Warning on U.S. Income Inequality

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

http://economy.money.cnn.com/2012/06...me-inequality/

The United States should aim to fix its income inequality problem by improving education for disadvantaged students and raising taxes on the wealthy, according to a new report from a consortium of developed countries.
The report pointed out that the U.S. has among the highest income inequality and relative poverty among the 34 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"The US education system is less effective than those of other countries in helping children realize their potential," the report said. "The United States is one of only three OECD countries that on average spend less on students from disadvantaged backgrounds than on other students."

Income inequality can be bad for health, education, innovation and economic well being, the report noted, citing experts' studies.

Also, the U.S. tax and benefits system is much less effective in reducing relative poverty than that of other OECD countries, the report found.

The federal government should refocus its safety net programs to better address the needs of the very poor and shift away from tilting them toward certain demographic groups, such as the elderly and disabled. It should also simplify its lifeline initiatives, which would reduce costs and improve take-up.

Income inequality was one of four areas of concern highlighted in the OECD's biennial outlook of the United States.

The others include:

Continuing economic policies that support the recovery and avoiding the "fiscal cliff" in 2013 due to the scheduled expiration of tax cuts and implementation of automatic spending cuts.

Addressing long-term unemployment by promoting job creation and providing the education and training needed to raise the skills and wages of the workforce.

Foster more innovation by continuing to invest federal funds into research and development, as well as placing more emphasis on education in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM fields. Some 22 out of 30 OECD countries surveyed have more graduates in science and engineering among 25- to 34-year-old workers than the United States.

The OECD projects that the U.S. economy will grow by 2.4% in 2012 and by 2.6% in 2013.

[FranchiseBlade]

Originally Posted by Sweet Lou 4 2 http://economy.money.cnn.com/2012/06...me-inequality/ U.S. has among the highest income inequality and relative poverty among the 34 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "The United States is one of only three OECD countries that on average spend less on students from disadvantaged backgrounds than on other students."

That's shameful.

[Classic]

Taxing the 'wealthy' is fine but we need to be taxing the major multinational corps. They're the 'people' specifically lobbying to keep the tax code what it is. GE getting a $2billion refund from the treasury [even though its the 6th largest company in the US] that is then distributing its profits to its share holders in the form of capital gains @ 15% taxable rate is fair? SMH

Notice, the media & our politicians have decided to make the wealthy the individuals who earn 250k in previous rhetoric. Not that this story isn't an important piece and factual related to the statistics but it is certainly slanted and placing the end goal of this solution on taxing the wealthy--not the corps. Another misdirected piece of journalism brought to you by the 1%.

[Cohete Rojo]

What is meant by disadvantaged student?
What is wealth and what does it have to do with income?

That article has almost no thesis. Income inequality. Students. Tax Wealth. Comparitive health. Long-term unemployment. Not sure how the OECD connected all these issues.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by Classic Taxing the 'wealthy' is fine but we need to be taxing the major multinational corps. They're the 'people' specifically lobbying to keep the tax code what it is. GE getting a $2billion refund from the treasury [even though its the 6th largest company in the US] that is then distributing its profits to its share holders in the form of capital gains @ 15% taxable rate is fair? SMH Notice, the media & our politicians have decided to make the wealthy the individuals who earn 250k in previous rhetoric. Not that this story isn't an important piece and factual related to the statistics but it is certainly slanted and placing the end goal of this solution on taxing the wealthy--not the corps. Another misdirected piece of journalism brought to you by the 1%.

absolutely...but corporations account for a much much smaller portion of tax rev than individuals.

[Mathloom]

They know what's wrong, but they like what's happening. Thats why they get rid of guys like this who point out their "mistakes":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olKOP...e_gdata_player

I think he was fired as chief economist of the work bank some time ago. His book is caller "price of inequality", highly recommended.

[Damion Laverne]

Our education dollars are allocated poorly; that's why our kids are such idiots compared to their foreign counterparts. Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes.

[bigtexxx]

Originally Posted by Damion Laverne Our education dollars are allocated poorly; that's why our kids are such idiots compared to their foreign counterparts. Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes.

what's fair? the poor don't pay income taxes

[Raven]

Originally Posted by bigtexxx what's fair? the poor don't pay income taxes

It's not a matter of what's fair. It's a matter of what's necessary.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by bigtexxx what's fair? the poor don't pay income taxes

So when you were 8 years old you paid income tax?

[Refman]

Originally Posted by Sweet Lou 4 2 absolutely...but corporations account for a much much smaller portion of tax rev than individuals.

True. But why is that? I would imagine it is partly because of sweetheart deals that some corporations get that result in them paying little to no taxes.

[Refman]

Originally Posted by Damion Laverne Our education dollars are allocated poorly; that's why our kids are such idiots compared to their foreign counterparts. Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes.

Not true. Our kids are such idiots because our society does not celebrate smart people. It isn't cool to be smart. Our society sets Kim Kardashian and pro athletes as what kids want to be.

As long as that is true, we are screwed.

[Spacemoth]

Throwing more money at the public school system is not going to solve anything. Just because you crunch the numbers and other countries allocate money differently, you can't reduce the differences in social dichotomies between each country. Correlation isn't causation. If more money, does not equal more education.

In my mind, if you want poor kids to do better in school, you need to pull them out of the poor social environments that are propagating their behavior. That means less time around their parents, friends, and television.

[RedRedemption]

The free market.
Survival of the greediest.
I'm pretty sure the rich wouldn't give a damn if 90% of America was below the poverty line as long as the top 10% continued to rack up profits.

The sad thing is Hightop would applaud a situation even if it were to come to that, even if he was in poverty!

[DFWRocket]

Originally Posted by Refman Not true. Our kids are such idiots because our society does not celebrate smart people. It isn't cool to be smart. Our society sets Kim Kardashian and pro athletes as what kids want to be. As long as that is true, we are screwed.

True - this is how come we have doctors that come from Poor families and drug addicts from middle class families.

Its also how in my high school, some people couldn't pass the easiest classes and didn't know the most basic Social Studies, yet others did great despite going to the exact same schools - it boils down to the kids and their parents.

[DFWRocket]

Originally Posted by Spacemoth Throwing more money at the public school system is not going to solve anything. Just because you crunch the numbers and other countries allocate money differently, you can't reduce the differences in social dichotomies between each country. Correlation isn't causation. If more money, does not equal more education. In my mind, if you want poor kids to do better in school, you need to pull them out of the poor social environments that are propagating their behavior. That means less time around their parents, friends, and television.

Exactly! you can't compare the education in America with other countries without taking into consideration the Culture of America. The culture here does not value education like most other countries.

[DFWRocket]

Originally Posted by Damion Laverne Everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes.

Hey I'm all in favor of a flat tax..close all loopholes and everyone pays the same rate (except for the poor who already don't pay taxes) - sounds fair to me.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by Refman True. But why is that? I would imagine it is partly because of sweetheart deals that some corporations get that result in them paying little to no taxes.

Because there are only a few 1,000 corporations that really are making money but there are 200 million income earners.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by Spacemoth Throwing more money at the public school system is not going to solve anything. Just because you crunch the numbers and other countries allocate money differently, you can't reduce the differences in social dichotomies between each country. Correlation isn't causation. If more money, does not equal more education. In my mind, if you want poor kids to do better in school, you need to pull them out of the poor social environments that are propagating their behavior. That means less time around their parents, friends, and television.

The thing is though that our education system is a two tiered system. The schools that get a lot of money lift the average up. But inner city schools get less money than some 2nd world nation schools and that's why the education stinks at them.

You think we throw a lot of money into public education, but if you go to an inner city school you will see that it is sub-standard in every sense of the word. It's criminal what is going on in these places. It's one big day care vs. education system. I did AmeriCorp and it was so depressing to see how little anyone cared about these kids, they are on their own. And the place is falling apart. I went to a rich public school that got tons of money and it really is night and day.

[Sweet Lou 4 2]

Originally Posted by DFWRocket Hey I'm all in favor of a flat tax..close all loopholes and everyone pays the same rate (except for the poor who already don't pay taxes) - sounds fair to me.

Yeah, then the tax on the middle class would sky-rocket to make up for the tax revenue lost from the rich. Basically we'd all have to pay 35% income tax.