Why Facebook and Google+ are headed in opposite directions

[Islandman]

Well not quite, because while inequality has grown in recent times so has the size if the pie ( or pudding) grown even faster. So in fact we are collectively all richer.

Nonetheless the rate of growth of global inequality is untenable and must be addressed for long term stability.

[Rockman]

Collectively richer?
We were collectively richer under slavery Islandman.Besides,if the only upward movement was in the top 1%,wouldn't we still be collectively richer Sir?

[Islandman]

No we were not collectively richer under slavery.

And no. upward movement in only the top 1% does not mean we are collectively richer if those riches were simply redistributed from the other 99%.

We are collectively richer when wealth is CREATED, not redistributed.

[Don1]

Well not quite, because while inequality has grown in recent times so has the size if the pie ( or pudding) grown even faster. So in fact we are collectively all richer.

Nonetheless the rate of growth of global inequality is untenable and must be addressed for long term stability.

It is essentially the same situation s in the late 19 Century Robber Baron period... the Industrial Revolution was also "increasing the pie" and that fact was also used to justify criminal behaviour and gross corruption by the barons.. i.e. that the robber barons' activities created wealth for all to benefit from. That was corrected by the 1920s-1930s meltdown... the Great Depression...then World War 2

140 years later the same construct is in effect.... there has to be some correction of some type

[Islandman]

Rockman, that handwritten letter means more to our generation because we were socialized that way, just as the art of spinning vinyl records means more to a certain generation of selectors.

We are certainly not to accept the ills of capitalism or any system, we need to control and minimize them. Or even better , come up a system that is superior to it. I know of none that exists.

[Islandman]

Not the full story. Teddy Roosevelt and the progressives had already started the movement which led to better working conditions and regulation of the megacorporations like Standard Oil. A new generation of industrialists like Henry Ford saw value in paying his employees more than survival wages, so the evolution was happening.

I will agree that external forces like the Great Depression caused that to happen faster than it would have naturally. That may well happen again if not addressed.

[Rockman]

You have identified the usual suspects-pretty sure you know about Mansantos-I know you are VERY good at processing ...-doan leave me when you make that dash to the hills.

[Rockman]

Well then exactly what are the(realized) benefits for me when "we" are collectively richer?
Aren't we dealing with the same underling benefits under slavery,yeah the is WE okay master.Truth be told every plantation had the means by which to sustain slavery.

[Rockman]

Also,wealth was DEFINITELY being created under slavery.

[Don1]

There are always movements in opposition to occurrences like the 1880s Robber Baron period or even the current one. Such movements merely validate the existence of gross disequilibrium but don't change the trajectory... See Occupy Wall Street which was easily crushed

The issue is that the Barons have so much political as well as economic control that these reform movements are easily sidelined or even derailed entirely...with the help of a compliant press that brainwashes people with its focus on nonsense, half-truth and outright lies (press largely controlled by said Barons of course)

If this weren't so there would be no need for any massive "correction" like economic meltdowns or war

I'm not claiming the situation is all bad...but even Obama is waking up to the reality of the danger of gross and increasing income/wealth disparities

Since he's co-opted and compromised by said Barons...there isn't much he or any president or reform movement will be allowed to do... so I expect further corrections in the near to medium term

[Islandman]

That is easy. The benefits for you is that you can afford to spend your Saturday on the internet debating economic systems, instead of working in the field seven days a week to merely feed you and your family. That is what wealth creation does.

When Larry and Sergey made their billions off Googles search engine, you think is them alone benefit economically? You don't think the youth inna Lagos who can go Google bout any topic them interested in benefit too? You think is Bill Gates and Gordon Moore alone benefit from the PC computing revolution when they made their billions? Henry Ford alone benefit from mass production of automobiles?

Rockman you really not seeing the full picture at all, or you don't want to see it.

[Islandman]

I did not say it wasn't, I said we were not collectively richer under slavery than we are today. Not even close.

[Rockman]

Well debating economic policies...does not put food on the table unless I get paid.
How could Google not be rich when they sell info about you without declaring that fact to you?
No one is arguing against the good things about technological developments,it is the ills...as I alluded to with the reference to people going to prison because of the bad things they do.
From out of the defense department you have technological advancements unknown to regular Joe,considering the internet was carry over from the military...,do you really think Gates etc did anything the defense department could not have achieved?

[Sir X]

You know Island, the slave master made that same argument about Africans and themselves in slavery...aren't they better off in the plantations than backward Africa , aren't we all better off ?

[Islandman]

The technology or procedural breakthrough is but the first step. Making said technology or procedure commercially viable is also necessary. Enter free market capitalism.

The internet infrastructure was around for decades, having been developed by the US govt. but until a likkle man created a browser named Mosaic that the masses could use and then went public with a likkle company named Netscape , the internet was largely the playground of the military, elite education and a few elite mega corporations.

That is what the efficient allocation of capital in a free market can achieve. Democratization of once elite products for the masses to enhance our personal lives and make us more productive and ultimately more wealthy in absolute terms.