Re: Question re: inequality


"Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dm7uj2$qaa$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Mason C" <masonc2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:9tv2o19fs1lhrkjvkk5n3fven75csjheel@xxxxxxxxxx
>> On Sat, 19 Nov 2005 07:32:16 GMT, Mason C <masonc2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> >On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 09:27:13 -0600, "Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>But a question for you. Earlier I recall a claim that "inequality
> promotes
>> >>instability". The USA has a lot more inequality than France doesn't
>> >>it?
> So
>> >>why are thousands of cars being burned in France but not in the US?
>> >>
>> >We burned ours a few years ago. Remember Watts?
>> >
>> >Clearly the matter is not simple. A "diffuse" inequality and a
>> >"concentrated" inequality are different.
>> >
>> >We had (have?) a black inequality and we had the Watts riot, not
>> >to mention others -- Detroit etc.
>
> Hi,
>
> Watts, Dertoit, Kansas City etc, were long ago when inequality in the US
> was
> less than it is today. As I recall, the 1960s were the Golden Age of
> rising wealth on an equal- for - all basis. That was when they burned
> Detriot and Kansas City.
>
> Siince then, we have become "less equal", and we were always "less equal"
> than the French. Yet they have the most rioting.

One reason why there is less rioting in the US is because the potential
rioters are all in jail. America has a much higher proportion of its
population in prison than France.


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