Easy way to double the net worth of 60% of all US households
- Thread starter futurecurrents
- Start date
On real estate, they would have plenty of time before the law was passed in order to get rid of it - even at a huge discount.
You know, as I do, that the rich would flee the country completely. Let's see - hang around and give up all my wealth or run with what I can get out?
Why do you refuse to simply acknowledge that's exactly what would happen? Come on, Ricter. You can do it.
We can't just "take" money from people just because they have it. That's a crime. Nor should we create a tax for the sole purpose of redistributing it among others. That, if not illegal is certainly immoral.
Certainly I would like to see the modern day corporate tycoons be a little more like Henry Ford. It would be nice if they had as much concern for their employees as they do for the boardroom boyz club and the shareholders. All that seems unlikely given the current climate of I got mine and fuck you attitude of corporate America.
On the other hand it would be nice to see the unemployed and under employed make a better effort towards self improvement before running to Uncle Sugar with their hand out. That seems unlikely as well given the continuing government failure to do anything but give hand outs rather than facilitate a job growth type economy. Add to that we have both the government and corporate America pushing for slave labor via illegal immigrants magically becoming legal with the wave of a wand.
All that said, there is no easy fix. The jobs that are gone are gone for good, and the ones being offered in their place leave much to be desired. The cold hard truth seems to be that America has our best days behind us for the country at large. A few will do very well. A few more will get along OK, but a growing majority will sink further into a working poor category with little expectation of ever getting out of that status.
Certainly I would like to see the modern day corporate tycoons be a little more like Henry Ford. It would be nice if they had as much concern for their employees as they do for the boardroom boyz club and the shareholders. All that seems unlikely given the current climate of I got mine and fuck you attitude of corporate America.
On the other hand it would be nice to see the unemployed and under employed make a better effort towards self improvement before running to Uncle Sugar with their hand out. That seems unlikely as well given the continuing government failure to do anything but give hand outs rather than facilitate a job growth type economy. Add to that we have both the government and corporate America pushing for slave labor via illegal immigrants magically becoming legal with the wave of a wand.
All that said, there is no easy fix. The jobs that are gone are gone for good, and the ones being offered in their place leave much to be desired. The cold hard truth seems to be that America has our best days behind us for the country at large. A few will do very well. A few more will get along OK, but a growing majority will sink further into a working poor category with little expectation of ever getting out of that status.
Good post, Cap'n.
I'll add only that history shows that from time to time, when inequality has reached an extreme, and there's a triggering crisis of some sort, the "peasants" rise up and (try to) take from the wealthy. One doesn't have to like this, but with a little reading of history one can hardly deny it. Under such circumstances, when the inequality is "de-legitimized", but before a crisis, it would be better for everyone to manage the redistribution as non-violently as possible. But this kind of violent uprising seems pretty far-fetched to us here, today, since no one is actually starving or dying of exposure: thanks to the social safety net! But even our own history has instances of the poor taking to the streets and getting "messy". Many such examples can be found during our last spike in inequality.
This thread, and FC's suggestion is to confiscate the wealth of all the "rich". Bam, done. My whole point is that it was a stupid suggestion, as not only should it not be done, but it can't be done - ever.
Now, if you're talking about revolution or something, then sure. But the likely people to suffer the most in such a revolution is the government. Inequality breeds contempt, but inequality coupled with corruption is far, far worse.