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Income inequality in America has been growing rapidly, and is expected to increase [PDF]. While the widening wealth gap is a hot topic in the media and on the campaign trail, there's quite a disconnect between the perceptions of economists and those of the general public.
For instance, surveys show people tend to underestimate the income disparity between the top and bottom 20% of Americans, and overestimate the opportunity for poor individuals to climb the social ladder. Additionally, a majority of adults believe that corporations conduct business fairly despite evidence to the contrary and that the government should not act to reduce income inequality.
Even though inequality is increasing, Americans seem to believe that our social and economic systems work exactly as they should. This perspective has intrigued social scientists for decades. My colleague Andrei Cimpian and I have demonstrated in our recent research that these beliefs that our society is fair and just may take root in the first years of life, stemming from our fundamental desire to explain the world around us.
http://theconversation.com/lifes-not-fair-so-why-do-we-assume-it-is-45981
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:27PM
That you can reel off a list of vanishingly small localized exceptions means nothing.
None of those tiny minority groups count as a civilization. They are merely aberrations in time.
Could it be, that a CEO that earns more than 12:1 really doesn't hurt the average worker at all?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:38PM
> Could it be, that a CEO that earns more than 12:1 really doesn't hurt the average worker at all?
Could it be, that chickens really fly out of my butt?
Absolutely. Nothing is impossible because quantum uncertainty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 10 2015, @09:43PM
vanishingly small
In 2006, Mondragon enterprises employed 16% of total employment in Gipuzkoa and a [3.8]% of the whole Basque Country [wedreambusiness.org]
8100 worker cooperatives across Emilia-Romagna is 30 percent of that region's economy.
Your definition of "small" is different than mine.
...or would a 30 percent pay cut be just fine with you?
localized exceptions
When it comes these days, change is a bottom-up phenomena.
(We've already tried top-down; that is showing itself to be a bigger failure with each passing day.)
None of those tiny minority groups count as a civilization
If you walked into one of those places and spouted off with that, I'm betting you would come out with a fat lip.
doesn't hurt
Since they went to the trouble of getting a referendum on the ballot, clearly, a significant number of folks think it does.
-- gewg_