tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807447.post111584687704311714..comments2023-09-08T03:25:12.539-05:00Comments on Liberal Jesus: Ante up!Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17980181582122445265noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807447.post-1116010349586163712005-05-13T13:52:00.000-05:002005-05-13T13:52:00.000-05:00I wrote a rather long comment and was robbed by bl...I wrote a rather long comment and was robbed by blogger - down for maintenance.<BR/><BR/>So I'll just say: you don't even have to be poor or minority to experience corporate oppression, and refer to www.hmoappeals.com - if anyone wants to see what a middle class white guy has gone through with our system of health care.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14770384445526387065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807447.post-1115919370104411882005-05-12T12:36:00.000-05:002005-05-12T12:36:00.000-05:00Okay, so I agree. We should empower the poor, we ...Okay, so I agree. We should empower the poor, we should try to see some equal distribution of resources. But the big question I want an answer to is how do we do that? What are some practical ways for us to empower the little guys and give the finger to the big guys?<BR/><BR/>K-rewx makes an interesting point (through Koch) that perhaps the state should contract out education and similar pursuits, but it seems to me that unless we can convince the poor that education is a worthwhile pursuit, it won't much matter WHO runs the system, it will fail, at least for them. So how do we do that?<BR/><BR/>I've heard an interesting dialogue that the answer is for suburban churches to adopt one family a piece, find them affordable housing in the suburbs and teach them and their children the morality and values of suburbia. Some will say this will work better than taking our own suburban values to the city, where existing pressures are too much for young people and their families to handle, and I'm told that studies have shown that children more or less rise to the level of their peers, regardless of who and where those peers happen to be. Would this work?A. Lohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06430652640201646933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807447.post-1115870731966198482005-05-11T23:05:00.000-05:002005-05-11T23:05:00.000-05:00The 80/20 Principle (based on the work of Italian ...The 80/20 Principle (based on the work of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto) has played a key role in the development of our digital world. IBM and other computer types have almost claimed the principle for their own, but Pareto's work was discovered in a study of the distribution of wealth. His finding: The distribution of wealth across the population was predictably unbalanced.<BR/><BR/>In what he claims is the first book on the 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch weighs in with some thoughts that I hope will contribute to this discussion.<BR/><BR/>"The 80/20 Principle asserts that imbalance is natural, but not that what is natural is right." p. 239<BR/><BR/>"The essence of the 80/20 Principle is that it wants to improve on what it observes and is a powerful tool for so doing." p. 240<BR/><BR/>"The really serious issue is not unemployment or poverty but inequality. [sounds like a spiritual twist, doesn't it?]<BR/>Growing social inequality, in societies where the overall level of wealth is rising, is the real issue we should all be debating. It is clear that, in the absence of redistribution of wealth, free markets imply unequal wealth and that increasingly free markets create increasing inequality. This is happening fastest in those countries, such as the United States, Great Britain, and parts of Asia, that have made their markets the freest and that have increased this freedom over time. The 80/20 Principle explains why it is happening: 80 percent of what is useful and valued (measured democratically by consumers' free purchases) is created by 20 percent of the workforce. If markets are unobstructed, rewards will be unequally distributed because value is unequally created." p. 245<BR/><BR/>Notice that Koch also prophecies: "There will be an upsurge, over the next 10-20 years, in managerial unemployment." p. 244. [This means that many of us middle class folk will be dropping out of the middle class and spiraling down in the economic scale if free markets are not restricted toward equality.]<BR/><BR/>Koch's conclusion: "There is no reason in essence why an interventionist approach could not be successful in any area of social policy." p. 254.<BR/><BR/>However, Koch argues against the state taking on this intervention through government run entities. Instead he suggests that the state contract out education and similar pursuits. In regard to economic affairs he says: "arbitrage and efficiency will be best served by the state intervening as little as possible in economic affairs." p. 258.<BR/><BR/>Koch also points out that the history of capitalism is the history of higher living standards and higher levels of employment. New technologies and purchasing power call forth even newer technologies, higher standards of living and new kinds of jobs.K-Rewxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09168955285167152283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807447.post-1115865910751542982005-05-11T21:45:00.000-05:002005-05-11T21:45:00.000-05:00Bryan, thanks for being our local libertarian.You ...Bryan, thanks for being our local libertarian.<BR/><BR/>You ask a good question: Why isn't it enough to have a government and economy with no legal barriers to entry?<BR/><BR/>My answer is: Because we can do better. We can't simply legislate a system in which everyone starts out with good parents, a safe neighborhood, two 500's and five 100's. But we can create a system in which the gap between rich and poor is not so great that certain classes of people are practically excluded from the market.<BR/><BR/>One of the tell-tale signs that the market is oppressive is this: There's not much movement between socioeconomic classes. <BR/><BR/>Our wealthiest people have similar skin color and similar backgrounds.<BR/><BR/>And if the system were just, don't you think there would be more movement? Don't you think that your co-workers would have more varied backgrounds? Don't you think there would be more janitors who come from the suburbs, and more CEOs who come from the inner city?Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17980181582122445265noreply@blogger.com