There’s a Vox video relaying ways the rich avoid paying taxes and how problematic that can be. What the Vox video doesn’t mention are the plenty of other tax loopholes some of the elites do such as donating an artifact or an expensive art piece to a museum (ahem, Ken Griffin). Another way is holding a shell company overseas as shown in the Panama, Paradise, and Pandora Papers. I have no malice against the good Samaritan rich folks like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, or Ray Dalio who understand how screwed up the system can be for the average working-class citizen. How can capitalism work efficiently when the concentration of wealth has only increased, and there’s a massive income and wealth gap between the rich and everyone else? Most of the policies proposed or thought of have been a joke, some of which do more harm than good. Milton Friedman said, to judge a policy not by its intention but by its result. The real solution will take drastic measures. The Federal Reserve recently released data showing the disparity where the wealthiest 10% of Americans hold 89% of stocks, worth $35.87 trillion. The top 1% of Americans in terms of net worth grew their ownership of stocks during the pandemic by 2%. The value of their stock holdings grew by $10 trillion. Baby boomers hold 55% of stocks, valued at $22 trillion. Millennials own 2.5% of stocks, worth $1 trillion. White Americans own 90% of stocks, worth $36.15 trillion. https://www.fool.com/research/how-many-americans-own-stock/
“This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. echo and ring even clearer today. Socialism for the rich (too big to fail), and screw you working-class go fend for yourselves! America is paid for and advertised for by corporations. Free at last, free at last, Dr. King was shot and killed, freed at last. Who’s going to stand up next to take the mantle? Trickle-down economics is a lie because it goes right back up to the few owners of capital and the means of production, who wiped out most of their competitors, in effect drawing away customers from small and medium-sized businesses. The only thing that trickles down sometimes is the various technology and innovation that money is plowed towards by the elites who see a new pot of gold, because of huge potential returns. Of course, no question that investing in new products or services comes with some risk.
There is no other developed country in the world with this large wealth inequality gap. This dilemma is ripe for social unrest and radicalizing people further left and right. The economic system has to work for the majority and not for the few. I’m not advocating equity distribution, but reducing inequality. There’s been an increase in homelessness across the nation in places like Los Angeles, Seattle, & New York. It’s not difficult to figure out why mental health issues have been more visibly growing and it has little to do with social media as some articles may have you believe. It has to do with the way we organize society and the safety nets that are put or not put in place. There will always be some sort of inequality in society that one should accept. Like in the classic fable of the hare and the tortoise, everyone knows a rabbit can easily outrun a turtle. However, the turtle, going at his own pace, with patience and determination was able to beat the hare who was full of himself with an immense ego. In nature, some tortoises (specifically sea turtles) can outlive hares by hundreds of years. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. Slow and steady is something Buffett has mastered and stated that people find all sorts of ways and tricks to get rich quickly instead of slowly with compounding. Also, note that your best option in life is to know your weaknesses, live by your strengths, and possibly work on fixing your weaknesses if it’s worth the time and effort.
The system works for the few and the current administration and even previously has been working and talking for years about fixing these loopholes. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen and others proposed an unrealized gain tax, trying to tackle the issues, but even that idea is absurd to tackle the root issue. Nothing is ever done to fix the system because powerful wealthy people have the money and political clout to lobby. In other words, they undoubtedly influence policies and politicians. It’s a continuous revolving door between governmental institutions, central banks, regulatory agencies, and Wall Street.
One of the best ways to combat inequality is by reducing the cost of living to raise the standard of living. Although, in this day and age it is wishful thinking and a fool’s errand. The government has only exacerbated this issue by capping the cost of college, which increases year after year, when fifty years back it was actually affordable to work and pay off college tuition. From the 1970s till now, there’s been a ridiculous amount of increase in student debt, government spending, home, and rent prices due to a host of factors.
The aristocratic privileged hares are having a field day, running laps around the poor struggling tortoises who are at an immense disadvantage. It’s time for the tortoises to choose which game to play next that would put them at a huge advantage.
Social Scholarly 