
Inequality: Why aren’t the poor storming the barricades?  - jamesbritt
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/01/inequality-0
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patmcc
Maybe they're scared of police brutality, being sent to prison for resisting
arrest, having a felony conviction, being unable to get an honest job and feed
their kids, etc.

The status quo allows even the poor in the first world to survive with some
basic comforts - that can all be easily taken away.

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philosophus
This is transparent left-wing propaganda; not sure how it's relevant to HN.

To address the article's question, a recent poll[1] found that only about 1%
of the population answered "inequality" in response to the question "What do
you think should be the top priority for President Obama and Congress in
2014?"

"Jobs" was much higher at 16%. Therefore one might conclude that most people
don't particularly care what their percentage share of the economy is as long
as they feel they are fairly paid and reasonably comfortable. After all, we
could achieve equality by making everyone equally poor.

Furthermore, the idea that most people would rather work hard and earn their
money, rather than seizing it by force through mob uprisings, does not seem to
have occurred to the author. The author is similarly apparently unaware that
where this has been tried -- by the likes of Lenin, Mao, and Fidel Castro --
it was a failure, and a rather ... bloody one at that.

[1] [http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-
ins...](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-
institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1999)

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oluckyman
Not only are the poor not storming the barricades, in the USA especially many
(most?) of them vote against their own interests.

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seestheday
I think that this may be a case where it will take at least generation to
really sink in. A lot of the poor are now on borrowed time. If the debt levels
for the poor stay consistent, then when they retire they'll have nothing, or
worse - be deep in debt but unable to work and make payments. They will need
to rely on kids to take care of them, when they are likely not going to be in
a great position to do it.

In the US there is still hope for a poor kid to learn some skills (e.g. how to
code) and do alright.

If the balance tips, and the average poor hardworking kid has no hope of
working his way out of poverty because of crushing poverty or obligations
we're likely to see a revolution.

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jeffdavis
The premise is so far off, I don't know where to begin. Revolutions have
complex causes, so trying to predict it from a one-dimensional value like
income inequality doesn't make any sense.

Americans revolted over fairly minor issues. Other people stay under very
serious oppression for many generations.

~~~
Kroem3r
Pardon the snark, but I think that you and that misnamed philosophus dude
missed the boat on this one - perhaps you didn't read the entire piece?

The punch-line is that non-participation in shared (public) resources by the
wealthy is a more significant problem then disparity. An interesting premise
having both plausibility and examples. Somewhere back in HN, within the last
year is an interesting study of the exact question focusing (I think) on
education systems. But healthcare systems also work.

~~~
jeffdavis
Perhaps I took "storming the barricades" too literally, but the author kept
repeating it.

If the author did mean some kind of violent uprising, then I stand by my
point. There is little historical basis to think that the sort of inequality
should be expected to lead directly to a revolution.

If that's not what the author meant, what did he mean by "storming the gates"?
I guess it was a metaphor, but for what exactly? What purpose did it serve? I
guess you can say the real point is elsewhere, and the title was just
linkbait.

Regardless, it would almost be a challenge to _not_ read the entire piece. It
was incredibly short -- but I double checked just because you asked, and yes,
I did make it to the end.

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carlosrt
"...the poor man’s $550 fridge from IKEA"?

I'm sorry, but if one is poor they are not buying $550 fridges from IKEA.
They're buying $100 fridges off of Craigslist.

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fragmede
Stopping the Google buses isn't storming the Bastille and demanding for heads,
but it ain't sitting on the couch watching TV either...

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tilt_error
Could I so boldly ask you to take a look at the work of Brian Arthur and
Carlota Perez? They are struggling with these kinds of questions.

