MikeK
Gold Member
Do you believe the efforts of Justice Department attorneys to recover money from Bernie Madoff's holdings and redistribute it to those who Madoff scammed over the years is an example of "government doing the dirty work of envious people who want other people's stuff"?The purpose of taxation is to fund the government, not to take money from one set of people and give it to another. I don't oppose progressive taxation, but it cannot be taken to the extreme. Redistribution of wealth is simply a code word for making the government do the dirty work of envious people who want other peoples stuff.
While I'm sure you won't consider that a valid analogy it is in fact spot on. Because the only way most of the mega-fortunes that comprise today's roster of the super-rich were accumulated has been via the surreptitious removal of laws and regulations that formerly protected the middle class from the great heist its been subjected to by these unscrupulous mortgage bankers, Wall Street scam artists, usurers, corrupters and manipulators and the crooked politicians who facilitate them.
Do you believe Madoff's victims are "envious" of him? Suppose the laws that protect investors from crooks like Madoff had been quietly removed, making what Madoff did perfectly legal. Would you then consider his victims "envious?"
Bottom line: It is perfectly normal and natural to envy wealth. But excessive wealth inspires resentment, which is quite a different emotion. Excessive wealth represents a distinct danger to the democratic process and it should not be permitted to exist.