Re: Thieves teach OWS protestors about redistribution, the hard way
Actually, that's the best answer to that question I've ever gotten. And one I'll agree with.
Now for another one...how much of a concentration of owned wealth negatively affects everybody else?
I think we are beginning to see the effects now of something that's been happening for 30 years or so.
"Too big to fail" is a clear example of what happens when all the eggs are in too few baskets.
I personally am not money driven. I have an "enough". A point where I don't habe a need for more. I'm not competitive. I'm equipped to compete, I just don't have any interest in doing so.
So I really don't understand the financially motivated, those who will acquire as much as they can. And I have an active dislike for those who take everything they can get, even when doing so results in someone else having less.
There is a lot of this activity in our system as it stands right now. Many places where those who decide who gets what from whatever the enterprise is, play the old "One for you. Two for me. One for you. One, two, three for me." Taking all the pie created by everybody in the enterprise for themselves.
I'm not a "pure" liberal, more Lockean than most with an excessive expression of the genetic compassion trait. But I know LOTS of liberals.
The meme that the left wants to rob the rich to give to the lazy poor (meaning themselves in most versions) is simply false. There are some unrealistic ideas on the left to be sure, but the same can be said of the right.
MOST of the liberals I know, when they speak of greed are talking about the EXCESSES of capitalism. NOT capitalism itself.
As I see it, capitalism is a tool. It is a manmade thing, designed when the worlds resources were considered functionally unlimited. An infinite Commons, if you will. The world is full now, and I think this is one of the factors we are dealing with. A finite and wholly owned Commons.
It is also inherently concentrative, it IS the amassing of money (capital).
Hell, the computer can be demonstrated as a major culprit, because most of the activities that are problematic depend almost entirely ON computers. Digital money moves WAY faster than capital did when capitalism was devised.
Simply put, the system is being gamed. For far too long, capitalism in our country has been demonstrably becoming a BETTER tool for a few than it is for the many. If it is operating properly, all participants in an economy who participate fully should see about the same AMOUNT of improvement in their lot over time. Not the same amount of money, but the same general improvement in each individuals situation. Everybody 10% or whatever better off than they were last year, more or less, ymmv, abberrations not included.
This ISNT what we are seeing, and given the concentrative nature of capitalism, its not surprising.
Consider the couple trillion being withheld from the economy right now. That's not millions of small businessmen. That's a relative handful of players who own huge pools of capital. And its having what I expect is a mathematically demonstrable negative effect on the economy, which I believe is intentional and is being done to apply pressure on voters to demand that taxes and regulations be eliminated. None of which will offset labor cost differential enough to make a bit of difference.
Not too coherent but you should be able to get the gist, feel free to ask for clarification.