E is for everyone,Q is for quality of life,
U is for you and me,
A is for activism,
L is for living conditions,
I is a sensory organ...hehe but really, it is for interdependency,
T is for transportation,
Y is this still such a conflicting issue?
But what does equality mean? According to dictionary.com it is:
The state of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.
So let's see if this is really the case for people in the United States...
Equality of quantity: A definite and resounding no. You can compare wealth, resources, opportunity, and respect between the working class and the upper class; with upper class having more of everything. The first two of the four on the list being compared can have no argument whatsoever; it is well known and documented and just plain logical that the wealthy have more wealth (duh) and resources than the working class. Having more money and contacts in high paying employment due to parental connections and friends of the same economic class leads to better employment opportunities and educational opportunities. Sure there are plenty of examples of a working class kid going to Harvard or Yale, but the majority of students admitted to these Ivy League universities are wealthy to begin with.
Now the last aspect being compared, respect, is the most difficult to quantify and explain. Here's a hypothetical situation (although still hypothetical, it is not far from the realm of possibility): the upper class kid becomes a fund manager at T. Rowe Price and the working class kid becomes a bus driver for the MTA. Leaving everything else aside, who gets more respect? The upper class kid has a white collar job that provides him with $162,911 yearly pay which includes base salary, bonuses, and benefits, according to salary.com. The working class kid has a blue collar job that pays about $35,608 on average, including base salary, bonuses, and all benefits, according to salary.com. The two people could have the exact same personality, appearance, and demeanor...heck everything can be equally the same about them except for the employment they have. I think it is easy to speculate that the fund manager gets more respect because of his higher total salary. People will say he worked very hard, is a great guy, and they look up to him. The bus driver most likely will not get the same praise because his pay is much smaller, people feel that anyone can do his job, and people do not want their children to become bus drivers because they feel their kids can do much better. Now therein lies the problem to this whole question of equality, in terms of respect. The fund manager gets more respect because his pay is much higher, but does his work take more heart or effort? NO. An active fund manager picking stocks has the same chance of getting it right than a monkey picking stocks. α (alpha) is the measure of a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis; so a portfolio with high returns and high risk can perform worse than a portfolio with lower returns and lower risk. It has been documented that a monkey throwing darts onto a board filled with stock names did as well as those stocks picked by so called experts. Not to mention that passive trading is easier and in the long run, no matter how active a fund manager is, he or she will almost certainly not out perform an index (Dow Jones Industrial, NASDAQ, or S&P 500). So what I am saying is that the chance of added value that a fund manager gives you is minuscule at best; it is better if people just bought exchange-traded funds (ETF) because the long-term outcome will be the same, but you will also not have paid someone to manage your investments for you, so in essence you are saving money. Getting back to the respect thing....as you can see, a fund manager does not really do so much yet gets a lot of respect. The bus driver has a long grueling day driving people around the city, with a defunct air conditioner most likely and some people yelling at him. He gets more stress than the fund manager and is also responsible for getting people to work or other places on time. So who here does more for society: a man who does something that can be done more easily and cost effective by people or a man who gets people where they need to go everyday. Think about that the next time you get on a bus.
Equality of degree: Not really sure what this means or how I can apply it. Maybe some help please?
Equality of value: I believe this is suggesting that everyone have the same amount of wealth and/or money. While it would be a good experiment, I'm sure that most people would disagree with having the same amount of wealth as everyone else.
Equality of rank: This is impossible in any situation. In relation to economic classes, it can be done but as stated just above, most people would not want it. In relation to labor and government, it cannot be done. No matter what a person does for employment, he or she cannot be the same rank as everyone else in his or her place of employment. Let's have an example of a construction worker. The worker creates buildings, a fine job no doubt. But across the construction site there's the foreman. The foreman outranks the worker because he is in charge of all the construction workers. Should there be a case that the foreman and the construction workers have the same rank, then what need would there be to even have a foreman. There needs to be someone in the leadership of the construction project for it to be completed because orders have to be given in a direct and concrete manner for the project to be built correctly. Also, the accountant in the construction office has a different rank than the worker or foreman and that really can't be changed because they perform different duties.
Equality of ability: Can't be done. Some people are naturally better than others in various things. Some people know how to solve problems better than others; some are faster and stronger than others; some are smarter than others...the list goes on because you cannot teach someone to attain the same ability as everyone else, it just cannot be done.
Until next time. Good luck!
