Anyway, I don't know if millenials support socialism so much as they reject unfettered capitalism. In my lifetime there have never been so many apparently awake to the existence and implications of rising inequality.
Exactly. To me it's more about the rising wealth gap, which in today's post CU world is equivalent to a rising political power gap.
Yes, the wealth gap is widening, but neither political party has a "solution". The main culprits have influenced both sides of the aisle and it will continue unabated.... btw, that chart of the wealth gap since 1960 essentially illustrates the targeted "asset inflation" economy whereby lax policy encourages neverending equity bubbles/busts to "manage" the fits and starts of the real economy...
Thomas Piketty shows in his book, Capital in the 21st Century, that the wealth disparity we see today is the typical condition. What we saw post WWII through 1982 was anomalous. I have said that the present disparity can be laid to virtual elimination of the progressive income tax structure in the 1980s combined with the compounding effect of continually taxing unearned income at a lower rate than earned. I have seen nothing to convince me otherwise. Steve Forbes popularized the notion of flat tax, which would tax different dollars earned at the same rate. The idea is still around. This would of course completely eliminate the remaining vestiges of progressivity in the tax structure. I wonder if people realize how a flat tax would impact income equality. If you continued to tax unearned income at a lower rate, Forbes was never completely clear on his intentions, it would be dreadful for a consumer economy, I would think. In the U.S., the effect would be to shrink the middle class even more and grow the ranks of the impoverished.
What Bernie promotes isn't really socialism though, and I think people are confused about it. Its more social democracy mixed with populism. True socialism wouldn't have nearly as much of a following since people would find out that they have to give up a lot for it. Still I'm not a big fan of Bernie.
Wouldn't have to worry about "the people" not wanting socialism... you only need 50.1% to want it. The majority will not have a problem at all with what has be be "given up", as they won't be the ones "giving", they'll be "taking". The minority won't like socialism, but won't have a choice.... it'll just be crammed down their throats while they are forced to pay for everything. (We had Obamacare shoved up our collective asses even when the majority disapproved.)
They add content whenever they have something to say which in turn has created a value on the content posted. If you post content that is super interesting before anyone else, you gain followers, comments, and likes. The term "social currency" has been appropriated to describe this phenomenon.