First, do you think it’s a problem at all?
I used to not be overly concerned about it. I was extremely sympathetic to this thatcher sort of argument here:
Here is a slightly outdated graphic exploring the discrepancies visually:
Clearly, people want the spoils of our labor to be better distributed. This does not mean we want equal rewards to all people regardless of what they put in. You work harder, you are born smarter, you contribute more, it makes perfect sense that you are rewarded more.But herein lies the problem with both liberals and conservatives.
The liberals think that the differential outcomes are a function of economic starting points and lack of quality schools and lower college attendance and racism. External factors all, so little focus on the variables that the individual brings to the table, like their own effort.
Conservatives tend to focus far more on internal characteristics, how hard the person works, ignoring starting advantages like wealth and environment. To the extent that they DO focus on external factors it tends to be around tax levels where lower taxes will inevitably lead to direct increases in wealth generation and general prosperity. They do not pretend to imagine that the scales will ever be equalized, but since theirs is a view focused more on the effort of the individual, they don’t much care.
Neither of these views is complete however. The more equal and just a society, the less racism, the more similar the starting conditions and educational opportunities, the MORE the innate differences between individuals will come to the fore to dictate outcomes. We know have the population is below average intelligence, digging deeper and deeper into the bottom of the barrel to scrape the grime to send to college as if that is EVER going to yield the same results as others that are more capable is a fantasy.
Same thing on the conservative side, they like to pretend the only variables that affect the outcomes of a person are based on their own efforts, with perhaps a little chance. But aptitude is a birthright, not someone earned, it is the LEAST meritocratic force in all of nature, and it not something the right “values” and work ethic can increase. The idea that we relegate people who make a good faith effort to get ahead, but were not born as gifted as others to some gutter level existence is an abomination of all decency.
Some may say we are far from that, but are we? Robots, AI, these things are coming on strong. The next industry that will be majorly disrupted is transportation, it also happens to be one of the largest employers of people without advanced skillsets and degrees.
uber drivers / delivery drivers / trucks that ship freight.
Self driving cars and trucks will eliminate the need for such drivers. Gone. Poof. There are forces that depress wages and the value of labor and income generation that are outside the realm of blanking taxes conservatives !!!
So what is the solution? A universal basic income?
Free college?
just lower tax rates to make a more (channels larry kudlow) “pro growth” economy?
Have everyone invested in the stock market by law so that not ONLY the wealthier are reaping the rewards there?
What?
A lot of solutions are bandied about that seem to me incapable of putting the slightest dent in the problems and distributions of wealth. I like Bernie, but free daycare and public college does not seem like a solution, especially not for the millions of people that are too dumb to graduate any college in the first place. They used to be able to work in a factory, where do they work now?