Wealth in America

Redistribution of Wealth

By Alex Hutchins

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There has been no significant change
in the data since 2004 


Jim Hightower, in an OP-ED piece entitled, The Disuniting of America, mentions the insidious nature of greed and the Apostle Paul does not say that money is the root of all evil but the love of money is what he warns against. Mr. Hightower continues by warning the reader of the growing chasm of difference between the wealthy and the not so wealthy and poor and that this ever widening difference will cause problems in this country and ends by mentioning the word, Egalitarianism as the real America. In essence Mr. Hightower favors the redistribution of wealth.

It appears to this writer that two key words need to be further explained and those 2 words are: Egalitarianism and Redistribution of Wealth.

Egalitarianism is a trend of thought in political philosophy. An egalitarian favors equality of some sort: People should get the same, or be treated the same, or be treated as equals, in some respect. Egalitarian doctrines tend to express the idea that all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. So far as the Western European and Anglo-American philosophical tradition is concerned, one significant source of this thought is the Christian notion that God loves all human souls equally. Egalitarianism is a protean doctrine, because there are several different types of equality, or ways in which people might be treated the same, that might be thought desirable. In modern democratic societies, the term "egalitarian" is often used to refer to a position that favors, for any of a wide array of reasons, a greater degree of equality of income and wealth across persons than currently exists.

Redistribution of Wealth is sometimes referred to as the Robin Hood Scenario whereby a society takes money away from the rich and redistributes that money to the poor. However, the redistribution of money can take place in other ways as well. For example, due to our consumption of gasoline, American Wealth has been given to OPEC participating countries. Another example is the consumption of life insurance, where American Wealth has been given to Insurance Companies. Another example of redistribution of wealth is from Americans to the Pharmaceutical Companies. Typically, the redistribution of wealth from a Governmental perspective is to extract money from the wealth via taxes and redistribute those money to the rest of the citizens through Government expenditures.

Mr. Hightower is correct when he points out that America’s 1% have received 275% increase in their incomes while all the rest of us have received far less than that. So, it is Mr. Hightowers belief that if we do not redistribute the wealth from the 1% to the other 99% that America could be facing serious consequences, one of which, in my opinion, could be a “civil war.” And, the last concern we need in America is the fear of a “civil war.” But, how is a family going to feed its family, if they have no savings and no job and no unemployment insurance?

However...                                                                 

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