The latest edition of Max Borders‘ Ideas Matter update includes an item featuring Southern Methodist University economist Robert Lawson. He puts complaints about the “1 percent” in proper perspective.
If you think the “one percent” is a group that controls too much wealth, consider the resources Congress controls, says Robert Lawson. That’s only 535 people controlling $3.5 trillion — 20 times the income controlled by the 535 wealthiest private individuals. Talk about inequality.
This is a degree of centralization that is simply not sustainable — particularly as, by definition, so much of what Congress does isn’t going to the creation of valuable goods and services, but rather to pay for entrenched power.
To my mind, this centralization is so dangerous that if it were possible to hammer out a grand compromise, I would be willing to accept a minimum income of, say, $20,000 per person, per year (as suggested by Charles Murray) as long as all these resources were stripped from Congress.
