3/3/2015 Another San Francisco Smash and grab

Zd542, Touché' :)

"03-29-15: Nonoise
Take a look at income disparities worldwide and you'll see a common thread with every one of them. The countries with the smallest income disparities have the greatest levels of satisfaction, education, health outcomes, the lowest incidences of drug use and teenage pregnancies, lower incarceration rates, and an overall higher standard of living for it's citizens."

That's a pretty general statement. I don't know what countries you are talking about? Not only that, how do you know that income disparity is the cause of all the problems you list? Things like this are never as simple as some people make them out to be. Also, and this just my personal view, but I really don't trust most studies and statistics. Why should I? There's too much influence in the way most studies are funded. Add to that the current political environment, and I see nothing but the potential for bias.

"We are no where near the top and if remember, near the bottom of the middle rankings."

Someone should tell the millions of people tunnelling their way into our country, or climbing over the walls this. Maybe they'll try to get into one of the "good" countries on your list.

Zd542 is right. A persons income has absolutley no indication of whether they will steal or not. Actually studies have shown that people who are wealthy are more likley to steal, lie and cheat than those with lesser means.

Also you have to look at the various forms of theft and the reasons why people do it. You cannot throw out a blanket assumption that good paying jobs will fix the problem.

Cooperations posting record profits lie, cheat and steal at a rate much higher than those near the bottom rung of the income ladder.

*My last sentence should have said cooperations posting record profits take recieve more in government subsidies than those at the bottom recieving welfare.

Zd542,
That statement was simply a result from looking at income disparities and then combing through and collating data and lo! Better lifestyles, higher standards of living, lower crime rates, lower abortion rates, less mental illnesses, better health outcomes and better education were all present in the countries with the least income inequality. There was nothing general about it.

Our country is ranked around #42 (and in one survey is ranked as the 5th worst in inequality) but it's large enough and still has that cache of being a place to start over. Conventional wisdom still dominates the minds of the masses, truth be damned.

What other have stated about simply creating more jobs IS the answer. Keynsian macroeconomics has and still works, if you let it. Our economic situation is not a natural occurrence but one of policy, and policy can change if we (or they) want it to. Sometimes I get the impression that some here enjoy the suffering of others.

All the best,
Nonoise