richest 1% got 82% of the wealth

[dado potato]

I believe there will always be informed criticism of the distribution of wealth... to say nothing about griping about the inequity of one's own slice of the pie.

Globally, I see desperate migration, as well as populist (anti-elite) politicians. The populists all seem to say that "somebody must be blamed", but they differ over who should be the ones to blame.


Here is a link to a 1937 radio address by Father Charles Coughlin. By one estimate Father Coughlin had a following of 45 million listeners: "Somebody Must Be Blamed" http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5111

[Teacher Terry]

We also travel the world and some of the poverty we see is horrible. Some very wealthy people are pledging most of their money to charity like Buffet and Gates. Too bad more don’t follow suit.

[catherine]

We also travel the world and some of the poverty we see is horrible. Some very wealthy people are pledging most of their money to charity like Buffet and Gates. Too bad more don’t follow suit.

I have a lot of respect for Buffett and Gates. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done wonderful things. I see they have a new project: they have pledged 500M towards affordable housing in Seattle.

[LDAHL]

High concentrations of wealth are no doubt unhealthy for a society. Look at San Francisco.

But how healthy is it to empower the political class to decide how much of our wealth we can keep?

[Teacher Terry]

Tax high income people more like we did in the 60’s.

[JaneV2.0]

There's a Facebook group called Patriotic Millionaires that advocates higher tax rates and other progressive measures.

[Williamsmith]

It seems that our interest in taxing the wealthy somewhat stems from our inability to spend without creating more debt. I imagine a society where successful hard working citizens become wealthy without others coveting their wealth. I gaze out into the snow blanketed woodlands pondering the alternate universe that is a constitutionally limited republic rather than a democracy by majority rule. “Nurse, my meds please?”

[Teacher Terry]

As a society we have a responsibility to provide a decent education, healthcare and clean air and water for everyone. We also should take care of vulnerable people such as the elderly, disabled, etc. It benefits society as a whole to do so. When you have so much money that you cannot ever spend it all what’s wrong with contributing to the common good?

[Williamsmith]

As a society we have a responsibility to provide a decent education, healthcare and clean air and water for everyone. We also should take care of vulnerable people such as the elderly, disabled, etc. It benefits society as a whole to do so. When you have so much money that you cannot ever spend it all what’s wrong with contributing to the common good?

There is nothing wrong with contributions to benefit the less fortunate, of course. Where it gets a little sticky is who forces the voluntary contributions and by what means? And when a group finds itself standing in frigid water and decides to try to drain the lake instead of making their way to dry land, one must ask why.

[Rogar]

There is a group called "Americans for tax fairness" that presents some interesting figures. I think there are common misconceptions about income tax rates vs. effective tax rates. I've already forgotten the name of the wealthy politician who paid a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.

https://americansfortaxfairness.org/...thy-americans/