On Feb 23, 2:19*pm, Hawke wrote:





Yeah, but don't you think the average guy who applies himself and works
hard ought to have a pretty high level of prosperity considering this is
the richest country in world history?

No. The average guy should not have a high level of prosperity. The
average guy ought to have average prosperity.

You want everyone to be above average. It is not possible.


Just look at what it used to be like here back in the fifties when it
comes to income distribution. It was much more equal. The country's
wealth is far more unequally distributed now. That is wrong in my book.
Way too much money is concentrated in too few hands. As a political
scientist I see that as a threat to the political system and to
democracy. Too much wealth in the hands of too few is a recipe for a
corrupt country and regime.

The reason it is this way is that the country has changed. Manual
labor is no longer in much demand. Back in the fifties manual labor
was more in demand.

The days of graduating from high school and getting a good job are
gone forever.
And the same thing is beginning to happen with graduating from college
and getting a good job. Oh you can still graduate from college and
get a good job, but only with some majors if you are an average
student. Major in science or engineering, then yes. Major in Art
History , then you could be hurting.

So what you want is gone forever. Manual labor just is not needed
now, and the average white collar job is quickly going the same way.
So what is happening is that the top 1 or 2 % or so are in demand,
and get the good jobs. And the 98 % can get jobs, but there is not
much demand. So the wages are not too good. It is caused to some
extent by computers. Thousands of jobs have disappeared. We used to
have a bunch of secretaries. Now we just use a word processor. We
used to have a lot of people doing income taxes. Now we use Tax Act
or Turbo tax. We used to have a bunch of draftsmen. Now we use a Cad
program. We use to have a bunch of receptionists. Now we have voice
recognition programs.

It may not be what we want, but it is inevitable. The smart people
are still in demand, the so so smart are not in demand. Bitch all you
want, but we are never going back to where there is a demand for
average workers.

This is not an argument that the top 1 percent should be in control of
most of the wealth, it is just an explanation of why it is that way.
If you took economics in college, you would understand.

Dan


There are all kinds of reasons why a more equal wealth distribution
would be better for most Americans than what we have now. I really don't
see any argument you could make why 1% should be in control of most of
any country's wealth. In the past that almost always leads to a
revolution. Is that what you want?

Hawke