Uncommon Knowledge With Peter Robinson: Richard Epstein on Inequality, Taxes, Politics & Health Care

Source:The New Democrat

I actually agree with Richard Epstein on one thing. Which is definitely a rarity, but when Epstein says that it’s not that inequality is a problem. But the lack of mobility and opportunity for people at the bottom, or are struggling in the middle class, to move up. And I only think a Socialist, or a true Collectivist could disagree with that. That if Joe makes a million dollars a year as a lawyer and Tom makes fifty-thousand-dollars a year as a plumber, it’s not a problem that Joe makes twenty times more than Tom. The problem is very few people are doing extremely well in America economically. While so many others aren’t. So what you have to do is close the opportunity gap. Which would benefit everyone.

So instead of having a society where who you are born to and where you’re born and how you grow up, deciding how well you do as an adult, you create a society where everyone has a quality opportunity to do well in life. Regardless of where they grow up and the income level of their parents, or single-parent. That you have a quality education system for everyone. That you give people on Welfare and low-skilled low-income workers the opportunity to finish and further their education and get good jobs and even start their own business’s. You do that by making sure everyone can get a good education in life. And granting job training opportunities to low-skilled workers. Having a modern infrastructure system that stretches to low-income communities. And real economic development in those communities.

Sweden, perhaps the most developed social democracy in the world, at least among countries with small populations, has poverty. And people doing real well and people who live in poverty. You’ll never completely eliminate poverty and any income gap in any country. But what you can do especially in America, is have an economy where everyone can do well. And what they do with those opportunities is up to them. And you do that and you’ll have an economy where you’ll still have a top 1-10%, but that population will be much larger. But you’ll also have a lot more people in the upper middle class and a lot more people in the middle class. And a lot more resources as a result, to help people who are struggling in the middle class and help people in poverty. Which a much smaller percentage of Americans in poverty.