I suppose the vast majority of Americans would describe the amount of money the ultra-wealthy make compared to them isn’t ‘fair’. Guaranteed all of those interested in wealth redistribution would characterize it as such. I certainly do not describe it as such. But let’s go from here with the given that having that much wealth is somehow unfair. If it is unfair, how do we go about making it fair? For those that believe it is unfair it seems their only solution is higher taxes, and this is the point I want to address.
Where does one get the idea that fairness in the distribution of wealth can only be achieved by lowering the wealth of one group of people and increasing the tax revenue brought in by the government? Notice the bait and switch. The problem that is described to us begins with an unfairness in the level of wealth between the ultra-rich and the middle to lower classes but their solution doesn’t involve one half of that equation. What they want you to assume is that the giving of the money to government is the same as giving it to the less wealthy, something akin to Robin Hood. This assumption is completely bogus. The money that is taken from the wealthy is not redistributed to the rest of us. As a matter of fact, it is oftentimes given right back to the wealthy in the form of government pork projects. But most of it, of course, goes to funding the bureaucracy.
And this is the true nature of the problem. The first priority of government, like any entity, is to reproduce, and the first priority of those who believe in so-called income redistribution is to feed government because they are socialists at heart. Getting the money into the hands of the less-wealthy isn’t really a concern of theirs. If it was, their solution wouldn’t involve taking from the rich to balance things out but rather increasing the wealth generation of the less rich.
Don’t believe me? Ask them if they would be in favor of implementing their redistribution plan but in a different way, doing it by bypassing government altogether. Instead of the government collecting a percentage as taxes, rather take a percentage of their wealth and just split it up into direct checks to people. They’ll hem and haw and claim that would never work.
January 4, 2007 at 1:53 am
Why is it making money and/or being ’successful’ is looked upon with such disdain by so many? Obviously, if the lazy sons of guns had as much money as those whom they despise, they’d be singing a different tune.
‘Course, I’m sure they’d blow it all in about a month on cheap booze, Brtiney Spears concerts, X-Box games, trips to Mardi Gras, fake boobs, fast cars, and oh yeah…..a new rap album and guest appearance on the most important show on T.V.: “American Idol”.
Socialism is definitely the ‘word’ for this one. They want as much as everyone else or more; but they just don’t want to have to do anything to get it. They want a hand out. Er…I mean, they’re ‘entitled’ to a handout.