It's also an attractive destination for people wanting to live in a society that's not completely broken by inequality and are willing to pay their membership dues for living in such a society.

Not everyone's top priority is building a big ol' dragon pile of gold.

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FredPret 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

In what way does inequality break society?

I’ve frequently heard this article of faith bandied about.

But if the rich get 10X richer, and the poor get 2X richer, then everybody is better off.

The stagnant, ultraconservative, ultracentralized economic systems tankies like to propose always end up leaving everyone 100X poorer. But at least they’re equal, right!?

Seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

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Geee 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Wealth inequality is a good thing, but the cause of it matters. Was wealth inequality caused by theft and corruption, or by merit-based capitalism? If wealth is created and concentrated by capitalism, it doesn't cause social unrest.

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saubeidl 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> But if the rich get 10X richer, and the poor get 2X richer, then everybody is better off.

If the rich get 10x richer, prices will rise by more than 2x, leaving everybody but the rich worse off.

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FredPret 6 days ago | parent [-]

These numbers are always given on a "real" basis, accounting for inflation.

Inflation is hard to measure because products get better and houses get bigger over time. But by every measure I've ever seen, purchasing power per hour worked has been going up exponentially or at least geometrically for 200 years now.

If you don't believe this, the World Bank, the IMF, and the US Federal Reserve publish reams of statistics about it.

	▲	Workaccount2 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		People get turned around the axle of income disparity, because what actually has happened since WWII is that society has gone from being huddled pretty tightly around an average income ( a bell curve where almost every household made $65k) to a society where this has spread out further to the right ( a similar curve from $0 to $65k but now with a smushed peak a long drawn out tail going up into the 100's of thousands). There are more wealthy families right now in the US than there has ever been. More people are earning more than ever before. But it creates a lot of societal fracture and strong negative perceptions. When the whole gang is broke, well we're in to together. When the gang ranges from broke, to comfortable, to some splurging, to wealthy, to flat out rich, the cohesion really takes a beating.

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vixen99 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Well while celebrating, let's remember that the dream leans massively on the US. 74% of Europe's publicly listed companies depend on US-based technology services like Google and Microsoft for their core operations. And can Europe defend itself? No is the response most analysts give. It's massively under-resourced & dependent on the US. However, if Russia invades (as predicted by some), it invades Europe. So in negotiations such as they are, where are the Europeans leaders dominating (or even putting an appearance at) the discussion to try to call a cease fire to the appalling tragedy of Russia's invasion of the country adjacent to European territory? Isn't it kind of embarrassing?

Overstaying a visa is an offence and if you've gone through the efforts of getting one in the first place, you should read the regulations. Most of us do and act accordingly as I know from own situation this summer.