I'm completely on the side of people in the USA who raise their voices against the level of income inequality we're seeing here. Â (And no, I'm not advocating some sort of government mandated redistribution, just policies that encourage a market where extreme wealth concentration isn't as big of a problem.)
However, I wonder how many of us recognize the fact that we're all the 1% when compared to much of the rest of the world.Â
The idea makes me uncomfortable because I like my stuff and don't want to give it up! Â
Then I think about how that's analogous to the 1% here in the US, and suddenly I've got a lot more empathy.  Not that it changes my stance on the matter, but it makes it harder to frame the 1% as the bad guys and the rest of us as the good guys.
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I recently lived in a community where I was viewed as one of the 1% (within that community, I was). I'm not rich, but I am suddenly very aware of how it feels to live on the other side.
This may help. http://www.globalrichlist.com/
+Ed Wiebe Am I missing something or are you?  As I said, I'm well aware that your average American is the 1% to the rest of the world.
+Barry Blatt That doesn't contradict what I said at all so I'm not sure what you mean by "But you aren't"
Just because many less people are less poor than they were before, doesn't mean that there aren't still millions who fit the criteria I mentioned.
I mean, I completely agree that the world is getting richer and much of that wealth is in the hands of the previously destitute. Â That doesn't change the fact that your average american household income of around 50k is well below 1%. Â Having an income of 50k puts you in something like the .5%!
I don't think you have to give up anything significant to let others catch up. You might if they all moved here all at once but otherwise you just want to support them in getting on their feet.Â
+Ed Wiebe By this anyone making more than $32,400 would be in the top 1% in the world.  Cool
I have considered this and still have no empathy for the super rich. When you've accumulated so much money that it is acting to unbalance/destabilize the economy of not just the county you're in, but the world…
The gap in dollars between the poorest people and the world and the American middle class (or what's left of it) is large. The gap in dollars between the American middle class and the super-rich is gigantic. There isn't a meaningful comparison to be made.
By taking my yearly income and splitting it up, you could pay maybe three people barely livable poverty wages. Take the wealth of a person worth a couple billion dollars and split it up, you could pay roughly a hundred thousand people that same poverty wage.
+Dustin Wyatt I'm not criticizing you. I'm merely linking to an interesting web page that seemed related to precisely the point you mentioned.Â
+Toby Gibbis As I stated, the reason I have empathy for the rich is not because of what they could or could not do with their money, but because I recognize that it's difficult to change your life to make the life of others that you don't know better.  Particularly if you haven't done anything wrong to get where you're at.
This is the analogous relationship between you, me, and the super rich.Â
Your argument is the reason why I think super-large income inequality is bad, my argument is why I won't demonize the super-rich (unless they're bad people…but then I have no problem with demonizing bad people no matter what their income level).
+Alan L. Rife That's wildly interesting. I am top 1% by income, but only 7% by wealth. That's a pretty large discrepancy.
+Dustin Wyatt Ah, ignore me, I got it wrong, I was under the impression the gain in wealth in the old third world was more substantial than it was. Engage brain before keyboard.