A word about redistribution of wealth

[Pa(b)st Prime]

Quote from jonbig04:

Great video. I doubt the others will watch it though. Nice to have Buffet on my side!

How do you know Buffet is "on your side"? He thinks cap gains should be bumped up. I don't know what his view is on increased income taxes. Do you?

 

[jonbig04]

Quote from MustPlayOptions:

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn�t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn�t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, �How is your friend Audrey doing?�

She replied, �Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She�s always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn�t even show up for classes because she�s too hung over.�

Her wise father asked his daughter, �Why don�t you go to the Dean�s office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.�

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father�s suggestion, angrily fired back, �That�s a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I�ve worked really hard for my grades! I�ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!�

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, �Welcome to the Republican party.�

Well if we are going to oversimplify tax codes, why not start with today's?, I would like to ask the dad: Would you like everyone to have a higher GPA? "Yes, he siad" Ok here's how to do it. Why not call the dean and ask her to drop Audrey's low GPA even lower by reducing it by one point and boost her daughters already high GPA by one point? Surely thats the fair way to do it? "Thats not fair at all!" I slowly smiled, winked and said gently, Welcome to the Democratic party.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from MustPlayOptions:

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”

She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.”

Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, “That’s a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Republican party.”

I love that story.
Simple yet profound.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from jonbig04:

Well if we are going to oversimplify tax codes, why not start with today's?, I would like to ask the dad: Would you like everyone to have a higher GPA? "Yes, he siad" Ok here's how to do it. Why not call the dean and ask her to drop Audrey's low GPA even lower by reducing it by one point and boost her daughters already high GPA by one point? Surely thats the fair way to do it? "Thats not fair at all!" I slowly smiled, winked and said gently, Welcome to the Democratic party.

That doesn't make any sense.

 

[jonbig04]

Quote from Lucrum:

I love that story.
Simple yet profound.

My story is better!

But they are both pretty damn pointless.

 

[jonbig04]

Quote from Lucrum:

That doesn't make any sense.

Welcome to the people-who-think-critically-and don't-try-to-over-simplify-complex-problems-with lame-stories-party.

 

[MustPlayOptions]

Deleted - misread last post

 

[sho-tim]

 

[jonbig04]

This is supposed to be a discussion

Anyways we are getting off topic. Pabst is right generally, pensions and government spending in general is out of control. But thats not my point.

My point is what is the difference between redistributing wealth from the middle class (via higher tax rates) to the upper class (via lower tax rates) and redistributing wealth from the upper class (via higher tax rates) to the lower class (via lower tax rates).

The only difference i see is that the "lower class" I was referring to contains 90% or so of the entire US population.

 

[Jayford]

Quote from jonbig04:

My story is better!

But they are both pretty damn pointless.

The original story made a very good point.

Obama wants to take money from people who work their asses off, and give it to people that don't work at all. Yes, his "tax credits" are even available to people that do not pay taxes. He wants to give them a check!

If that isn't wealth redistribution, I do not know what is.