Richard Wilkinson in this book the “Spirit Level why greater equality makes societies stronger”, and Thomas Piketty also explains in his book called “Capital the 21st Century”, the danger of inequality bring to societies can cause significant harm to the structure of countries, to be able to function at a level that does not destroy the average working family. The incident in Las Vegas this past weekend is proof of that.

This below came from Daily Kos

Thomas Jefferson was in France as Secretary of State just prior to the French Revolution. He saw the conditions that would eventually lead to that revolution and was taken: the hoarding of wealth, poor who could barely scrape up the wages for a meal, workers exploited by the rich for no good purpose.

He wrote James Madison a letter about these appalling conditions:

The property of this country is absolutely concentrated in a very few hands, having revenues of from half a million of guineas a year downwards. These employ the flower of the country as servants, some of them having as many as 200 domestics, not laboring.

They employ also a great number of manufacturers and tradesmen, and lastly the class of laboring husbandmen. But after all there comes the most numerous of all classes, that is, the poor who cannot find work.

Here is one more article from Daily Kos

Las vegas shooters leave a trail on social media

They only have to say, is that the government is coming to take your guns, the government wants to control your healthcare, the best way to return to your freedom is to privatize Social Security. All of these statements are a strawman argument. Which some of Americans do believe, and the only way to gain freedom is through a revolution, this is not the answer. The best way to return this country back to average Americans is do your own research, do not listen to the radical conservatives that's is only for the corporations of America. They will not try to promote more equality for American families, which who are the true back bone in the true job creators of this country, and not the top 1%, that only invest in the stock market and collect there dividend check setting around the pool having martinis, they will not build America back to a strong nation like we were before Pres. Ronald Reagan, but promote their own private interest instead.

This couple that did the attack in Las Vegas are America's terrorism that is created by inequality that we have in this country.

The Impact of Inequality

Why do people in more unequal societies have worse health and shorter lives than those in less unequal ones? Why do more unequal societies tend to have more violence and weaker community life? This paper discusses the research evidence on the psychosocial pathways which suggest how and why we are affected by inequality.

How big income differences are in any society seems to serve as an indicator of the scale of social differentiation and social distances within it. The evidence shows that more hierarchical societies incur a wide range of social costs reflecting the corrosive effects of inequality. But why are we so sensitive to inequality? Epidemiological research on health inequalities and the social determinants of health has demonstrated that the quality of the social environment has powerful effects on health. Particularly important are social status, friendship and early childhood experience. The indications are that poor health may share causal pathways with many other social problems associated with relative deprivation - including violence.

Richard G. Wilkinson

Here is more on how inequality affects trust, community life and violence,

Income inequality and health: pathways and mechanisms.

The relationship between income and health is well established: the higher an individual's income, the better his or her health. However, recent research suggests that health may also be affected by the distribution of income within society. We outline the potential mechanisms underlying the so-called relative income hypothesis, which predicts that an individual's health status is better in societies with a more equal distribution of incomes. The effects of income inequality on health may be mediated by underinvestment in social goods, such as public education and health care; disruption of social cohesion and the erosion of social capital; and the harmful psychosocial effects of invidious social comparisons.

The question we have before us, is how are we going to fix this, or are we going to just to pass it on to the future.

Vegas56 -- Thank you for the blog and the links. I wish they would give the employment history of all domestic terrorists. I know the boston bombers were looking for a job for 2 years. I know the LAX shooter was looking for a job for a year.

chuckle8

that is one fix we could do, is to bring back our jobs to our country, at a Livable wage.

10K, I couldn't agree more; especially your closing line where you remind us of the source of so much of this xenophobic violence.

Billionaire sponsored Republican TV, indeed. Not on my nickel! That stuff's evil incarnate, and dangerous.

Hey, I love life without TV. Try it, you might like it. - AIW

The really scary question about this incident is that if we have these ticking time bombs out there; just how many more are out there waiting to explode? If the corporate media is really the major influence behind this event then the group that such people belong to by far represents the majority of the population. This might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Palin -- My usual response is for the 13 weeks when we had democrats in control we had so many positive results that I cannot see how one can say the 1% own the democrats.

Quote chuckle8:Palin -- My usual response is for the 13 weeks when we had democrats in control we had so many positive results that I cannot see how one can say the 1% own the democrats.

chuckle8 ~ I have to side with Palindromedary on this one. I was there too. I remember clearly what I expected Mr. Obama and the Democrats to do as soon as they got in office. Here's what I would have done. Executive order declaring the Patriot Act illegal and unconstitutional. Immediate withdrawal of all troops from the middle east and a close of Gitmo. An initiative to completely repeal the free trade agreement. A plan to undo the Bush tax cuts. A full investigation and arrest of all Bankers involved in crashing our economy. (I'd even tried to make that fine justice example into a public spectacle.) Immediate bills written to institute national single payer health care--as promised in his campaign platform. A full investigation of the Bush administration for any and all unconstitutional war crimes--also, as promised in his campaign platform.

Instead, what did we get. We got a bunch of deers stuck in the prevailing headlights that were afraid to do anything substantial. It was obvious. You could hear the blind fear in their voices whenever interviewed. I'm so sure you could rattle of a list of small crumbs that they tossed our way; yet, the fact of the matter is that we got shafted and it was blatantly obvious. That was quite clear to me by week 6. Thats when I became officially disgusted. If utter failure to even propose any of the issues above is the best this party can do with a fully loaded three branches of government than Palindromedary is absolutely correct--they are completely worthless. From what I saw it was quite obvious that these assholes didn't really even expect to win. Their new found powers surprised and scared them into becoming completely docile. Obviously I am not alone in my gross disappointment; otherwise, the following election wouldn't have expressed so much complete disdain for the Democrat's performance. Let's face it Chuck, if these Democrats lived up to their promises they never would have been skunked in that midterm like they were by the Tea Party.

Palin - We agree on something. We should celebrate this moment of unity. If you were here and I were still a smoker or drinker, I'd offer you one.

Nothing, of any significance, will change to our favor as long as people keep falling for the false hope that is the Democrat party.

I think even Rush would agree with this. He frequently talks about the need the Democrats have for a "permanent underclass". They want the poor to vote for them, but they also want the poor to stay poor, so they will keep voting for them. If the Democrats achieved their campaign promises, no one would need them anymore.

chuckle8: But when are you going to stop following the ruling elite playbook? The ruling elite owns both parties and they use the Republicans as battering rams and the Democrats as sneaky sellouts to the people...either way the ruling elite gets what it wants. It wants to keep people so beguiled, fearful, and confused by using the Democrats to sell false hope and foster the illusion that all they have to do is vote in enough Democrats and everything will be alright. But it will never be alright..the Dems may try to keep the illusion going by trying to convince us that they made some headway but when you look at just what they accomplished, it is just trivial slop compared to what they could have done had they really been on our side. The ACA was a sellout to the insurance companies. We could have had a single payer system but the Obama regime dropped that idea immediately. They should have used their moment of power to really stick it to the Republicans. But, as DAnneMarc said:

Quote DAnneMarc:I remember clearly what I expected Mr. Obama and the Democrats to do as soon as they got in office. Here's what I would have done. Executive order declaring the Patriot Act illegal and unconstitutional. Immediate withdrawal of all troops from the middle east and a close of Gitmo. An initiative to completely repeal the free trade agreement. A plan to undo the Bush tax cuts. A full investigation and arrest of all Bankers involved in crashing our economy. (I'd even tried to make that fine justice example into a public spectacle.) Immediate bills written to institute national single payer health care--as promised in his campaign platform. A full investigation of the Bush administration for any and all unconstitutional war crimes--also, as promised in his campaign platform.

The Obama regime went on to fuel the war machine in the Middle East killing more civilians. They went on to cracking down on whistle-blowers. They continued to create a system that spies on civilians that have nothing to do with terrorism. They continued to support the NDAA and changed the wording to where they could target even US citizens for assassination. You can't tell me that Obama or other democrats are not part of the plan to totally subjugate each and everyone of us for their corporate elitist masters. They are just as guilty as the Republicans but they just use different tactics.

And what did our great expenditures of fortune and lives in the Middle East wars get us? What did we really accomplish? Last I heard the Taliban and Al Qaeda are moving back in to take the reigns of power in those countries. While we move out...they move back in! What a waste! We should have left those country's strong arms stay in charge of those countries. We meddled and it cost us dearly. We never seem to learn. But the military industrial complex are richer and stronger than ever. This country is looking more like the old Soviet Union or Nazi Germany.

As it was in Vietnam...(we, the people, and the people of Vietnam, lost that war...but the military industrial complex won. All those companies used a long protracted war they never intended to actually win so that they could screw the American taxpayers out of their wealth)...so too was it so in the Middle East. The whole idea was to wrangle and amass great fortunes from the people. Now, they are moving once again toward creating another staged enemy...our old "enemy"...Russia. There has always got to be an enemy to scare the people out of their wealth and feelings of peace and safety. That's how they manipulate people.

9-11 was just such a manipulation and it worked beautifully for them. Despite all of the obvious, glaring, indications that 9-11 was not just an operation planned outside of the U.S. by Osama bin Ladin and carried out by Muslim hijackers, it still has many people believing just that. Just the way those WTC towers fell at near free fall speed should be a glaring clue to everyone that 9-11 did not happen the way they got everyone to believe it happened.

And I would add to DAnneMarc's list that Obama should have demanded a real investigation into 9-11 not headed by some flunky that was a good friend of Condoleeza Rice...not done by clueless goofball politicians but by independent investigators who had an inkling of science...and physics...and architecture. No testimony would be omitted as it was in the 911 Commission. And none of it should be withheld from the public on any grounds...including the often misused "national security".

Chicago Matt: I think certain places tend to lose their shock factor when many deaths happen all the time in those places. And especially if you don't live there. How many people in the US get shocked that hundreds of people in other places in the world get killed in a day...especially the Middle East? A drone that massacres several dozen people at a wedding party in Iraq or Afghanistan may not even amuse or sadden someone in the U.S. even for a moment. It's ho-hum...so what else is new? But if that drone did the same thing in the U.S. then the citizens in the U.S. would get upset. Or, if the Taliban or Al Qaida manages to kill, or even just capture, a few American soldiers, then we're all upset and shocked. Maybe if those Chicago area shooters had decent paying jobs they wouldn't be out in the streets shooting people. Thank the Republicans for that!

As for "fitting a narrative"...what?... we can't do what the right wing media machine does all the time? I don't think we do it enough.

Oh You Ate One too: What I meant by "Thank the Republicans for that" was the destruction of American jobs since Reagan. I believe it has been more of a right-wing, conservative mentality to cut back on wages and benefits and offshore our jobs. They've also cut back on schools and libraries and left the city's streets a breeding ground for mischief and mayhem. Kids, whose parents that have been torn apart by poverty and dread and hopelessness have no other place to turn but the gangland ridden streets.

But, I do agree that some Democrats are not much better. After all, they (the politicians..Republicans and Democrats) are all sucking on the capitalist corporate sow's teats, aren't they? There really isn't much difference between the Republicans and Democrats when it comes to dangling from the strings of their puppet masters...the ruling elite.

There really isn't much difference when it comes to their Machiavellian tactics against the 99%. They'll tell us what we want to hear and then they stab us in the back. Obama is a prime example of that. One difference may be that at least the Republicans tell us up front that they are going to screw us. But what they do is rile up the fears and hatred of their sheeple flock by using diversion tactics like obtuse and relatively irrelevant unimportant things. They stir up the irrational fears and hatreds over side issues that have nothing to do with what is really important for the majority of the population.

On the other hand, it seems to me that the Democrats have done some of that as well...they take on issues that have meaning to only a small section of the population and claim victory for the whole population. But what they fail to do is secure victories on things that are really important for the majority of the population. And the one major thing they try to claim that they accomplished was the ACA...but that was originally a Republican plan to begin with...and it was a sell out of the American people to the insurance companies. They dropped the ball entirely on single payer which would have immensely benefited everyone far more than the ACA plan. But, of course, the insurance company puppet masters would not have been pleased with a single payer plan. Their already fat cat top execs and shareholders would have to compete with lowly paid government administration people and they would no longer be able to keep milking us dry, and being the profit maximizing death panels that they have been.

Yes, there are many very crooked Democrat politicians as well as Republican ones. But most all are bought off by the wealthy ruling elite. And, I believe that any politician that doesn't play ball (ie: take bribes) risks going the way of JFK. Unfortunately, the cards are stacked against honest politicians. That may be part of the reason why so many, perhaps, would-be honest politicians buckle under the immense threat from the real shadow government behind the facade of our fake government.

There really is no such thing as a real democracy when the few rich and powerful control the politicians. It certainly is not a "representative democracy" because the elected politicians don't really represent the majority of the people. That's why I say the only way things can change is if the people go way beyond voting...massive boycotts, massive demonstrations, etc.

I did mean to say not. I could re-read them before touching send:) Thanks for catching it.

Palin -- Since the economic royalists own the media, do you have any ideas how we can start massive boycotts, massive demonstrations etc?

ou -- fyi 1% means 0.01%.

Chuck,

How can one percent = one hundredth of one percent?

OU -- After further thought 1% really equals 69/7,000,000,000. Those 69 hold as much wealth as the bottom 50%. 1% is just easier to type. Unlike Palin I do not blame the people who use snake oil, just the sellers.

"OU812" says "I can swallow a lot". If your avatar is any indication, I would have to agree. Lots and lots of nitrate-contaminated, processed meat. You are what you eat! - AIW

Nothing gets by you does it Alice:)

quote] A drone that massacres several dozen people at a wedding party in Iraq or Afghanistan may not even amuse or sadden someone in the U.S. even for a moment. [/quote]

I talk about drones a lot when I teach "War of the Worlds". The whole idea of the novel is, "How would it feel to be on the recieving end of a totally overwhelming force?" The audience for the novel was originally the British at the height of their empire. But it works well for Americans today. There are videos on youtube showing how drones are controlled from air-conditioned rooms in America, and how, for the people behind the controls, it looks and feels like a video game. Where is the honor in "fighting the enemy" if they have zero chance of fighting back? I always tell the students, it's like beating up a 3-year-old - sure, you can do it, but what does it say about you as a person if you do?

Maybe if those Chicago area shooters had decent paying jobs they wouldn't be out in the streets shooting people. Thank the Republicans for that!

Perhaps the Republicans got the ball rolling two generations ago, but what's going to help the situation now? If you were a business owner, would you even consider the rough areas of Chicago or any other city as a place to set up shop? I think what we all know, but don't want to admit, is that even if the economy were booming, at this point, the poor inner-city areas would still be bypassed and ignored and left out of the boom. You can't simultaneously want investment in your community, and then do everything you can to make your community unappealing to investors.

Quote ChicagoMatt:If you were a business owner, would you even consider the rough areas of Chicago or any other city as a place to set up shop?

ChicagoMatt ~ Strange you should ask that question. Last night we saw a documentary about Detroit. It looked like Aztec ruins. It was mentioned that a good size house in the city could be bought at auction for $500. We discussed the opportunity briefly to ultimately decide to forget it. Even as a rental property, not interested.

If you are trying to say that Democrats have done little to reverse this problem you would be right. However, that doesn't change the fact that the problem originated with Republicans; and, if not for the deliberate cooperation of the two parties, it never would have gotten this bad. It takes two to tango. Now thanks to gross incompetence and self serving politicians the problem has grown far beyond the ability of any private interest to resolve. Only the government has the resources and power to fix the problem. If the government fails to do anything about it, what we are seeing is some of our greatest cities being turned into Aztec ruins right before our eyes. Next time I tour those ruins I will do so with a greater understanding of just what must have happened back then.

What a shame! The solution is so simple too. Just repeal free trade and reinstate our trade tariffs. This isn't rocket science. It could be resolved with the sweep of a pen. The only reason our greatest national treasures are on the altar being sacrificed are because of the whims of the wealthy who profit from slave labor abroad. It is not either of the two political parties; who, are just bought and paid for shills of these elite. Political parties serve as red herrings and nothing more. Politicians are paid patsys who take the blame for the real villains who hide behind glass shrouded ivory towers and iron gated cities and guarded compounds. That is why they neither have or offer any real solutions for the problems of the masses. To them We the People are invisible; and, until we get money out of politics we will continue to be the silent unseen majority.

Essentially you watch movies mainly for the sensory titillation and not for the content? Thats like listening to music and never hearing the lyrics.

I'm not going to defend myself too much, because it is something I'm not happy about. But in a way, yes - I have a hard time getting into the "story" of a movie if the picture quality looks dated. As for music, there has only been one change in format in my lifetime - from CDs to digital. The quality is identical to me. I've had a few opportunities to listen to casette tapes, and I found the background static very distracting.

I've never even seen an 8-track. There could be one in front of me, and unless it was labelled, I wouldn't know what it was.

On a sort-of related topic: My students, who were all born post-2000, do not know that the little icon for "save" on Word and other programs is a 3.5" disk. They don't know what those are. It's just an icon to them.

Quote DAnneMarc:The solution is so simple too. Just repeal free trade and reinstate our trade tariffs.

Quote ChicagoMatt:This we agree on. I think we might agree, also, that even if that happened and the manufacturing base came roaring back, the inner cities would still be left behind, due to a combination of a poorly-educated labor force, high crime, high taxes, etc...

ChicagoMatt ~ Not at all! If our base came back they would look for the most strategic locations possible. Since most of those locations were already established and successfully built previously around the country in inner cities they will be the obvious targets for a return. The infrastructure determines where the factories go not the people. The people will always move closer to where there are jobs. Factories need infrastructure to receive raw materials, supplies, and to ship out goods. Wherever there is a waterway near freeways or a railroad track is where the factories will go--even if they have to tear down and rebuild the old factories that are already there. They're not going to set up shop in the middle of the suburbs, trust me.

As far as workers are concerned--especially blue collar ones--anyone can be trained to work in a factory without much education. Even a child can run a machine. It takes slightly more education to do the clerical/managerial work. The really high education, skills, and talents go with the people who keep the machines and computers running and repaired. When a machine or network breaks 30 - 100 people sit around twiddling their thumbs until it's repaired. Those engineers have to really be good at what they do. (Been there, did that.) However, you only need 1 or 2 - 30(or as much as 100) ratio of those guys to line workers. That is why so many ignorant and uneducated people had good jobs here in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. As money flows into an area, the crime rate takes care of itself.

DAM -- At least it doesn't take a lot of thought to repeat myself. The strongest force to restablish tariffs is labor unions. The strongest force to bring back labor unions is the democratic party. One more vote in the senate in 2009 and we would have card check. It you are trying to say that Democrats have done little to reverse this problem, you would be wrong.

It's "You're Welcome".

And hello to a fellow teacher! Public or private school?

Chuck - You're trying to revive something that's never coming back. For whatever reason - Reaganomics, elitist consporacy, internal corruption, immigration, etc... - private sectors unions are destined to be small, local, relatively insignificant, and archaic. Although they may be good for the country and you may be right about how much good they would do, that era of American history is over. Even if card check would have passed, only areas that are already union-friendly would use it. Workers in red states, even if it would benefit them, wouldn't sign on en mass for a liberal/Democratic/Yankee/big-city/Communist or whatever they call it idea. That, in turn, would just push more jobs into the right-to-work states.

It's a fun idea to think about - a return to high union membership. Particularly if it's something you grew up with. I'll bet most people think things were better when they were growing up, and a return to those things is desireable.