Let’s say I agree that the money and wealth at the top 1 or 2% needs to be equally redistributed to the remainder of the populace. No matter if that money was ill-gotten or earned by hard work. Sounds good no?
Since I’m not in that top percentile, I’d make out well. And, that extra bonus money (since I certainly didn’t earn it) would be quite welcome and appreciated. Now, let’s look down the road, a generation beyond the great equalization of wealth.
I’d bet my entire windfall that in less than a decade, the shift in wealth would have already become evident. There would already be new billionaires, and there would be a large portion of society that had long lost every penny they’d been given. You see, when you win the lottery, you win money–not brains.
We are not really all born equal, nor are all able to overcome their obstacles and gain their desires, become educated, earn a good to great living, invent the latest new gizmo that benefits mankind. Nor will all born with the silver spoon manage to get much beyond toddling without losing the spoon. This is the nature of man. Some folks have ambition, some have genetic predisposition to fuck up.
Soon the whole balance would once again reassert itself as a society. The haves would do better and better, while the have-nots would grumble and complain and blame everyone else but themselves. You can’t say that some have an unequal chance in life when you see the self made millionaires like a Bill Gates or an Oprah Winfrey or a Barack Obama who have found their own ways of using their talents to get ahead in a world where they weren’t marked for greatness.
I’m not rich because I’m not super intelligent, or super creative, or super silver-tongued and self-confident nor have the ambition to overcome my shortcomings. It’s my fault and my fault alone.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
A great bit of wisdom wisely spoken here, Susan. I value money and nice things but not well enough to play Monopoly as some people do, every day for the rest of my life. If I did, I’d probably own Board Walk by now. So like you, I have no monetary riches, but it is entirely my own fault.
Thanks, Roberta. I’m sick and tired of the whining and am afraid of a rebellion by the have-nots who believe they are entitled to what others have, simply because it’s “unfair.” There were reasons for sayings and fables like “The Grasshopper and The Ant” and it simply proves that human nature hasn’t really evolved beyond its basics.