Interesting read on inequality and unfairness.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170706-theres-a-problem-with-the-way-w...
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A world in which everyone has enough would be wonderful. A world in which everyone is equal would be a nightmare.
I've met lots of people who were very focused on equality. Most of them were more interested in harming the rich than helping the poor. Some people want to eat the rich. The churches feed off the poor.
I feel inequality is one of the biggest problems we as a human race have. However I, and I believe many others that make statements similar to that, are not looking for perfect equality. We are looking for some sense in equality. In the US and globally, inequality is hitting such extremes that should be just beyond ludicrous contemplate that the current inequality and trends to further inequality is okay.
I am not after the 1 percent rich, I am after the 1 percent of the 1 percent. The 1 in 10,000 people that control more wealth than the bottom 9000 people combined. if you work really hard, and or are really gifted and some combination of luck, you should be well rewarded, but that should not mean, to me, that the person gets to live like a king where most of the rest live like serf's in your "kingdom." It is even worse when such extreme wealth oftentimes is not acquired through extreme hard work and gifted in a valuable way.
What makes the scenario worse still, is: that everyone know's wealth equals power and advantage. We are mostly all well aware in the US that both the democrat and republican parties that: politicians will campaign to the masses, (poorer,) but only listen/serve to the donor's (rich.)
@LogicForTW: "I feel inequality is one of the biggest problems we as a human race have."
Not inequality but inequity.
I spent a lot of time in education. I continually polish my skills, and I work a lot of hours. So my outcomes are not equal to those of the guy who dropped out of high school to start a career in the food service industry. That's inequality.
Someone works really hard to earn a good university degree and applies for job but is passed over because of gender/race/religion, etc. That's inequity. My son-in-law, who's a Maori, regularly gets pulled over by the cops for driving a nice car. That's inequity.
Whole populations of people are held back and live short, miserable lives because they had the misfortune to be born in Congo, Nigeria, Venezuela, etc., while others have nice, long lives because they were smart enough to get born in the U.S., U.K., Germany, etc. That's inequity.
Maybe we're conditioned to accept this kind of inequity by religion. As a child growing up in the U.K., I certainly got the impression that heaven only accepted white, English-speaking people, and that god was an Englishman. Americans might be allowed into heaven if they're really good, but certainly not the French, the Germans, and anyone from the Middle East or Africa.
And so it goes that once everything is in balance, nothing is.
On a personal measure, the guy over there is from a different culture than mine. His culture has a set of values, as does mine, and they are divisively distinct. His worships cows, mine eats them. Whoa baby! That's bad karma already for a platform for equality to attempt traction. Next!
The world is not in context of uniformity. It's in context with disparity. What makes that impervious to change is pride in culture. It isn't going away any time soon. People love their heritage and cling to it for nothing less than an identity. People need to identify with their world and their culture is where it starts.
Look at the so-called migrant situation. The world is stable in the isolation of cultures where each country's citizens identify with their nationalism and it's customs going back into antiquity. Ask it to embrace another culture with divisive customs and courtesies and you will witness rejection. Sure, everyone will initially espouse utopian ideals but after the novelty has worn off the true colors come out.
Equality is a word man coined to express something he cannot achieve as a collective species. Globalism is another fancy word for it that also falls flat on its nose.
Look at the so-called EU. Twenty-plus sovereign nations coming together as a unified economy with a common currency, and of late Brussels treats them all like red-headed step children. It's a ridiculous experiment that's now experiencing the wearing off of the novelty. When the whole concept was announced and implemented I instinctively knew it was destined to fail. Germany was not going to bend over on demand to show its small hairs to France, or France to Germany, and so on with the other nations and their authorities. The Brits saw this at its inception, played the game but finally realized it was just too proud to let the likes of a Jean-Claude Juncker ugly them to death. They took their leave from it with the referendum and now old Jean-Claude is mumble-lipped mad at them for snubbing the EU (and his authority).
Where, tell me, is there any glimmer of equality at work in any of the above. There isn't. From the personal, to the cultural and then the national pride, equality might be a buzzword but it has yet to receive a genuinely felt invitation to exist.
To start with, I find the analysis of this article to be an elitist and apologetic attempt to justify our current economic system that created the extreme level of global economic inequality/unfairness the world is experiencing today -- not only between people in a nation but also between nations ... especially between western nations (western hegemony) and all the others.
Looking back in history to economies under monarchies, feudalism, and mercantilism; the economic inequality/unfairness we see today is far less today under our current global system. However, these are very poor benchmarks to what is possible -- or even moral.
In an effort to encourage civil discourse, I will refrain from using the different modern-day "isms" that tend to turn our discourse into political confrontation instead of focusing on the issue of massive inequality/unfairness the world is experiencing under our current global economic system that this article attempted to address.
Our current economic system, in general, has been very successful when it comes to producing large amounts of wealth. Never in the history of mankind have we lived in a world of such an abundance of wealth. Where the current system fails is in its ability to distribute that wealth to those who need it. Many families are short on food, housing, education, and transportation, but it is not because there is a shortage of these things that many have to go without. The truth is very simple, if you can’t pay, you can’t play.
In regards to equality, it is NOT sameness as some would lead us to believe but rather....
Over the last 2 - 3 decades, there have been enormous strides made at "lifting up" those at the very bottom. BUT ... that isn't the whole story. Statistically, the "financing" of this economic improvement of those at the bottom has been "paid for" by the working class in the developed world -- not by the elites. This "financing" by the working class in developed nations occurred through the suppression of wages. (See the image at the bottom of this post.) This suppression has occurred via:
So, when we limit our discourse to the inequality/unfairness that is present today without talking about the economic system that created this inequality/unfairness; we are merely addressing the symptom(s) while neglecting the actual condition that brought about symptom(s).
The current economic system has had nearly 250 years to get it right. Since it hasn't, the system has proven (either by its nature or intent) that it cannot be reformed or improved to provide more equality/fairness to all.
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I strongly agree with your points mbrownec.
I especially like your point about the 250 year experiment has gone on long enough, to know it is not working except for the very rich the last few decades.