Question: Do you believe in wealth redistribution?

[Taverner]

Granted, today we do have wealth redistribution. It's just going the wrong direction.

But in the traditional sense, from the 1% to the 99% - do you believe in wealth redistribution?

[HopeHoops]

1. It already exists - our wealth is redistributed to the top 1%.

[Taverner]

2. Well yeah, it's been like that...

But do you think it should go the other way?

[HopeHoops]

6. I think each should pay as to their ability.

That equation is inverted.

[Taverner]

7. Agree 100% - From, each, according to their ability

To each, according to their need

[Sheepshank]

3. For those that live on private lanes and work from home....

their taxes pay for freeways used by the most elite to commute to and from their $300K/year jobs. Isn't that a form of redistribution?

[Confusious]

4. I won't call it that

I would call it paying a fair share.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. "redistribution" implies that where it is, is where it's supposed to be.

The purpose of an economy is to allocate resources in a way which maximizes society's happiness.

The economy is failing in this regard, so intervention is necessary.

The economy distributes resources already, it's simply doing it wrong.

[Newest Reality]

8. Wealth is being redistributed

in huge amounts.

It is more about the direction it is going and who is receiving the wealth, no?

[hedgehog]

9. Unregulated capitalism inevitably leads to an end game in

which one player holds all the cards. Even now, the number of millionaires is falling as the ultra, ultra rich gather more and more of the assets in the entire economy. Without some form of redistribution, eventually a few players own everything and the economy stops cold because no one else has the means to purchase goods and services.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

18. um...no...

the number of millionaires climbs steadily since 2008 and prior to that, the drop was when the recession began and the stock market tanked killing the net worth of about 3 million households.

sP

[begin_within]

10. From the rich to the poor, yes.

[saras]

11. NO. Without wealth redistribution, there would be no wealthy people

The hardest worker just doesn't work THAT much harder than anyone else. If you're making more than about ten times what someone else is making, you're ripping somebody off somehow, and are in fact redistributing wealth.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Isn't that what taxation is all about?

[Taverner]

13. No - taxation is about paying bills

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. And some people and entities run up higher bills than others

by using more of the commons, thus requiring a redistribution of their gains based on this imbalance.

If I had written "progressive taxation" which is what I meant, would you agree with that?

[michreject]

19. If taxation is about paying bills

then a redistribution would preclude just raising taxes, as that money would go toward government expenses.

What would a workable plan be? Just put everything in a pile and split it evenly? Who gets what?

I've seen this proposed for some time now and have yet to see and concrete proposal.

As for me, I would love to see elimination of credit card debt.

[zipplewrath]

14. Wealth reclaimation

A tremendous amount of wealth is ultimately gained through access to public assets. That could be as simple as land, or as complicated as the intellectual capacity of the population. No man is an island and no one gets rich in a vacuum. Taxes, minimum wages, labor laws, and other federal efforts to collect or control the wealth in the hands of individuals or other private entities is merely a case of attempting to reclaim, for the public purpose, that portion of wealth that rightfully belongs to the common.

[The2ndWheel]

15. Civilization is a wealth/resource concentration process

Humans(the 1%) have been redistributing wealth "in the wrong direction", from the rest of life(the 99%), to ourselves, for a long time. That the same would happen within that 1% isn't a big shock or anything.

Do I believe in wealth redistribution? Sure, in that it happens. Either way you go though, wealth from the 1%, or wealth from the 99%, there will be consequences. The winner, as always, depends on who has the most force, and can make the other live by the rules of the victor.

[dtexdem]

17. Yes, it has happened massively in the past 30 years, from poor/middle class to rich.

And it's way past time to reverse the flow.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. "The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor." Voltaire

[Blue_In_AK]

21. No, I believe in fairness

and honor. I don't begrudge people their wealth if they came by it honestly, but I can't stand cheats. It seems that many of the very wealthy have gotten there by bending the rules and fucking over other people, and that's what I have a problem with.