On 1/16/06, Todd Walton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 1/16/06, Gabriel Sechan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I think its one of the largest problems in America today that the 99% of the > > people producing goods and services get jack shit while the 1% or less get > > 99% of the wealth. > > I think it's a symptom, not the problem. There's nothing inherently > wrong with making more money than other people, or even that some > people make *lots* more money. What's wrong is that some people are > willing to make so much money at another's expense. And even then > it's merely unfortunate (on the societal level).
A little more than "unfortunate," I think. I might agree that it's a symptom more than a cause, but it's highly significant. Since money is power, no matter how much one might chant "1 person, 1 vote," the dollar does get a vote too for all practical matters. When you have a huge dollar disparity, you also get disparity of accountability. So, democracy is chipped away, if not altogether ruined unless you have a "reasonable" distribution of wealth and balancing of power. I don't know what a healthy distribution is or how it should be assured either, unfortunately. :-( > The problem, I think, is the centralization of market power. I'm not > saying I could point to exactly which things cause centralization, or > even which things are too centralized, except in some cases. But it's > decentralization that keeps my nose glued to the computer for 90% of > my not-at-work not-asleep life. It's having power without having to > ask for it. Interestingly, the web isn't immune to problems of "centralization" or whatever you want to call it. Over time, some sites become more popular than others which leads to more word of mouth or press, which leads to more popularity, etc. I found Clay Shirky's essay on Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality to be a very interesting read. -jeff -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
