Wealth Distribution in the U.S.

I recently came across this "viral" video, which does a really good job of explaining the difference between the public's "perception" and the "reality" of wealth distribution in the U.S. I really like the simplicity of the presentation, but I take issue with the implied message ... and the unasked questions.



The data seem to show that there are clear differences between how most Americans ideally want wealth distributed, how they think it really is distributed, and how it actually is distributed. Fine. Makes sense to me.

However, the title of the video is "Wealth Inequality in America", which has obvious negative connotations. The clear implied message throughout the presentation is that the way wealth is currently distributed in the U.S. is wrong (or perhaps unjust), especially since an overwhelming majority of Americans would prefer that it were distributed more equitably.

I take issue with this implication, because most Americans happily support a free enterprise capitalist system operating within a political democracy. Such a system naturally rewards a small minority of "winners", who eventually comprise the bulk of wealth owners in a society. How can you support a system that gives every member the freedom to succeed and then bemoan the fact that a very few have succeeded more than most? You simply cannot "have your cake and eat it too".

Similarly, the video also fails to ask several key questions (which, in all fairness, were obviously outside the scope of the video's production). Most critically, if the highly skewed distribution of wealth in the U.S. is so onerous, why have we not experienced massive socio-political turmoil like many other countries have when such a small minority "hoard" so much of the society's wealth?

Yes, there are a plethora of dynamic issues at play here, but I would suggest that perhaps it is because historically speaking most Americans (in some cases, even the poorest Americans) enjoy a higher quality of life than their counterparts in equally skewed economies. Simply put, while most Americans may not be fairing well compared to our richest 1%, we are in fact doing much better than most of our counterparts in other countries where their richest 1% account for a large percentage of their wealth. That is the beauty of a political democracy and a free enterprise economic system.

I believe that everyone should watch this video to understand the reality of our national economy. However, I would urge everyone to watch it with a critical eye and an open mind. Come to think of it, this is also a sound philosophical approach to life in general.