Posted on 10/25/2010 8:20:48 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Americans love competition. From media heroes to sports teams, fictional characters to starving artists, the nation's cultural mythology teems with tales of desperate struggles and victorious underdogs. What's more, Americans like to reward their scrappy heroes with fame, wealth and all the trappings of success.
This was borne out by an academic study in which the majority of respondents advocated an unequal division of national wealth, with more cash going to the rich and upper middle class and less going to the poor and working class in an ideal state. These findings aren't surprising: unequal distribution spurs competition, and great rewards spur great achievement. What is shocking, however, is the degree of inequality that most respondents preferred: 92% of respondents expressed a desire to replace America's wealth distribution system with one much closer to Sweden's.
Sweden has long been vilified by pundits who are concerned about government intervention in the market and "socialist" programs to redistribute wealth. Surprisingly, however, the notoriously left-leaning country is also home to a very popular model for wealth distribution. In 2005, Harvard University's Michael I. Norton and Duke University's Dan Ariely polled a cross-section of 5,522 citizens about their preferences for wealth division. Their results, which they recently published in "Building a Better America - One Wealth Quintile at a Time," demonstrate that most Americans have a severely skewed vision of America's wealth distribution, and a surprisingly radical outlook on where the country's money should actually go.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyfinance.com ...
Yes. End entitlements and return the money to those who earn it.
Given that the percentage of moochers grows constantly, it would not surprise me at all if a majority of “Americans” favor wealth redistribution.
I dunno. Why not count those who benefit?
I would say that in general about 30% of the population believes in this (though in a couple of states I think we are dangerously close to the tipping point).
One reason I keep expecting Obama to impose revenue sharing and a salary cap on Major League Baseball. What better way to make his case than to demonstrate that the only way to save America’s National Pastime is....Socialism!
So? They want to penalize those who created a dream, scrimped and saved? Or the generations after them who didnt squander the wealth? That is their dream in redistribution.
Actually , its part of destroying the fiber that built this nation. Perhaps, they should redirect this talk to the new fastest growing, largest consumer society......China!
Out with these criminals!
Then we redivide evey Saturday.
Exactly.
it is called the estate tax - redivide radically every generation
“Given that the percentage of moochers grows constantly, it would not surprise me at all if a majority of “Americans” favor wealth redistribution.”
That’s what I am afraid of, too. And with our useless schools refusing to teach Americanism and instead indoctrinating kids into good little communists, it is getting worse.
Yes. From the federal govt back to the people.
If you take an average group of wealthy, middle class and indigent people and redistribute the money, the wealthy people will likely end up wealthy and the formerly poor will get back to poverty within a few years. This is how nature works. We are created that way.
That said, America is heading the redistributive way inevitably. A GOP win in the near term is likely to be a mere speedbump for the process.
Shhhhh!
Don’t give the fool any ideas. He very likely has his useful idiots monitor FR for any juicy tidbits.
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