article

economic inequality

[WHAT]

] by Paul Graham @paulgraham.com - Graham, self proclaimed creator of "economic inequality" argues wealth creation is NOT the problem in US society today and NOT what should be attacked/addressed, but directly addresssing the issues of ] poverty, ] cheaters(tax,theives,corruption)

[WHY]

]

[WHERE]

] READ THE FULL ARTICLE

] http://paulgraham.com/ineq.html

[WHEN]

] 2016-01-03

[EXAMPLE]

] "I am a manufacturer of economic inequality. I've become an expert on how to increase economic inequality, and I've spent the past decade working hard to do it."
] So when I hear people saying that economic inequality is bad and should be eliminated, I feel rather like a wild animal overhearing a conversation between hunters.
] pie fallacy, rich get rich by taking from the poor
] In the real world you can create wealth as well as taking it from others. A woodworker creates wealth. He makes a chair, and you willingly give him money in return for it. A high-frequency trader does not. He makes a dollar only when someone on the other end of a trade loses a dollar.
] The reason they go into finance is not because they love finance but because they want to get rich. If the only way left to get rich is to start startups, they'll start startups. They'll do well at it too, because determination is the main factor in the success of a startup.
] Variation in productivity is far from the only source of economic inequality, but it is the irreducible core of it, in the sense that you'll have that left when you eliminate all other sources.
] You can't end economic inequality without preventing people from getting rich, and you can't do that without preventing them from starting startups.I think rising economic inequality is the inevitable fate of countries that don't choose something worse.
] And while some of the growth in economic inequality we've seen since then has been due to bad behavior of various kinds, there has simultaneously been a huge increase in individuals' ability to create wealth. Startups are almost entirely a product of this period.
] The evolution of technology is one of the most powerful forces in history.
] There are lots of things wrong with the US that have economic inequality as a symptom. We should fix those things. In the process we may decrease economic inequality. But we can't start from the symptom and hope to fix the underlying causes.
] One of the most important principles in Silicon Valley is that "you make what you measure." It means that if you pick some number to focus on, it will tend to improve, but that you have to choose the right number, because only the one you choose will improve; ex univ graduation rate, could be improved by making it easier, doesnt mean students learned more
] Economic inequality is sufficiently far from identical with the various problems that have it as a symptom that we'll probably only hit whichever of the two we aim at. If we aim at economic inequality, we won't fix these problems. So I say let's aim at the problems.
] For example, let's attack poverty, and if necessary damage wealth in the process. That's much more likely to work than attacking wealth in the hope that you will thereby fix poverty. [9] And if there are people getting rich by tricking consumers or lobbying the government for anti-competitive regulations or tax loopholes, then let's stop them. Not because it's causing economic inequality, but because it's stealing.

[HOW-TO]

]

[REFERENCE]

] SRC = HN, comments
x] Sam Altman, Tiffani Ashley Bell, Patrick Collison, ] Ron Conway, Richard Florida, ] Ben Horowitz, ] Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, Tim O'Reilly, Max Roser, and Alexia Tsotsis

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ID: 4893

NAME: economic-inequality

DESCRIPTION: ] by Paul Graham @paulgraham.com - Graham, self proclaimed creator of "economic inequality" argues wealth creation is NOT the problem in US society today and NOT what should be attacked/addressed, but directly addresssing the issue of ] poverty, ] cheat

AUTHOR: article.author/s

EDITOR: article.editor/s

PUBLISHER: article.publisher/s

STATUS: Write

PRIORITY: -5

OWNER ID: 75

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