Why Not Redistribute Wealth?

LOL, I can see the intent of this discussion must be waaay over your head, so you revert to ad hominem. And that must you believe the world and economy is just fine the way it is, can never be improved upon, and you don't mind having financial elite overlords controlling your economic life.

But I DO completely agree about your self-sufficiency paradigm, and that is exactly what I am advocating. The problem is not in being jealous or envious of the uber-rich, or in being lazy. The problem is a matter of barriers to entry, and the lack of equal opportunity in this present economy.

YOU are a self riggteous fraud, YOU are uber rich compared to most of the worlds denizens yet you voluntarily, quietly donate nothing from your heart.
I'M NOT RESORTING TO AD HOMINEM ATTACK, DESCRIBE YOU
EXACTLY AND OBJECTIVELY AS YOU ARE.

I agree in concept of what you are getting at but here is the problem:

Yes it would be good to make sure everyone was taken care of, but the problem is the leaches and those who wouldn't pull their own weight. For those that work hard and do their best but just keep getting a raw deal this would be great and well earned, but then there are those people who would take that "shared" wealth and sit on their ass at home watching Oprah, getting drunk and doing drugs on the sweat and hard work of others.

Example: the other day I offered a homeless panhandler a job to work in our warehouse... His response, why would I work when I can stand out here and get free money.

I decided to hang around the intersection and see what this guy would do after and low and behold he walks across the street goes into a gas station and buys a six pack and then proceeds to get in a truck and drive away.

So you see, it is the freeloaders and leaches that ruin this approach for the greater good, if everyone was willing to do their part and earn what is "shared" then it would work but until then it will only piss off those that are willing to earn their share.

Should the billionaires share their wealth? Probably, but if they truly earned it (yes I know many scammed their way into the money but that is another issue) why should they share it with those that have not or are not willing to earn it???

Proved my point LOL

How would you even begin to implement something like that? Who would be in charge of the redistribution? It's a total fairy tale.

We'll leave that one up to the audience.
I'M STILL WAITING FOR YOU TO 'REMEMBER' YOUR LIST OF UNCOMPENSATED CHARITABLE DONATIONS, so we know youre not a fraud.
You seem so concerned about the welfare of others exactly LIKE YOURSELF, how speshul
I suspect I'll have to wait for a rather long, long while.

I'm looking at the big picture, trying to provoke discussion. Fact is, the world is a mess because of a century of greed-driven capitalism out-of-control. It's a foregone conclusion that the current system is in the process of imploding in collapse. We will pass through a period of economic depression through which many will not survive. I'm trying to figure out what the next economy might look like when it's rebuilt using this present economy as an example of what NOT to do.

I'm not a loser. I work as hard as I always did. It's just that I'm stuck in a system that isn't working for 98% of us.

Any positive, creative, out-of-the-box ideas to contribute?

The above crew is better at stealing and redistribution of other peoples money while enriching themselves in the process than OP would ever imagine

Seems to me the whole problem with the global economy boils down to selfish greed. We have a tiny segment of the world's population controlling an inordinate amount of the world's wealth. The whole system is designed to make the wealth flow upward and those who have it are taking it from those who don't. It's gimme, gimme, gimme--it's mine, mine, mine--take, take, take--I have mine, get your own, fuck you.

Precisely the type of attitude that so-called adults implore their children NOT to do in kindergarten.

Seems that redistributing wealth would be an act of enlightened self-interest for those who have it, so that everyone could be housed, fed, clothed, and educated at a comfortable level and everyone would be happy, poverty would be eliminated, and the world's economy would become a smooth-running, well-lubricated machine in perpetuity.

Everyone would have a high standard of living, be well-educated, which in turn would spur innovation and invention, increasing the quality-of-life for everyone, and enhance creative new industries and technologies that would take us to the stars.

I mean, how many billions does one person need?

Oh, I imagine just fine. They ARE the problem, and the only reason they have the opportunity to be the problem is because the "haves" at the top have arranged the system to their benefit and everyone else's detriment.

Get corporations and their influence OUT of government, get their minions out of government and give the power back to "the people"

MONEY = I don't trust you to be fair with me

We need to share and ditch the money concept !!!

There is nothing that says you can't start sharing yours right now. Lots of people do, it's called charity. But to take from people that work for it, and give to those that don't is criminal. It fosters a delusional attitude in the receivers that they are owed that free money, and they are never happy with what they get, and demand more.

The more money you take from the rich, the less hard they work, and the less they make. Which means they hire less people, and less money flows, which in turn means there is less for the government to steal and give away.

Please remove your head from the clouds.

Which people? the leeches? the workers? the cheaters?

All your misunderstanding stems from the mistaken belief that everyone is the same. People are not equal, they are all human beings and should have a right to not be harmed or oppressed, but we are not equal in capacity nor responsibility.

Most people seem to have some problem to admit this, I don't see why. It would be as if I were to say I am the same as someone who holds a much higher responsibility than me or that outputs much more to the community or the world than me. I am not the same as that person, that person works harder and gives out more than me, so that person is more valuable. That concept seems to have vanished from reason in our societies due to egalitarian ideologies introduced by conspirators.

The people who are running things, the Powers That Be, the ones who have mutated the system, the one who have stacked the deck in their favor against the better interests of society at large.

No, everyone is not equal or the same, or have the same abilities. But tell me there is not a huge segment of the population who are financially and economically-oppressed these days.

And tell me with a straight face, that everything is fine, that the current system is working for the benefit of all.

I do what I can when I can. Not on the dole in any way, pay my own way, and like a 100 million others these days, there's not much left at the end of the month.

But again, you miss the point of this discussion. This isn't about me, this about the big macro picture and the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with things as they are. There is little equality of opportunity, and little freedom for a large portion of the population. It's a treadmill for most people these days, essentially wage-slavery with the banks their minions in government as the masters.

I'm simply saying there must be a better way, and looking for ideas about what that better way might entail.

You seem to think everything is fine the way it is. Fine. I disagree.

If you are speaking about the big banks and corporations and their politician lackeys then I think everyone here would agree, if you mean that working middle classes have to sustain the welfare state to support parasites (rich and poor alike)as it's happening nowadays, most wont.

OK, we agree on the problem. What's the solution?

What's your definition of "work"? Tell me what "work" someone who has multi-billions actually does? Sit around in a boardroom and decide how to maximize profits with other rich people, regardless of the ecological or moral consequences to the rest of us? Or pick up the phone to consult with their broker? Yeah, that's real hard work. What about all those descendants of the robber barons who never had to work a day in their life? Yeah, they work real hard, too.

I'm not talking about legitimate entrepreneurs to who actually put in the long hours every day adding something of value to society. I'm talking about those who spend their daily lives plotting and conspiring to enrich themselves at others' expense as a means of control over others.

The solution in my opinion is hanging all the conspirators(bankers, politicians etc), then giving a piece of land to African americans, other to Native Americans and Latinos and let everyone do their thing.

That's nice, but people being people, one group would eventually invade another. And so it begins... as we say.

Seems to me the whole problem with the global economy boils down to selfish greed. We have a tiny segment of the world's population controlling an inordinate amount of the world's wealth. The whole system is designed to make the wealth flow upward and those who have it are taking it from those who don't. It's gimme, gimme, gimme--it's mine, mine, mine--take, take, take--I have mine, get your own, fuck you.

Precisely the type of attitude that so-called adults implore their children NOT to do in kindergarten.

Seems that redistributing wealth would be an act of enlightened self-interest for those who have it, so that everyone could be housed, fed, clothed, and educated at a comfortable level and everyone would be happy, poverty would be eliminated, and the world's economy would become a smooth-running, well-lubricated machine in perpetuity.

Everyone would have a high standard of living, be well-educated, which in turn would spur innovation and invention, increasing the quality-of-life for everyone, and enhance creative new industries and technologies that would take us to the stars.

I mean, how many billions does one person need?

yes.

the situation is of this moment is SO bad that you wouldnt believe. currently wealth distribution is WORSE than middle ages. in middle ages peasant class got more of the total wealth of the world than the normal person of today. observe :

[link to sociology.ucsc.edu]

5% of population in america, get a mind boggling 72% of everything.

whereas practically everyone else on the other hand, a population that is 85% (basically everyone) get only 15%.

the middle class has become a pathetic 10% that only takes 12% or so.

in middle ages a peasant had 33% rights to produce from fields, and all economy was based on farming. lords were getting only 33% too, by law.

compare 72% to 33% .... there is no way in hell a medieval lord could dream of getting that much even, despite ALL the extortion, repression and heavy handedness that was there.

You CANNOT do this because it is STEALING!

Imagine ditch digger A, B, and C....

Ditch digger A busts his butt to get the job done and to get it done right. He sweats, works overtime, never complains....he gets the job done correctly and efficiently.

Ditch digger B also does the job correctly. But he shows up late alot, takes too many breaks, groans about the heat and moves slower than ditch digger A, thereby forcing Ditch digger A to pick up his slack....

And ditch digger C, he rarely shows up for work on time, IF AT ALL, and when he DOES he sits under a shady oak tree watching the other two work......

Ditch digger C knows full good and well he can't be fired, written up or reprimanded because there are laws protecting him, so he gets away legally with his laziness. Afterall, all THREE ditch diggers make the SAME AMOUNT PER HOUR as the doctor, the nurse, the burger flipper, the fisherman, the rocket scientist.......heck his job couldn't get any better.....

But the king, the president, the politicians and bankers, THEY make all the money.....they are seperate and these socialistic laws do not apply to them.....you end up a slave on the same par as the sloth, while THEY end up your master......
So no thanks. Your Utopia sounds good and all that, and would only work in a place called UTOPIA......

After the laws have been made and placed into effect and you steal all of the money from the rich, what's to stop others from stealing it from you under the guise of the same laws you stole it from the rich under?

Dumbass.