Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Fallacy of Redistribution

Thomas Sowell:
... The history of the 20th century is full of examples of countries that set out to redistribute wealth and ended up redistributing poverty. The communist nations were a classic example, but by no means the only example.

...You can only confiscate the wealth that exists at a given moment. You cannot confiscate future wealth — and that future wealth is less likely to be produced when people see that it is going to be confiscated. ...

... Barack Obama can endlessly proclaim his slogan of "Forward," but what he is proposing is going backwards to policies that have failed repeatedly in countries around the world. ...

6 comments:

  1. Should be simple.....you don't work, you don't get free health care or any other social service! Simple. Plain and simple. As for all the welfare heads out there.....work for welfare. Well hey don't we got a Conservative majority now? Should all be very simple. Sorry if I offended any Quebecers, Ontarians, Maritimers, cause I know how important your welfare cheques are to you!

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  2. If I forced my neighbour to hand over loot to redistribute to whomever, I would go to jail for racketeering. It doesn't become ethical because government does it. All Progressives, since they all believe in Social Justice, support legalized racketeering. In other words, Progressives are fundamentally unethical and so is anybody who votes for them since they are knowingly voting for wealth redistribution.

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  3. Johndoe124... government racketeering? Do you mean state-run lotteries? Because it's even more absurd when one considers that here in Ontario the government has a monopoly on selling both the booze and the gambling. What a retarded society that we (I at least) live in.

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  4. FoxtrotBravo, the online Webster definition of a racketeer is: one who obtains money "by an illegal enterprise" usually by intimidation. Try not paying your taxes or withholding any portion that you feel doesn't contribute to essential services. Over a billions dollars goes to the CBC, for example. How is that not legalized racketeering? The CBC does not provide a service and I don't pay for it willingly. Same can be said for Canadian Arts and Crafts subsidies, or the myriad of Regional Development organizations. None of these are essential services yet I am forced to hand over loot against my will that is redistributed to these deadbeat organizations. And most Canadians are okay with that because most Canadians are ethically challenged.

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  5. Redistribution has been going on for decades. Mostly from the middle class, to corporations and the wealthy.

    Veteran investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith gave a talk on the the destruction of the middle-class – how it happened, and what to do about it, this past weekend. I posted a video of that talk, here: http://8020vision.com/2012/09/24/hedrick-smith-who-stole-the-american-dream/

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