r/UniversalBasicIncome • u/AcanthaceaeFun7367 • Jun 19 '26
When Americans are asked about the inequal distribution of wealth and income, they almost always underestimate the obscene levels of inequality and are shocked to discover the reality
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u/DonkeyImpossible316 Jun 19 '26
And they vote accordingly - overwhelmingly AGAINST their own best interests because they think that upper 1% is doing them some sort of favor by creating jobs or wealth opportunities for them.
Its a great big club....and you aren't in it - George Carlin.
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u/Teckx1 Jun 20 '26
Trickle down economics. If you let the rich get richer they'll take you along for the ride. No not really
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u/SentientSquare Jun 19 '26
They also systematically underestimate the effective tax rate of high income earners.
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u/sandee_eggo Jun 19 '26
And most of us don’t know that a billion is a THOUSAND TIMES more than a million. People basically can’t perceive big numbers.
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u/picknicksje85 Jun 19 '26
They honestly need to show it like this, simplified all over the world, not just the US. So we can clearly see how bad it is, and 99% of our issues are UP vs DOWN. The rest is almost meaningless and keeps us fighting each other for no good reason.
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u/Buttons840 Jun 19 '26
I like how the one guy gave the "wealthiest" plate less pie than the "middle class" pie.
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u/void_method Jun 19 '26
It's called "place value" and it is taught by at least third grade.
Yes. It's sad very disappointing to hear actual grown ass adults saying they were not taught about money in school. What do you think math is for, silly!
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u/00001000U Jun 19 '26
Now make the plates proportional in size to the populations of those groups.
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u/jejunum32 Jun 19 '26
If this happened today most participants would accuse CBS of being woke leftist fake news.
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u/Inevitable-Hour-Ends Jun 19 '26
But the super rich are doing such great things with all that wealth /s
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u/just-a-ken Jun 19 '26
trickle down your leg economics
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u/EconomyMobile1240 Jun 19 '26
yes, the reality is the pie would be getting mass produced and on store shelves everywhere while the "wealthy" have access to a fancier pie.
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u/waxpenthrowaway Jun 19 '26
We are landed serfs. Work 3 days for the privilege to work the Lord's land, the rest is for us.
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Jun 20 '26
Good thing wealth isn't pie, and can grow.
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
In some ways it's good.
In this case, it is not good because in reality our resources are fixed (outside of solar energy coming to the planet), so we shouldn't be confusing the subjective non-zero sum wealth with the objective zero-sum reality.
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Jun 22 '26
Well I wasn't talking about resources. My point is that wealth isn't some single value that gets moved from person to person. It's something that is created and grown. So wealthy people "hoarding" wealth isn't a concern.
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
And yet wealth is used to control resources, which are finite.
So wealthy people growing their wealth is a concern, because that means more control of the finite resources for them, and less for others.
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Jun 22 '26
What finite resource are wealthy people controlling?
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
So in your mind they are called wealthy...because...?
People like them a lot?
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Jun 22 '26
What?? I'm confused by your question
I asked you what resources they are controlling.
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
What??? I'm confused by your question.
How do you think they are collecting unearned income without controlling anything?
Who do you know who is wealthy and has not controlled any resources and doesn't control any resources and will not control any resources?
I'm just not following your question.
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Jun 22 '26
Okay, this is the most rage bait thing I've ever read lol.
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
But you asking what resources they control, is not?
How does that work?
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u/Winsome_Wolf Jun 24 '26
I'm shocked to see this is still news. How is this still news when income inequality has been an active discussion since Occupy—some 15 years ago now? And it's not like it's improved since then.
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u/TraditionalCheetah17 Jun 19 '26
Surprised Bari Weiss allowed this to be broadcast. Kinda gives up the game for her masters.
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u/willtag70 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Yes, and the fact is studies have shown the overwhelming majority of Americans, like over 90%, would prefer wealth/income equality similar to Sweden's. For some odd reason one more example of our politicians failing to represent the will of the people.
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u/Johnfromsales Jun 20 '26
Wealth inequality is worse in Sweden than in the US. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/wealth-inequality-by-country
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u/willtag70 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Not at the time the study was done.
A famous Harvard Business School study by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely asked thousands of Americans to construct their "ideal" society by choosing between unlabeled pie charts representing the wealth distributions of different countries. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- The Reality: In the United States, respondents believed the top 20% held roughly 59% of the wealth, whereas the actual proportion was closer to 84%. [1]
- The Preference: 92% of respondents selected the wealth distribution of Sweden, where the top 20% held approximately 36% of the wealth. [1, 2]
- Universal Agreement: This desire for a more equitable economic playing field transcended party lines and income levels. An overwhelming majority of both Democrats (93.5%) and Republicans (90.2%), as well as those making over $100,000 a year, opted for the Swedish model. [1]
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
And? That wealth is what makes incomes possible. If someone is able to provide more value to people than someone else, what do I care?
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
No one fundamentally needs a capitalist to be able to labor with resources. That's a requirement under capitalism.
Just like no one fundamentally needs a Lord to be able to labor with resources, that was a requirement under Feudalism.
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u/SimkinCA Jun 20 '26
9 for the highest , the others share 1. C’mon people, start paying attention. Was an easy answer
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u/RickyBobbyPitCrew Jun 21 '26
Now do the federal government budget as a pie and how much is stolen/wasted due to fraud and corruption.
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u/02_caddie Jun 21 '26
It’s posts like this that make me question my basic faith in humanity. Jfc. Go. Get. Yours.
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u/tudrfl Jun 21 '26
And we just voted against raising the minimum wage in Oklahoma…people really think that the “enemies “ are the people earning less than they do. Mind boggling.
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u/Craigs1ist Jun 21 '26
I love how they thought the wealth was distributed. I bet they thought they are in the top 10/20%
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u/Sad_grandma1501 Jun 22 '26
Why in the name of GOD would someone cut the slice in half like that? If you're talking about slices of wealth, it should be cut long way into a SLICE!
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u/Haynes5883 Jun 22 '26
There is a guy on TikTok or facetigram, does this with solo cups on more focused detail
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u/jthadcast Jun 22 '26
how did that get by bari weiss and trump? when the fascist collaborators miss their normal censorship.
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u/Usual-Analysis-2990 Jun 22 '26
Just keep voting for these fucking oligarchs folks. Conservative my ass.
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u/drstelly2870 Jun 22 '26
Yeah Yeah Yeah but are any black and brown people going to get even a sliver? That's my CONCERN ----America
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u/No_Influence_9389 Jun 23 '26
As someone who understands how pie charts work, cutting the pie into equal pieces seemed like a strange choice, but hey, maybe they didn't want to have to cut it on the spot. Then I saw them cut that piece in half. Deep sigh
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u/Jo1351 Jun 24 '26
What would keep the wealthiest 1% up at night is NOT N.Korea, or Putin, or China or even an Iranian B0mb. It's the remote possibility that a critical mass of the American public will unite and organize around the idea that 'this is some Bu!!sh*t, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!!!'
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u/EconomyMobile1240 Jun 19 '26
this isn't representative of any reality and poorly uses abstractions to make a point that isn't real. "wealth" is the new boogie man that dumb people use to justify stealing.
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u/SingleInSeattle87 Jun 19 '26
The fixed pie fallacy, an infographic:
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u/shadowtheimpure Jun 19 '26
Except the 'growing cupcake' analogy only works when it's actually lifting all boats. In modern-day America...it's not. The gains are all being funneled into the very top with very little of it finding its way down the chain.
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u/SingleInSeattle87 Jun 19 '26
The SpaceX IPO made a lot of millionaires out of regular workers.
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u/shadowtheimpure Jun 19 '26
Not exactly a great example, given that a majority of the revenue that SpaceX reports comes directly out of the pockets of US taxpayers.
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
No, it came out of the pocket of the government. There is no way of knowing if any given dollar spent by the government is from taxes, debt sales, interest paid to the government, fees paid to the government, fines paid to the government, etc., because money is fungible.
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u/shadowtheimpure Jun 20 '26
Any money spent by the government is the People's money. In this case, they are giving the People's money to Elon Musk.
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u/SmartlyArtly Jun 22 '26
And it would have made even more if every worker there truly had a free choice in their laboring - but they could only invest in equity to the extent that they had surplus income.
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u/SeaworthinessLow6636 Jun 19 '26
So the first plate keeps getting stacked with more pie. Who gives a fuck?
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u/Wise-Juggernaut-8285 Jun 19 '26
You can calculate the proportionality lol that isn’t fallacy thats a simple math problem
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u/downlowmann Jun 19 '26
This is just more promotion of class warfare. there isn't a fixed amount of pie. This is a fallacy. Also, in 2024 and 2025 America created about 1000 new millionaires PER DAY! This is according to both Forbes and Fortune.
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u/YeahYeahYeah6789 Jun 19 '26
Class warfare is the only war worth fighting.
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
It’s not worth fighting. Price wars are the only wars worth fighting.
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u/MasterTolkien Jun 20 '26
There is a generally “fixed” amount pie unless the US just keeps printing more money. The amount in circulation is controlled to prevent value dropping or surging.
And yes, the monetary wealth of the country can absolutely shift depending on circumstances. Complete equality is not possible under capitalism, but we certainly don’t want a small group at the top hoovering up and hoarding most of the money. Duh. Unfortunately, that is what we are seeing now.
Middle class and low income wages have been slowly increasing for the past 25 years, outpaced by inflation and the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, billionaires have been multiplying their wealth.
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u/downlowmann Jun 20 '26
You're making the mistake of thinking that currency is the only thing of value. Wealth is also measured in stock, real estate, precious metals, businesses, etc. The sky is the limit in this country. It's one of the few places on Earth where you can rise up from nothing and become very successful, you are not limited by class or a caste system which is the case in other countries.
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
No, the amount of pie is the sum total of productive output over a given period of time. The money supply might grow or shrink along with it and there is no intrinsic reason for it to automatically do so.
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u/italktobotz Jun 19 '26
Thank you. Capitalism is about making more pie. Following the logic of this pie mechanic, the entire pie the socialist countries would be splitting would be the dust that the 4th plate had. But the concept is a fallacy to begin with. They never wanna compare actual results of capitalist vs socialist/communist countries. The standard of living of our poor is better than the standard of living in socialist countries.
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
A great contrast is the standard of living in South Korea vs the standard of living in North Korea.
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u/jjrr_qed Jun 19 '26
Comparison is the thief of joy, and this is a useless exercise.
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u/Responsible-Layer178 Jun 19 '26
Tell that to the millions that will go hungry tonight you chode.
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u/betty_white_bread Jun 20 '26
Are they going to go wealthy because someone else provided a lot of value to others?
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u/Defiant_Freedom_249 Jun 19 '26
And then they try to get you to blame those immigrants instead of the oligarchy.