[quote=SK in CV]
Consumer choices drive inequality? I don’t think so. What’s happened over the last few decades, and magnfied over the last decade is that the share of corporate revenues that end up in the hands of the workers who actually produce that revenue has declined dramatically.
Corporate profits are at record levels, measured both in real dollars and as a share of GDP. The delta in that income has remained in the hands of business owners, while wages have shrunk. The result is that the wealth built by those record profits remain in the hands of those who own the stock. That has always been the case, except that prior to the last few decades, workers have shared in that growth. That’s not the case now.
It has almost nothing to do with irresponsible consumption.[/quote]
You’re looking at one side of the balance sheet and I’m looking at the other. Where do corporate profits come from. They come from people consuming their goods or services. If you wanted greater wealth equality you would have many people selling each other goods. Instead we have tended to be more and more monopolistic, i.e. one person selling many people a particular good or service. In general a consumer makes a personal choice to support the growth of the monopoly. Monopolies are the primary driver of income inequality. If there’s one guy that controls most of the oil or most of the consumer goods he’s obviously going to be extremely rich because there’s millions of people that buy things from him that he sells for a profit.
Your solution seems to be allow the monopoly to exist but somehow force them to distribute their wealth more fairly. Another solution would be to break up the monopoly. Another would be to allow the monopolies to fail. Unfortunately pension funds and 401Ks rely heavily on those near monopolies existing and thriving. You can fix wealth inequality by allowing debt deleveraging and failure of over leveraged companies but you’re going to destroy your retirement fund in the process.
The scam is that 401Ks and pensions make you have a vested interest in maintaining the wealth inequality
