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Poll: Americans support fairer wealth distribution (here we go...)
Louisiana Weekly ^ | 12/05/11 | Nisa Islam Muhammad

Posted on 12/05/2011 5:15:09 PM PST by Libloather

Poll: Americans support fairer wealth distribution
By Nisa Islam Muhammad - Contributing Writer
5th December 2011

WASHINGTON (Special to New America Media from FinalCall.com) — On the streets of the nation’s capital, a random downtown workers were asked, “Would America be better if the distribution of wealth was more equal?” Overwhelmingly they answered, “Yes!”

“Are you kidding?” said Julius Montgomery on his way to work. “Have you heard about the one percent and the 99 percent? Why should such a small number of Americans make so much more money than the rest of us and we have no chance in hell to even catch up. Is this really America? Or is this some plutocracy where the rich rule?”

A majority, 60 percent, of Americans said society would be better off if the distribution of wealth were more equal, according to the 2011 American Values Survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute.

It found that while a majority of Americans agree on this point, there are large partisan, ethnic, and generational disagreements about the distribution of wealth in society.

“We are witnessing the emergence of a generational fault line over what constitutes a good society,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute. “Seven-in-ten of the Millennial generation believe that society would be better off if the distribution of wealth were more equal, while a majority of seniors disagree.”

(Excerpt) Read more at louisianaweekly.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: distribution; fair; poll; wealth
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To: Libloather

The best way to change wealth distribution is oddly enough, *not* to change who possesses wealth, but how those who possess great wealth invest it.

Let’s look at some unusual axioms. Most anyone with over a mere $50k would be foolish not to invest it. For most people from even less than that to about $1m, their investments of choice are stocks and bonds.

However, those who have from about $10-$100m are pretty much overwhelmed trying to do their own investments, so they use mutual funds moving into hedge funds, which may be more profitable, but are also far safer. They have experts investing their money for them.

The problem really begins at about $100m+, because from there, the investment strategies become increasingly like gaming - gambling. And this is where things become a problem, both socially and in the economy as a whole.

So the best way of dealing with this problem is not to take away the gambler’s money, but to get them back into more sensible investment, that benefits everyone.

More than anything else, it needs to be simple enough for them to understand so that they could do it themselves, and is more oriented to them preserving their wealth rather than increasing it.

On a much smaller scale, an example of this is found in an eccentricity of the law in the state of Florida. By law, if a person is bankrupt in that state, their creditors cannot take their primary residence, be it a small condo or a multimillion dollar mansion. So wealthy people all over the US buy homes in Florida as *insurance* against personal economic catastrophe, such as losing a lawsuit.

They may almost never live there, and their house, or mansion, may never appreciate in value, but for them it is a good investment, as a form of insurance.

But if creativity could be our guide, to get the ultra-rich to use their money for some grounded purpose, or investment of tangible value to society, the economic disparity would not be so grotesque.

This is in no way oppressive or unfair, either.


21 posted on 12/05/2011 5:50:05 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: Libloather

This is a hard left website writing about a poll taken by a hard left polling company.


22 posted on 12/05/2011 5:52:22 PM PST by circlecity
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To: Grams A
"how much of your income should go to people who don’t work for a living?”
My vote - ZIP, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO.

No payments to those on Social Security, Retired Veterans. ... ?

23 posted on 12/05/2011 5:53:05 PM PST by Doe Eyes
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To: Libloather

Well, who in their right mind would tell a pollster that they do NOT favor “fairer” or “more equal” ?


24 posted on 12/05/2011 5:54:57 PM PST by Walrus (Big media is the natural enemy of liberty)
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To: Libloather
For those who haven't read this yet, it is well worth your time:

Moment of Clarity--Downward Wisconsin

I'd like to staple a copy onto the forehead of every nimrod who thinks that "distributing wealth" aka grabbing it from the other guy's pocket is the way to go.

25 posted on 12/05/2011 6:00:49 PM PST by Mygirlsmom (Disgusted with it all.)
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To: Libloather

Stated another way, “Many Americans who decided not to work as hard, study as hard, sacrifice as much, or take the risks needed to become a success would like to be handed that success.”


26 posted on 12/05/2011 6:06:22 PM PST by iacovatx (If you must lie to recruit to your cause, you are fighting for the wrong side.)
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To: oldbrowser
Fairer?? What does that mean?

NEVER let a leftist determine what's 'fair'.

27 posted on 12/05/2011 6:07:45 PM PST by Libloather (The epitome of civility.)
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To: Libloather

We’re all born equal, what you choose to do with that equality is up to you.


28 posted on 12/05/2011 6:19:58 PM PST by maddog55 (OBAMA: Why stupid people shouldn't vote.)
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To: Libloather
I would prefer to bias it tad more...

How much of your hard-earned, precious income should the bloated out-of-control government confiscate to give to the parasites who don't and won't work for a living?"

29 posted on 12/05/2011 6:23:23 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Libloather

In other news:

“A new report from the Public Religion Research Institute suggests a majority of Catholics are supportive of gay and lesbian rights.”

Since the Public Religion Research Institute is a “nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to work at the intersection of religion, values, and public life”, their poll results can be safely trusted for accuracy.

Ahem...


30 posted on 12/05/2011 6:33:52 PM PST by avenir (I'm pessimistic about man, but I'm optimistic about GOD!)
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To: Libloather

Communism really wasn’t THAT bad.

It simply lacked the intellect of the American Left, then it would work really great!

Unfortunately this is the modern narrative of Conventional Thinking today.


31 posted on 12/05/2011 6:51:41 PM PST by R0CK3T
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To: Libloather
I support fairer wealth distribution, too:

the HARDER AND SMARTER YOU WORK, THE MORE WEALTH YOU GET! THAT IS FAIR!

What isn't fair is the Hussein method of stealing from the producers and giving to the moochers.

32 posted on 12/05/2011 7:01:15 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: Recovering_Democrat

The Final Call is a Calypso Louis rag. It’s the pamphlet that the suit wearing’, Bowie wearing’ slick lookin’ Negroes refuse to hand out to white people at parades and other public events. It preaches about a paradise once they kill off all the whites and take their stuff which, after all, white people stole from them. Maybe MSDNC or 59 minutes will do expose’.


33 posted on 12/05/2011 7:48:20 PM PST by BarryM
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Libloather.
It found that while a majority of Americans agree on this point, there are large partisan, ethnic, and generational disagreements about the distribution of wealth in society.
They'd get a different range of answers if they were really interested in asking the right questions.


34 posted on 12/05/2011 8:07:49 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Doe Eyes

The issue I do believe was using my money to subsidize people who do/did not work and contribute. Veterans and most people who draw SS benefits worked and contributed.


35 posted on 12/05/2011 10:08:20 PM PST by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: Libloather

Just like they differentiate between registered voters and likely voters when polling on candidates, these types of polls should differentiate between tax payers and non-tax payer respondents.


36 posted on 12/05/2011 10:11:18 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Either Obama can beat any GOP candidate or no GOP candidate.)
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To: Libloather

So when they break down my front door so they can steal my “wealth”, can I shoot them or is my Private Property just on loan from the Federal Government?

Just asking...


37 posted on 12/05/2011 10:19:57 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (Liberals, Useful Idiots Voting for Useless Idiots...)
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To: Libloather

The class of “distributors” end with the folks that make a few bucks a month more than I do.


38 posted on 12/05/2011 10:20:23 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Either Obama can beat any GOP candidate or no GOP candidate.)
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To: Libloather

“And we weren’t so innocent either, when we voted for the plan at the first meeting. We didn’t do it just because we believed that the the drippy old guff they spewed was good. We had another reason, but the guff gave us a chance to pass of as virtue something that we’d be ashamed to admit otherwise. There wasn’t a man voting for it who didn’t think that under a setup of this kind he’d muscle in on the profits of the men abler than himself. There wasn’t a man rich and smart enough but that he didn’t think that somebody was richer and smarter, and this plan would give him a share of his better’s wealth from the men above, he forgot about the men below who’d get to drain him just as he hoped to drain his superiors.”

-the old tramp to Dagny Taggert on the train explaining why the workers of the 20th Century Motor Company voted to be compensated under “from each according to ability, to each according to need” Atlas Shrugged


39 posted on 12/05/2011 10:21:48 PM PST by Explorer89 (And now, let the wild rumpus start!!)
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To: Libloather

Expell all illegal aliens and legal aliens without a job and GDP/capita will go up.


40 posted on 12/05/2011 11:58:00 PM PST by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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