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Topic: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?  (Read 42170 times)

Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

What is Wealth Redistribution?

Why does it exist?

Does it always come down to the same thing -- those that have less somehow think they have a legitimate right to the wealth that others have earned.

The government needs to raise the minimum wage, or raise taxes on the rich to create another entitlement for those that have less. 

What I can't seem to understand is the justification for doing it.

Why does the the low income McDonald's worker or the welfare mom deserve more? 

What did he/she do of value to deserve more?

There has to be some justification, right?

Or is it only that the rich, for absolutely no obvious valid reason, deserve to be divested of their wealth & valuables?

Demonization of the Wealthy, & the Industrial Corporations to justify taking away what they worked for, to be redistributed to the lower income levels of a society.

What's the valid justification for doing it?

Is there any righteous justification for the redistribution of wealth to those that haven't earned it, from those that have?

If you think there is, please note in positive terms how those that are on the receiving end deserve receiving it.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: SmileyFaze on

Why does the the low income McDonald's worker or the welfare mom deserve more?

Better yet, why do they make so damned much?
Shouldn't they make less? That would make a Happy Meal cheaper for the rest of us
In 2009, nearly 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax. Nice.
7,000 Millionaires Paid No Income Taxes in 2011. Nicer, yet.
Everybody knows that welfare moms are scam artists.

Poor Mr. Boehner!

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #3 –
Just as a note, I meant this to be a 'global' condition to be addressed, not any particular country or society.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #4 –
Good topic SF.

You say it's a global matter - but is it just individual wealth you are discussing or is it a country's wealth.

Let's say there is a country, low lying and devastated by a tsunami in the Pacific. As a result the people there, deserving or not, have lost their wealth and are, say, now reliant on help from others until they can recover from the disaster. Would you put that in the same frame of augment as individuals?

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #5 –
What could he mean?
[video]http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/japan-tsunami-2011-vin[/video]

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: string on

Good topic SF.

You say it's a global matter - but is it just individual wealth you are discussing or is it a country's wealth.

Let's say there is a country, low lying and devastated by a tsunami in the Pacific. As a result the people there, deserving or not, have lost their wealth and are, say, now reliant on help from others until they can recover from the disaster. Would you put that in the same frame of augment as individuals?
What could string mean?
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/japan-tsunami-2011-vin

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: string on
or is it a country's wealth.
The country is an abstract political (or politico-psychological) concept.
Such abstract entities may either coincide or not with certain local actual "shareholders" and/or administrators of&for some complex local communities, companies, conglomerates... Only personal so-called 'wealth' and survival ability coincide with-to the actual set of concepts/reality.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #10 –
Hear this disapproved TED talk: Inequality and Job Creators

Belfrager thinks TED talks only promote the capitalist consumerist illusion, but this one doesn't - and was accordingly rejected from TED website. It promotes a properly Keynesian view of business cycle (note the innovative term "ecosystemic feedback loop"), as opposed to false Keynesian (i.e. Hicks' model) or Hayekan or Friedmanian simplistic cowboy capitalism, specifically exemplified by American tax system favouring the rich, which is criticised in the talk.

It's short, mere 6 minutes. Endure.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #11 –
Quote from: ersi on
Belfrager thinks TED talks only promote the capitalist consumerist illusion, but this one doesn't - and was accordingly rejected from TED website.

Ah ah, see? :)
I was certain... unfortunately.

Wealth redistribution is a moral duty. What there is to discuss is how it should be done and until what extent.
It's so wrong to foment pure parasitism as to deny solidarity to those fallen into misfortune.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #12 –
All economy is a societal derivative of the natural resources distribution. To the population.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #13 –
I want to know the justification for one man to have more than he will need for several lifetimes while men who work for him have barely the means of survival. That would be of interest to more than a handful, I daresay.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #15 –
Maybe interesting for this debate is to know that at many Muslim societies there's a moral law that makes someone that made a fortune to give back ten percent to the neighbors of his original village.
Underlining such law is the recognition that we all are in debt with those that have helped us before and even more, that we are what we are because others have made us like that. This includes the rich men of this world.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Belfrager on
Underlining such law is the recognition that we all are in debt with those that have helped us before and even more, that we are what we are because others have made us like that. This includes the rich men of this world.

Hear, hear!

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #18 –
Quote from: Josh on

You're talking about 'justice' of sorts, aren't you?


Maybe a bit of balance. Smiley has a lock on "It's mine, I tell you, and you can't have any!" so I figure the other side needs to be heard from too. We live in a society now where it's entirely possible to get locked into low-wage jobs, and people like Smiley on top wagging their fingers at the "worthless" people on the low end of the income scale need a bit of fair and balanced reporting, as they say on Fox News.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #19 –
Quote from: mjmsprt40 on

Quote from: Josh on

You're talking about 'justice' of sorts, aren't you?


Maybe a bit of balance. Smiley has a lock on "It's mine, I tell you, and you can't have any!" so I figure the other side needs to be heard from too. We live in a society now where it's entirely possible to get locked into low-wage jobs, and people like Smiley on top wagging their fingers at the "worthless" people on the low end of the income scale need a bit of fair and balanced reporting, as they say on Fox News.

Fox is unfair and unbalanced. That's Smiley on the left. Smiley the leftist! OMG!

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #20 –
Most would find it quite natural and defensible to give money, goods, to one's children even though they have not "earned" it. How much one extends that to society deepens on one's tribal genes presumably.

Homo Sapiens is said to have survived this length of time by developing a highly social mindset which includes all mutual interaction with others, inclusive of art, of writing, of money itself and trading.

Neanderthals, on the other hand . . . .

There was probably some cross species fertilisation.

Nuff said. ::)

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #21 –
Quote from: string on
Homo Sapiens is said to have survived this length of time by developing a highly social mindset which includes all mutual interaction with others, inclusive of art, of writing, of money itself and trading.

Neanderthals, on the other hand . . . .

Update your archeology books. Neanderthals did all that too. :)

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #22 –
Quote from: Frenzie on

Quote from: string on
Homo Sapiens is said to have survived this length of time by developing a highly social mindset which includes all mutual interaction with others, inclusive of art, of writing, of money itself and trading.

Neanderthals, on the other hand . . . .

Update your archeology books. Neanderthals did all that too. :)


Quite possibly I do need to update my books, myself as well, come to that. The former would be easy not having any such books, the latter, well probably not.

The coarse summary of Neanderthal social skills came from a TV programme in fact, not the best source perhaps but echoed in this article:

Neanderthals Lacked Social Skills

You picks your book and takes your choice. ... or TV Programme.

The picture in the article is a picture of .... well, use your imagination.

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #23 –
Fair enough. But that just means we're better at it. ;)

Re: Wealth Redistribution -- What, if any, is the justification for it?

Reply #24 –
Quote from: string

The coarse summary of Neanderthal social skills came from a TV programme in fact, not the best source perhaps but echoed in this article:

Neanderthals Lacked Social Skills

You picks your book and takes your choice. ... or TV Programme.

The picture in the article is a picture of .... well, use your imagination.

My social skills are just good enough to accommodate my wife's demands, and well above what's needed here.