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Wealth gap is not a fault of rich people or poor people
The statistic says 20% of people owning 80% of the country's wealth. Is this the fault of the rich?
I think in a free world like Norther America, other than inheritance, everyone has the equal chance to become wealthy.
On the surface, It's the difference in people that make them rich or poor.Their choices define their wealth but what define their choices?
The wealth gap is actually an example of the Pareto principle which states for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
I think in a free world like Norther America, other than inheritance, everyone has the equal chance to become wealthy.
On the surface, It's the difference in people that make them rich or poor.Their choices define their wealth but what define their choices?
The wealth gap is actually an example of the Pareto principle which states for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
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Comments
First, people don't start out at zero. Some begin rich through inheritance. Other begin poor through lack of inheritance.
But personal choice is a big part, also.
Very difficult.
I had a thread a while back that covered alot of my views about this topic.
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/13427/wealth-and-income-inequality-americas-moral-crisis/p1
It doesn't mean anything to say there are equal chances. Because everyone has their own story.
Is there a 'buddhist' method of governance?
Sociologists know the single biggest deciding factor in what income level you will end up in, is what social group you were born into. It is that subgroup of connections that actually provide the opportunities.
The problem isn't how many people are rich or poor, but does society provide opportunities to advance. For most people, that means a cheap enough education to make it worth the investment and a job market that provides a way to increase your income over time. However, if you are born to lower or middle class, you will never be part of that upper class social club in spite of being talented enough or lucky enough or genius enough to make it big. They don't have to be any of those things. They just have to know the right people.
One family "came up" through the father's decision to become a policeman in Chiang Mai. Eventually the family bought a small hotel. One sister owns a nice restaurant. One brother is a school teacher.
Another family's father worked very hard. Managed to send the son to college. Got a degree that allowed him to work in a bank. Hopped onto the McThai (McDonalds in Thailand) bandwagon from the outset and is now a minor executive in another Thai fast food outlet. Doing very well.
Another family is very poor out in Issan. I've been to the "village". 2 sisters and 2 brothers. One brother, my ex, scraped together funds to go to college, got 2 degrees, and is a mid-level executive in the Education Ministry. Doing pretty well with great job security and health care. The other brother...well, not lazy, but he owns a couple of rice fields. Lives in a poor house in a swamp, trash all over. I think they recently got an "in-house" for the first time.
So what are the differences here? Ambition on the part of some to, as you indicate, raise themselves up.
The important factor here is finding jobs. In every case you mention, upward mobility is directly linked to a job that provides enough income to live comfortably and save a bit, etc. Keeping that job or small business running is the only thing keeping them from destitution. That's the difference between upper class elite and just making money. No matter how many of their businesses fail, or if they ever get a job, or how badly the economy is doing, the upper class never has to worry about going hungry or not having a nice place to live.
I see the problem as when the upper class feel too entitled and their self interest becomes selfish greed. It's as natural as the rise and fall of empires. It doesn't make it easier to watch happen.
My mother was rather poor most of her adult life. She did "okay" until her second husband was killed. Then she really struggled. Barely made it by most years, and although she never took them, she qualified for food stamps several times.
Then she lucked out, and at one point was offered 2 jobs simultaneously -- both secretarial jobs -- one in a chiropractor's office, the other in a public school office. The doctor offered a basic salary...period. The school offered about the same salary, plus some security, plus health care and retirement. I urged her to take the school job, but she thought the doctor's office would be more interesting. Then, after about a decade, her health began to fail. No health insurance and she finally had to stop working. More difficult years financially, barely making it by most of the time. Never getting the full health care she really needed.
Every thing negative that happened to her that had anything to do with finances -- except the death of her second husband -- was based on the job choices she made through her life. No one held her down...except herself.
When society becomes "everyone for themselves" and doors to success are intentionally slammed in people's faces and everyone thinks that is the right thing to do, then society has become ill. Then the wealth gap becomes a problem. The wealthy are just people, not evil, greedy bastards as a rule. The poor are just people, not lazy leaches on society. Just people.
But a hungry woman with hungry children to feed doesn't care whose fault it is that she lost her job to downsizing while the CEO gets a 10 million dollar bonus that Christmas. A young man who spends years trying to find someone to pay him for his labor and being told he isn't needed doesn't care about the national debt that caused the local trade school to lose its funding. It's a lot harder to feel empathy for a rich man worth 200 million dollars who whines about paying a tiny bit more taxes, isn't it?
Ah, just feeling a bit peeved at the world today. There are days I wish that I could go back to talk to Buddha, and tell him, "The problem isn't people are addicted to desires. The problem is, people are bloody stupid!"
Whose fault is it? That it exists? Nobody's. That it's wrong? I don't know that it's anyone's fault in particular. The problem comes in the fact that a huge, overwhelming majority of those "with" don't know what the meaning of "need" or "enough" are. Greed, when you boil it down to the very, very, very bottom of the pot, is at the root of about 98.9% of the world's problems (not just the US). Were it not for an insatiable desire for more, more, more, lots of things that are considered major problems wouldn't be problems, or at worst would be minor annoyances. The health care mess in the US - greed. Global warming - greed. Mono-agriculture - greed. I could go on and on and on.
Also, age plays a role too. It's only fair that 20 years old just started out is at the bottom of percentile. Those that are 60 years old are at the top 20% percentile.