Wealth Redistribution

An upcoming topic of a classmate Zoom call is to be wealth redistribution ... an increasingly perceived problem by our cognoscenti. Prior to this tête-à-tête I thought I would thy to get my thoughts in order ... so this post.

First off, I ask myself why we have this current focus on wealth disparity ... and I conclude that it has not a lot to do with the absolute level of poverty in America ... because of all our social welfare programs, the poorest in this country live like kings relative to the millions of other impoverished around the world.

Yes, we keep filling the ranks of the poor from below with illegal immigrants ... but something over 70% of them already have a hand on the social benefit lifeline.

And yes, the Covid pandemic has caused some additional hardship for many who have been made non-essential ... but the trillions of dollars that the federal government has been shoveling out the door has helped many of these people ... some, perhaps too much.

No, I believe the real problem that has caused our country moving toward Socialism ... and such things as a wealth tax, reparations ... and an LBJ-like expaansion of the welfare state is ...  tada ... the tremendous expansion of pandemic-driven wealth in the tippy top of our society ... the mega-billionaires like Bezos and Musk ... and the legions of fat-cat hedge fund managers.

If this be the case, may I offer a solution? Let’s face it ... much of our current leftward tilt is driven by the green.eyed monster ... jealousy.  And the quickest remedy for this would be a sudden flattening of the wealth distribution curve with a stock market crash and a likely deep recession or depression that would follow.

If our super wealthy were to lose huge chunks of money overnight ... like in 2009 ... or worse ... much wealth-disparity envy would rapidly dissipate. It wouldn’t make our poorer people better off ... but they might be less envious and agitated if a few billionaires fell from grace.

Another associated thought ... was the last big depression in 1929 the result of our society unconsciously trying to remedy similar excesses in the Roaring Twenties? Hmm?

Afterthought: Perhaps the Great Recession of 2009 didn’t cure the perception of wealth disparity because of the Wall Street bailouts? And, if we have a new slump, our government might resist bailing out our billionaires ... if they want to narrow the wealth gap ... that is? See: CNBC Story.

STAND UP FOR SOCIETY SELF-CORRECTION!