 begin pgp signed message hash shaNUMBER at NUMBER NUMBER am NUMBER on NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER gary lawrence murphy wrote cool i wasn t aware that the us had lifted it s population out of poverty when did this happen i wonder where the media gets the idea that the wealth gap is widening and deepening all the world loves a smartass seriously look at he life expectancy and human carrying capacity of this continent before the europeans got here look at it now even for descendants of the original inhabitants even for the descendents of slaves who were brought here by force more stuff cheaper that s progress poverty of course is not relative it s absolute disparity in wealth has nothing to do with it it s like saying that groups have rights when in truth only individuals do like group rights disparity in wealth is statistical sophistry besides even if you can t help the distribution industrial wealth is almost always transitory and so is relative poverty even when there are no confiscatory death taxes the NUMBERth anniversary forbes NUMBER just came out and only a few tens of people are still there since NUMBER a time which had significantly higher marginal taxes on wealth income and inheritance than we do now more to the point they re nowhere near the top i ll take those odds it is only when neofeudalism reasserts itself in the form of government regulation confiscatory taxes legislated monopoly corporate welfare non profit neoaristocratic tax dodges and legalized labor extortion that we get slowdowns in progress like what happened in fabian era britain or NUMBER s usa in fact it is in countries where wealth is the most unfairly distributed that you get the most improvement in the general economic welfare more stuff cheaper fewer people dying more people living longer i ll take those odds as well people take greater risks when the returns are higher improving the lot of us all as a result cheers rah begin pgp signature version pgp NUMBER NUMBER iqa awubpyyNUMBERyspxhNUMBERjfNUMBERohaeqlqnqcgNUMBERyvfNUMBERnvywkirrghhdisbonconNUMBERaopcr quzorxealeNUMBERhNUMBERtNUMBERsyklNUMBERdfnt NUMBERkff end pgp signature r a hettinga mailto rah ibuc com the internet bearer underwriting corporation URL NUMBER farquhar street boston ma NUMBER usa however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity predicting the end of the world has not been found agreeable to experience edward gibbon decline and fall of the roman empire 