much paid his way through college. He has minimal college loan debt, Mother and I helped as much as we could, but he paid most of his own education.

      To be fair, I'll note that he has a gift for making things work in his favor. He can buy and sell a vehicle, and make money doing so, even if the vehicle is a complete POS. The kid has always seen opportunity, and exploited it. So, he didn't exactly depend on minimum wage jobs while going to college.

      People who insist on Ivy League schools aren't going to work their way through college like your dad, or my son. Minimum wage jobs? No way.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:50AM (1 child)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:50AM (#625444)

        Oh, my Dad didn't work his way through school, his mother spoiled him rotten, bought him sports cars, paid for school, etc. Of course, in the 1960s she was able to do this with the money she made as a hairdresser. The point I was after was that, IF he had worked through the summer at a minimum wage job, he could have paid his own tuition for the whole year at a prominent state school.

        It seems that things you need: education, food, shelter, transportation, healthcare, have all been inflating at rates much higher than mid to low level incomes have inflated ever since somewhere in the 1970s.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:13PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:13PM (#625628)

          What is the median student loan debt for a bechelor's degree? Google is of little help other than to say the problem is bad. You'd think the statistics would be easy to find.

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Whoever on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:29AM

    by Whoever (4524) on Sunday January 21 2018, @12:29AM (#625428) Journal

    Michael Palin: Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.

    Graham Chapman: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, ay Gessiah?

    Terry Jones: You're right there Obediah.

    Eric Idle: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?

    MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

    GC: A cup ' COLD tea.

    EI: Without milk or sugar.

    TJ: OR tea!

    MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.

    EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

    GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

    TJ: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

    MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, 'Money doesn't buy you happiness.'

    EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.

    GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!

    TJ: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!

    MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

    EI: Well when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.

    GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!

    TJ: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

    MP: Cardboard box?

    TJ: Aye.

    MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

    GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

    TJ: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

    EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing 'Hallelujah.'

    MP: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.

    ALL: Nope, nope..

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by theluggage on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:23AM (1 child)

    by theluggage (1797) on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:23AM (#625456)

    The house consisted of a single small room with a dirt floor. There was no plumbing, phone, or power. They couldn't afford a horse, donkey, ox, or tractor. They had a mule. They grew crops to survive.

    OK, so instead of a single small room in Iowa in 1910, imagine they're in 2 or 3 reasonably-sized rooms in a housing block somewhere in a rust belt. Where the flying fuck do they plant the potatoes? There's only one crop that is high-value, low-volume enough to be profitably grown in those conditions (if they nick the electricity for the glow lights) and its still frowned upon in many jurisdictions (although it should restore your faith in humanity a bit to know that some people do still make the effort). Apart from that, do you think there's enough non-concreted-over ground for the 200 inhabitants of the block to grow their own food (and graze 20 mules?) and if there was, do you think they'd be allowed to?

    I mean, you're quite right that people in the past were more physically resilient - but in other ways, I think opportunities for "social mobility" and entrepreneurship peaked sometime in the 20th century, and a lot of ladders have been pulled up since then.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @10:44PM (#626826)

      But but but TECH! They can educate themselves and start up a small business!!! Sheeit, we have anecdotal evidence for every goddamn thing to show just how lazy and entitled every "poor" person is. It worked for me, why can't you do it? Must be your fault...

      /s