Friday, December 06, 2019

Income inequality



It's trendy to preach about the "evils" of income inequality, but I won't be joining the chorus. That someone else makes more money than me-- even a lot more-- doesn't harm me.

Income comes in because someone is providing something lots of people want. This want gives it value. There's no downside to me from that.

It doesn't directly matter to my finances how much money you have. In fact, I want you to be as rich as you possibly can, regardless of how much I have.

Now, if someone got their money through "the political means" then it's not "income" anyway (thieves don't own the stolen property they possess), so it can't really be part of this discussion. Using "the political means" in any manner to gain money is archation. As is the attempt to "solve" income inequality through "taxation" or any other political policy or legislation.

I don't judge my income by what anyone else makes, but by whether it is enough to meet my expenses this month.

Yes, I wish my income was a lot higher than it is. But someone else's higher income doesn't harm me in the slightest-- not even if their income is thousands of times what mine is. It might even help me if they choose to use some of that income in ways that make my life better. Rich people start businesses that improve my life; they fund good things, and they buy things. Sometimes, even from me.

I can disagree with how they use their money-- especially if they fund political violations of my life, liberty, and property, but that's not a problem with income inequality, it's a problem of ethics.

The sad reality is that my contribution to society isn't very income-generating. Nothing I've ever done has been. But that's not the fault of some random rich person out there. It's my fault. For me to whine about the income inequality between me and someone else would be a dumb waste of time and energy. It's childish. The other person is probably just contributing more than I am. Such is life. They may be smarter and better looking, too. Should I whine about that and demand the government gang step in and fix that inequality as well?
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Writing to promote liberty is my job.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support. If so...
YOU get to decide if I get paid.

7 comments:

  1. http://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf

    6 pages

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

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    Replies
    1. I'll bet you knew I thought of ol' Harrison while writing that. ;)

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    2. good for people to read and reflect.
      also short enough that more may read it.

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  2. and, a great image: Andrew Jackson. who shut down Second Bank of the U.S.

    https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/andrew-jackson-shuts-down-second-bank-of-the-u-s


    "On January 1, 1835, Jackson paid off the entire national debt, the only time in U.S. history that has been accomplished."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson

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  3. Nicely said, Kent.

    To be free of envy is very liberating. Or maybe it's best said the other way around: to succumb to envy is to doom oneself to unhappiness. There will ALWAYS be someone richer, prettier, more popular, who travels to more interesting places. It's great not to be bugged by that.

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    Replies
    1. For sure. I can't imagine how miserable it would be to let that sort of thing eat at you.

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  4. the need to aggress against others must be like that- a miserable thing eating at sociopaths, that make them want to destroy the liberty in others.

    ReplyDelete