There's a lot of ranting these days on the increasing wealth gap -- the growing financial difference between the rich and poor. And it seems to me that this drives a lot of the political rhetoric between the left and right. One side of the argument wants to tax the wealthy more and distribute to those in need (as defined by politicians of course). One side of the argument feels that this is robbery, and that the wealthy are the ones who create jobs. They shouldn't be punished.
In my mind, the rhetoric fails to separate the "entrepreneurially" wealthy from the criminally wealthy, and without this separation, it's admittedly hard to come to an agreement. And see, the same politicians who argue over tax rates and redistribution of wealth for half the day spend the other half of the day being influenced by special interests that many times are the cause of criminal wealth -- the benefit of certain groups at the expense of others.
If Americans would come together and focus on the problem of special interests -- of politicians who believe in supporting some of the people rather than all of the people -- then just maybe we could start to curb the problem of criminal wealth, and maybe honest wealth would stop being demonized.
There are an awful lot of people who would love to be wealthy some day, but today they complain about outrageous wealth. So really ... are they against people succeeding? Or are they against an unfair playing field? I know what I'm against. And if we leveled that field in a way that allowed many more people to get jobs and pay the bills, maybe we wouldn't have to talk so much about raising tax rates on the wealthy and spilling that over to other people.
I'm not a fan of government redistribution, but it also becomes necessary when that very government creates a problem of people so poor they cannot pay for honest necessities. And of course this benefits the politicians themselves not only because they retain wealth and power, but because they continue to be "needed" for the distribution of wealth to take place. I say, let's stop their support of criminal wealth and see what sorts itself out. Cause rather than symptom.
Of course I don't pretend that any political problem is easy to solve. Special interests are, in the end, just voices for groups of people, and they should be allowed to speak. And if you can do something to keep their voices while eliminating the fraud they inject into the system, I'm not saying the whole wealth problem would be solved. But I believe it would create a major shift, and that we would start to see improvements. And right now, given the momentum, that would be a great first step that, we hope, would then show us the next great step to take.
In my mind, the rhetoric fails to separate the "entrepreneurially" wealthy from the criminally wealthy, and without this separation, it's admittedly hard to come to an agreement. And see, the same politicians who argue over tax rates and redistribution of wealth for half the day spend the other half of the day being influenced by special interests that many times are the cause of criminal wealth -- the benefit of certain groups at the expense of others.
If Americans would come together and focus on the problem of special interests -- of politicians who believe in supporting some of the people rather than all of the people -- then just maybe we could start to curb the problem of criminal wealth, and maybe honest wealth would stop being demonized.
There are an awful lot of people who would love to be wealthy some day, but today they complain about outrageous wealth. So really ... are they against people succeeding? Or are they against an unfair playing field? I know what I'm against. And if we leveled that field in a way that allowed many more people to get jobs and pay the bills, maybe we wouldn't have to talk so much about raising tax rates on the wealthy and spilling that over to other people.
I'm not a fan of government redistribution, but it also becomes necessary when that very government creates a problem of people so poor they cannot pay for honest necessities. And of course this benefits the politicians themselves not only because they retain wealth and power, but because they continue to be "needed" for the distribution of wealth to take place. I say, let's stop their support of criminal wealth and see what sorts itself out. Cause rather than symptom.
Of course I don't pretend that any political problem is easy to solve. Special interests are, in the end, just voices for groups of people, and they should be allowed to speak. And if you can do something to keep their voices while eliminating the fraud they inject into the system, I'm not saying the whole wealth problem would be solved. But I believe it would create a major shift, and that we would start to see improvements. And right now, given the momentum, that would be a great first step that, we hope, would then show us the next great step to take.
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