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29

Jan

Richard Wilkinson discusses the societal harms caused by income disparity. What is incredibly interesting though — is the implication of the data he presents. Societal problems, specifically mental illness and childhood wellbeing, is directly correlated to relative inequality. Wilkinson suggests that GDP per capita is actually less important than the magnitude of inequality within each country.

Countries like the UK, Portugal, Singapore and … the United States have almost 2x the relative income inequality  as other developed nations, leading to higher rates of mental illness, obesity, and crime.

21

Mar

Distributed wealth reduces the pressure for redistribution of wealth, which stares us in the face as automation accelerates and education stagnates.

From a post on greentechmedia.com, the author was describing the need for energy independence and arguing for homeowners and businesses owning their own generation assets (renewables and even potentially nuclear). The quote sparked my interest though, because if everyone owns their own method for generating (energy or wealth) then the chances of war (for oil or land) and general political instability are greatly reduced.

In an economy where everyone is able to produce for themselves and sustain a relatively comfortable lifestyle, then everyone has something to lose.

02

Jun

Upper classes are a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.
Ayn Rand

03

Mar

Caption reads, “Interesting.  The gap between rich and poor is not as great as we thought.

Caption reads, “Interesting.  The gap between rich and poor is not as great as we thought.