Quote:
Originally Posted by nota
better we go the euro way
then the GOP plans to turn us in to haiti
with 0.1%ers owning everything
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The reality is that the 0.1% already DO own everything. It's been this way for a very long time (not that that makes it right, but it's not a new situation). The problem is that the liberal "solution" to this inequality is to cook up government-driven "redistribution of wealth" schemes in an attempt to "fix" it. Nice sentiment perhaps, but very naive. Bear in mind that every single thing that government does is tainted by political agendas and agenda. Things are NEVER done just because they're fair, because government wants to be "nice guys" or because it wants to do the right thing. It acts solely because someone believes that the actions can be politically advantageous to them, whether to an individual politician or a party.
Because of this, how and what can government really do to remedy the inequality? The reality is it can't. It will do just enough so that the populace doesn't outright rebel while upholding the status quo to prevent a political coup by the people who really (the people at the top who really own the government and can influence election and reelection chances won't ever REALLY be threatened). So the reality is it's the people that have a little extra money above and beyond what's necessary for peasant-like survival (the middle class) that bear the brunt of government "charity". Government action almost always results in class stratification, which is exactly the opposite of what those who support it are supposedly trying to prevent. The people at the bottom get handouts and never develop the skills or motivations that would enable them to work their way into the middle class, becoming perpetually governmentally dependent, the people in the middle class never advance, being crushed by ever-increasing taxation and regulations and the people at the top get to keep the vast majority of their wealth and power, never really sliding backwards or giving up too much.
So what do you propose exactly? I agree that the wealth distribution in this country is obscenely unequal (note I didn't say "unfair" - there are some at the top who have genuinely earned their place there). The solution however is not to create "equal poverty for all" (which is what socialism does), it's to create equal opportunity and let people rise or fall on their own merits or failures. We can't be any more afraid to let people go who don't make good decisions and who don't apply themselves than we are of helping people who want an honest shot at a better life. This is where liberalism falls flat on its face. It wants equal OUTCOMES, not equal OPPORTUNITIES, regardless of what people do, contribute or don't.