This is where Andrew and I differ imperically in philosophy. Currently in the US, the government acts as a wealth redistrubution system. They feel they should act like Robin Hood. Steal money from every hard working American (the "rich", and use it for programs like welfare and medicaid for lazy underachievers "the poor").
Oh please. 90% of the rich are not hard workers. They just inherited it. If they want to keep their riches, then they need to work to replace what the government takes.
And we can't rely on americans to donate money to charity and to the poor. We all know that we just wont donate enough.
Also, it is an economically demonstrateable fact that without redistribution of wealth a GROSS proportion of the wealth would settle to the top (and I mean even worse than it does now) because the more money you have the more money you WILL have. Also, the wealthy do NOT contribute the appropriate proportion of their wealth to charity. The richest 90% do not contribute 90% of the charity donations.
So the worlds wealth would all sit in the bank accounts of the rich and would never get redistributed down to the poor and destitute.
And not all people on medicare or welfare or unemployment are lazy or underachievers. Some of them are purely incapable of making a better life for themselves.
But frankly, if I choose NOT to work, I should STILL be able to subsist in todays society. Subsitance should be a basic right of all humans, luxury should be what we work for.
---Andrew
