Fairness

Life is not fair.

Both due to genetics and heritage we start off unequally.

Some people are born to wealthy or rich parents.  Some are born with physical and mental attributes that exceed the average person.

Many successful people, seem unaware of the advantages they started with.  There are of course people who have overcome the disadvantages of their birth and achieved success.  This is the exception and while you see many books, written by successful people that talk about how they succeeded because of hard work, and they did, there were just as many people who worked as hard who didn't succeed.

If you don't have the natural ability it doesn't matter how much you practice singing, you will not become a star.

Economically it is a bit more equal, one can achieve some success despite the disadvantages of being born poor, with a little help.

The real question is what should society do to help those who for various reasons, are unable to help themselves?

This is not a new problem, it existed since the earliest days.  The poor are mentioned in the bible and there is plenty of historical mention of the poor.

In some ways we have been fortunate in this country.  For much of our history we were growing and creating jobs that required minimal skills but paid well.

This led to unprecedented national wealth and a standard of living for many that was the envy of the world.  Not everyone shared in this but most did.

Then the robots started to take over.  There are so many jobs that went away because of the rise of automation that we see a large group of Americans with limited opportunities.  Its not their fault but they are the victims of it.  The benefits accrue to the owners and the investors and we see the great increase in wealth inequality in this country.

Is there a solution?  We have to find one.  We can't just turn back the clock.