11 Things the Wealthiest Americans Can Buy for the U.S.

[progressoid]

http://faireconomy.org/node/1765

[gateley]

1. This is how it should be presented - the top 400 households rather

than the top x %. It is easier to grasp this way.

This is obscene, by the way, don't you think?

[progressoid]

5. Exactly

I don't think most people understand how severe the gap between the uber-rich and the rest of us is. Or how so few people own so much.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. Its the last one that's the kicker.

I'm staring at it, and its just so simple. You have a system. IT has many players. Each player is given an equal starting amount of money. Players meet each other, and trade money for a generic product called SERVICES. A unit of SERVICES is created each time a dollar changes hands. Some aren't thrifty, they spend more than they make. Some are, they make more than they spend. By this definition, the money pools more and more with the latter. Eventually it all pools in the pocket of the most successful player, who makes lots but spends nothing. Then the money never, ever gets spent again, meaning zero SERVICES are produced for anybody.

Its so easy, but its so hard to see, because you have to realize that money is paper, only SERVICES (the metaphor for real products and services) have value. Infinite SERVICES can be created by passing a single dollar around in a circle. If that dollar stops moving, so does all production of SERVICES. Severe wealth inequality denotes that there are places where either:
1) Money is pooling and no longer creating SERVICES by changing hands
2) SERVICES are being collected without a significant enough payout to allow merchants to buy services of their own, so work has been de-incentivized.

What's happening right now is that a whole people have been kicked out of the economy, out of the game...And it won't stop, in this game there can be only one.

[Fridays Child]

3. I vote for #10.

I can't think of a better investment in this country's future than to properly compensate the people to whom we entrust the care and education of our children.

[AsahinaKimi]

7. agree! 100%

eom

[Kaleva]

4. Would they sell all their assests to the Chinese in order to get that money?

[krispos42]

6. But... but... if we tax them.... they'll whine about it! n/t