[quote]tGunslinger wrote:
Go ahead, lecture me on American wealth distribution. I mean, an Arab in Sweden who’s never set foot in America surely knows more about it from reading an internet article than I, an American who has spent my entire life here, do. [/quote]
Oh, I’ve been to the US alright. Just not post 9/11.
Washington scared me the most.
Let’s end this debate once and for all.
If you take the top 1% wealthiest and the 1% poorest, the gap is HUGE, and easily tops global rankings.
That’s what I mean by divide/gap.
Hmmm…interesting revelation. You’re telling me that “you know what you know”, and no amount of data will make you reconsider your position.
[quote]lixy wrote:
If you take the top 1% wealthiest and the 1% poorest, the gap is HUGE, and easily tops global rankings.
That’s what I mean by divide/gap.
[/quote]
Why does this even matter? When all the girls in my high school got new cars from daddy, you didn’t hear me cry about how my paid made me pay for his crappy '85 Nissan Pulsar. I just smiled at the fact that I had a car and still felt like a king.
[quote]lixy wrote:
I mean, how stupid do you have to be to judge a billion and a half people based on movies or the six o’clock news?
[/quote]
Cool Brother Malcolm quote!
Unfortunately, we have to get our ideas from somewhere and portryals of Muslims (or anyone) in media is about it. I don’t plan on living in Iran or Syria anytime soon, so I have my ideas through that MSM ‘lens’.
[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
lixy wrote:
If you take the top 1% wealthiest and the 1% poorest, the gap is HUGE, and easily tops global rankings.
That’s what I mean by divide/gap.
Why does this even matter? When all the girls in my high school got new cars from daddy, you didn’t hear me cry about how my paid made me pay for his crappy '85 Nissan Pulsar. I just smiled at the fact that I had a car and still felt like a king.
mike[/quote]
Mike,
lixy believes in wealth redistribution and considers it a zero sum game. As if joe millionaire became filthy rich by taking away from johnny poor.
Lixy,
How would you propose that the US go about eliminating or reducing this supposedly appalling wealth gap? Would you put a cap on personal income?, or simply robin hood all of the money from the rich? I’m curious.
If you take the top 1% wealthiest and the 1% poorest, the gap is HUGE, and easily tops global rankings.
That’s what I mean by divide/gap.
[/quote]
Yes let us end this once and for all.
Taking the liberty to quote myself:
What you do NOT mention however is that mobility between the income quintiles is as high as ever in the US.
“But everyone is getting richer. In real dollars, every quintile has posted significant annual increases over the past 35 years, ranging from $3,000 for the lowest quintile to $13,000 for the middle quintile to over $25,000 for next-to-highest one. And the individuals in those quintiles change all the time, something even The New York Times, which wrings its hands on class matters like an obsessive-compulsive, admits. Urban Institute economists Daniel P. McMurrer and Isabel V. Sawhill estimate that between 25 percent to 40 percent of individuals switch quintiles in a given year and that “rates of mobility have not changed over time.” Research tracking individuals in the lowest income quintile in 1968 found that 23 years later, 53 percent were in a higher quintile and that half had spent at least a year in the top income quintile.”
So while being right with the facts you do not understand what they mean.
The guy getting “richer and richer” today in the US, could have been dirt poor 10-20 years ago.
So the gap you mention is between INCOME GROUPS, not people, and EVERYONE has a solid chance of making it into those higher income groups.
Question along, nothing wrong with that. But make sure to substantiate your accusations.
My assertion was in no way duplicitous. Please stop inferring weird stuff without proper proof.[/quote]
and then in the very next post;
[quote]lixy wrote:
True. But when people from the same group happen to be very influent in shaping US foreign policy, one should take the time to ponder the implications of such seemingly innocuous things.
[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
Why does this even matter? When all the girls in my high school got new cars from daddy, you didn’t hear me cry about how my paid made me pay for his crappy '85 Nissan Pulsar. I just smiled at the fact that I had a car and still felt like a king. [/quote]
You are an exception.
For most people, happiness is relative. That is, their happiness don’t depend on what they have. Rather, it’s how they compare to others that matter.
Not saying it’s OK to behave in that way, but it’s simply the prevailing observation among sociologists and psychologists.
[quote]bigflamer wrote:
lixy believes in wealth redistribution and considers it a zero sum game. As if joe millionaire became filthy rich by taking away from johnny poor. [/quote]
You’ll never hear me say that. I know it’s a lot more complicated than that. Of course, Joe’s new factory is probably responsible for the asthma of Johnny’s son.
Joe’s ranch that’s a dozen miles square certainly eats up on the domain where Johnny can take his sheep to bulk up. Joe’s portfolio of patents screws up Johnny who wanted to write a software for the common good. Johnny also can’t afford to cure his wife because of the same stupid IP laws.
I’m afraid there’s no workaround. Greed will always prevail in the current system.
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
I’ll let you in on a little secret. In European movies (French movies especially) any American is always an arrogant, stupid fuck.[/quote]
There’s no conspiracy. It’s a fact that, when compared to Muslims, Jews dominate Hollywood.[/quote]
True, but that’s akin to saying when compared to you, I dominate the weather.
The highest paid people aren’t predominantly Jewish (many weren’t born in America either).
Keanau Reeves was born in Beruit.
Tom Cruise was born,
Bruce Willis (who has “killed dozens of terrorists”, none Muslim or Arab) was born in West Germany.
Cinematic power? Equally represented? This is retarded, either there is a free system where amorphous groups will transiently come into power or it will be state dominated and mandated. Personally, I prefer the free market system.
Edit: Please disregard this post, computer/user error.
[quote]lixy wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
Why does this even matter? When all the girls in my high school got new cars from daddy, you didn’t hear me cry about how my paid made me pay for his crappy '85 Nissan Pulsar. I just smiled at the fact that I had a car and still felt like a king.
You are an exception.
For most people, happiness is relative. That is, their happiness don’t depend on what they have. Rather, it’s how they compare to others that matter.
Not saying it’s OK to behave in that way, but it’s simply the prevailing observation among sociologists and psychologists.[/quote]
Most people are only happy when other people are miserable. Should we appeal to them?
Growing up, my father often told me the story about the difference between the Americans and the French.
When American workers see the boss drive by in a Cadillac, they say “One day I’m going to be the boss, and it’ll be me driving a Cadillac.”
When French workers see the boss drive by in a Porsche, they say “One day we will have a revolution, and he will have to drive to work like the rest of us!”
[quote]pookie wrote:
Wreckless wrote:
I’ll let you in on a little secret. In European movies (French movies especially) any American is always an arrogant, stupid fuck.
I think those are called “documentaries.”
[/quote]
Good one.
I think the news suffice though. Watching Bush and Cheney shamelessly throw in the “spread[ing] freedom and democracy” line, always cracks me up.
[quote]tGunslinger wrote:
CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
How many movies can you think of where the hero (or otherwise “good guys”) was/were Arab? Especially in a movie that did not have other Arabs as the “bad guy(s)”?
I’m not a big movie buff, so I cant really think of any.
But I can certainly think of movies that have made whites, blacks, Native Americans, and Asians the “good guy” (while not also making other the bad guys).
The Mummy.
Good Guy (an Arab) [/quote]
Well technically he did play an Arab bloke in the movie, but Oded Fehr is actually Israeli, born to Jewish parents in Tel Aviv, he also served in the Israeli Navy, although my understanding is that he isnt a practicing Jew. His wife is American and is a practicing Christian.
He is a great actor, I loved him in Sleeper Cell, he was the best character in the whole series IMO.