Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

More than half of Americans make less than $30K/yr. Income Inequality, the difference between the highest paid 1% in this nation and the majority of wage-earners, is usually debated as “fairness,”and even liberty-abiding people are cannot fully excuse the ridiculous disparity of income for jobs that many people could do if given the chance. A lucktocracy creates extreme winners: in the last century, high marginal tax rates discouraged greed, but a Baby-Boom Conservative-voting demographic allowed Ronald Reagan to lower marginal tax rates, which were further reduced by Bill Clinton, and suddenly greed was rewarded and it made sense to leverage for as much salary as possible because you got to keep most of it no matter how much.

Increasing Income Inequality creates a de facto Class system, and violates the social contract of “I'll obey your laws & let my children fight in your wars as long as you maintain the promise of equal opportunity & equal protection under the law.” At some point the 1% became special, distorted caricatures of conspicuous consumption & ostentatious wealth that normal people correctly interpreted as totally disproportionate to the amount of effort to get it. The skews the perception of work ethic, engenders distrust & reinforces the idea of a lucktocracy; worse yet, it creates an atmosphere of extreme dog-eat-dog, second-place-is-the-first-loser competitive mentality that leaves nothing for anyone else.