Inequality Myths

The problem now is that the rich get richer by stealing from the poor.

What kills me is everyone is demonizing success while trying to succeed.

In 1950 there were 100,000 homeless in the United States, now there are over 650,000. And your telling me things gotten better? The system is working?

All should read "The Millionaire Next Door". I went to a state university at $140-$160 per semester, graduated with chemistry degree with my 5-year-old VW Beetle and some clothes to my name. Mrs. Cuss also went to a state university and graduated with her used Pinto and not much more. I've never owned a new vehicle, that VW was the newest I've ever had, acquired when it was 2 years old. I worked at same company for 4 decades with pension plan, 401k, and am now comfortably retired. Oh yes - I still have that old VW, which runs, is registered, and insured.

We have no poor in the US.

Those who've never had money are more careful with it than those who've always had it.

Billionaires create jobs!

In the US relative poverty is not over 50%. Whilst absolute poverty has declined slightly, relative poverty has increased. Relative poverty mean that although your income has gone up you spending power has gone done. The biggest areas state here is the ideas that these billionaires presented here are self-made - no they are not. These billionaires did not make the money they accumulated it.

Absolute poverty has decreased worldwide, mut poverty overall has increased 10 fold in the last decade. WHilst it is true that money does trickly downward as indicated in the video but it pours upwards. The top 1% income increase is 625% the dramatic increase is they pay almost no tax <2%.

Although there are some hard working billions and millionaire the majority do very little to earn there income. Benefiting from the work of others. Whilst it is true that some people get lifted out of poverty and become very successful, the system will not allow everybody to. The problem with the current income ladder is some people have to stay on the bottom few rungs. Taking the USA as an example there are now 5M children malnourished. 12 empty homes in the USA for every homeless family.

Because poor people just want to be better off? Its true, but thats a scewed view... there are lots of people who want to do better and cant get the chance to... because we cant get loans for homes or cars that we need to survive because we have none existant credit records because we don't want crippling interest percentages to make repaying debt impossible

I’m a retired remodeling contractor, poor people had no money to hire me wealthier people did. I made money my employees and subs made money, the customer received a service. It was a win win.

Well, since the government can't make me a world class basketball player, maybe they should make Shaq play on his knees, so that I can outscore him. Or better yet, make him play basketball for the same wages that I make fixing cars.

The rich get richa and the poor get poora? 😂 Not sure what that means

The wealth gap in and of itself is not the problem. If someone tells you that it is, just pose them with this riddle:

Suppose you could press a button that would double the income of anyone making under $100K per year. But it would TRIPLE the income of everyone over $100K.

There's the dilemma. The obvious choice is to press the button, that would explode wealth inequality even further but the poor would be better off. So ask if they'd press the button. If they say no then they're more interested in taking the rich down than bringing the poor up.

The problem is laws and lawmakers favor the wealthy. To keep the playing field not level. I could go on forever, but cognitive dissonance kicks in. Well here’s one on for size: doctors have gone to prison, but not one of the Sackler’s has in the opioid crisis. There punishment is to live like millionaires instead of billionaires. Also NAD’s yeah probably created for the protection of poor people right?

Love John Stossel.......remember well the 20/20 yrs!!!....keep up the great work....

Sanders... a fricking politician is a millionaire OFF THE BACK OF THE PUBLIC.... communist leech.

The poor ARE getting poorer. Homelessness in the United States has increased over the past seven years and real wages for working class Americans have FALLEN during the last three, while global hunger and malnutrition has increased throughout the world during the last fifteen. Two facts that corporate-funded, snake oil salesmen like Stossel conveniently didn't include in this video. As for poverty "reduction," that standard is measured at living on $2.15 a DAY, which is a paltry existence even in the poorest countries in the world.

John Stossel's career is an inequality myth. Professional corporate spin doctors unaliving.

Communist rant to bad old Bernie won't be around in 2028

The game is rigged in favor of the ultra rich. It's always been this way. Has nothing to do with working hard or anything like that. That is all mythology designed to keep the rich rich, and keep the poor down. The masses need to revolt and make 'em pay up. Unbridled capitalism is an absolute evil that absolutely needs to be forced to be more equitable.

"So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
They say, "The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light"
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw......"
RUSH

People are obviously all unique with different desires and skills. In the US you can go after whatever you want, no guarantee, but no one is stopping you but yourself. If you are happy with your life you don't care about other people's money.

Interesting how corrupt politicians like Sanders, claiming the rich get richer.
How much graft have you received Bernie?

" When governments make everyone equal, it's always equally poor"(except for those IN government, who don't actually make anything. How is that fair?)

“Unfair is a feature not a bug”
Great line!

What the heck is "economic mobility?"

I’m medium and getting mediumer.🤷

bullshit

"Income inequality" perpetuated by Marxists to the most economically ignorant.

If you’re honest and hard working , it’s actually difficult to fail in America . Yet the Dems are looking for an excuse to explain poverty and homelessness .

I find it laughable that for “good singers” he uses Adele as an example.

Rich people: stop worrying about us having more than you, actually, you should be happy the way you are

This is great news! My dinner of Ramen noodles and toast will definitely taste better tonight.

Yes inequality is evil people who didnt been there wouldnt understand its confortable to romanticise the situation when you are living on an easy mode

Godliness and contentment is great gain. Be happy wherever you are at. I've zero interest in having a mansion or sports car. That fraud Sanders having how many mansions while lying about how evil Elites are. The picture of them in a dictionary shows his picture. Democrats gave him a couple tax-free if he dropped out. Imagine getting millions of dollars to not work. How is that not Elite? That's what Democrats and RINOs do.

We live in an incredible Meritocracy. If your poor you obviously deserve to be poor and if your rich you by definition are the hardest working and most awesome people on the entire planet. It is complicated

Playing rich against poor is as old as communism and socialism. If you fall for this, you're an id10t !!

In fact, most people in their 40s get into the top 40%. Most rich people didn't inherit their fortune. The top 1% rarely stays into the 1% for over a year. When cringe people complain about inequalities and want gov to step in, they just want to "rich" people to be hurt out of envy by taking what they own. This is communism

Forza

In America there's like a ceiling you've gotta break out before you can actually start to make real money that's the tough part because its always like trying to escape quicksand or something. You've gotta be willing to risk big to win big to get rich so the game is kind of limited to certain people or just people who have the money to get even richer. It could be folks are afraid of that kind of power but mostly they want someone to tell them what to do. I have been learning there a lot of folks who have a hard time with freedom because they can't dinstiguish when they're really crossing the line so they want clear black and white rules so no one ever has to make their own thinking or judgements. I would say thats the part of America I hate the most is how rigid it is to change it makes everything so stagnant because it always wants to be the same thing. Its like if Grandpa made a cheesburger and you thought it was pretty good so he made it into a businness which turned into a multi-billiondollar enterprise and your grandpa is dead and no one actually cooked it like him so you made one real cool thing and exploded it into oblivion.. That's how I feel about America. The people are dying for their own. Everything is so expensive and polarizing it makes sense why a lot of people claim to be "lonely". The biggest issue I see is actually health care because if you get sick you're fucked. You're just fucked because for as a massive country as we are there is apparently a shortage of doctors and you'll be waiting months if they ever diagnose you and that's being optimistic. Its literally the Maxtrix how bad it is and yet how well its been functioning at the same time. America is stable but very stagnant so its frustrating not to see the fruits of your labor you have to make certain sacrifices now that weren't normal in the past

Wealth inequality is a by-product of economic freedom. The 80/20 rule applies almost everywhere.

Poor people who stay poor do so because they choose to wait for government to save them. They are risk averse in large part because they've been taught that they have to be saved. Teach them how to take chances and watch what happens.

This premise has no traction in West Virginia

Bezos was gifted more than 500,000 dollars (in today’s money) from his parents to gamble on the start of Amazon. If that failed, they were going to buy him a fast food franchise, and so on. This is the reality for nearly everyone on your self-made list. People starting at the poverty line do not become ultra wealthy.

YOU THE CORRUPT ELECTED OFFICIALS HUNGRY FOR MORE MONEY🤮🤮🤮

Bernie has 3 million dollars homes so yes him being a public servant is a millionaire RFK pointed out bernie got 65 million last year from big pharma, he swolled his tounge and was doing word gymnastics on who actually gave him the money. 😂😂😂

Comparison is the thief of joy..

Not everyone is born with the same intelligence limit, or the same health or the same strength or the same advantages of parents or education. Yet, we argue that effort and hard work are the only difference makers. Simply not true. I, like everyone else I suspect, don't want to give up the advantages I was born with. I admit my selfishness if that's it. And in admitting it, I didn't die or get arrested or rocks thrown at me.
Just about everything about people with advantages is constant arguments why those without the same level don't deserve them and given they are bad people, lazy or stupid, we fully deserve our birth advantages. In which really rich parents is probably the least.
Why not be honest? We are not all created equal in the qualities that give you advantage in this life.
A lot of people give to the poor, in this instance, for the fact it lowers the crime rate. Why pay for prison after you are robbed when giving the poor a tv keeps them from stealing yours. I'm elderly and any illusion about life being or becoming fair are long gone. Only those with advantages call for a "fair" world. Meaning they get to keep the intelligence or health or emotional strength from birth. You get old and your realize poor, middle class or rich all steal and take unfair advantage when they think they can get away with it. Some are just in a better position to profit from unfair advantage.
When I read Marx in college, I came away with the impression he actually loved religion. What he hated were people who used religion to take advantage of the poor and the fact the poor were such suckers for religion in his opinion. YMMV. Lenin, Stalin and Mao hated religion, not Marx.

No way to make everyone equal. If that was true Einstein would not be allowed to publish his theories because he would be required to be like everyone else. We have become so focused on monetary wealth as an indicator of success we leave out other things that makes us human.