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Comment by tsss

5 days ago

You don't need an educated workforce if you have machines that can do it reliably. The more important question is: who will buy your crap if your population is too poor due to lack of well paying jobs? A look towards England or Germany has the answer.

The top 10% of households already account for more than half of consumer spending in the US

  • Hmmm, that doesn't seem right. I'm having a hard time finding an actual consumption number, but I am confident it's well below 50%.

    The top 10% of households by wage income do receive ~50% of pre-tax wage income, but:

    1) our tax system is progressive, so actual net income share is less

    2) there's significant post-wage redistribution (social security/medicaid)

    3) that high income households consume a smaller percent of their net income is a well established fact.