dlo@drutx.UUCP (OlsonDL) (02/01/86)
[] >The problem then here is not simply a problem of distribution of income >but one of distribution of wealth which is the means by which income >can be produced. Maybe we do not have the same view of the difference between wealth and income. I believe that wealth consists of valuable goods and services, whereas income is the monetary measurement of that value -- measurement that is used in the exchange of wealth. With that in mind, what good is income if no wealth is produced? >Our country was fortunate in having very far-seeing >politicians like Thomas Jefferson (who supported the NorthWest Orient Act) >and Abraham Lincoln (who pushed through Homestead Act) who used the >government to promote a more equal *distribution of wealth*. [shudder] "Equal distribution of wealth"? Wealth cannot be merely handed out like lollipops from a sack! It MUST be created. And why equally? Some fixed supply of whatever can be considered as wealth, but only if it is considered valuable by somebody. Indeed, land cannot be created. But, if one were able to generate new wealth from that land, it has the *same effect as if* that land had been created. i.e. if nobody but one person wanted a particular piece of land, and that one person was able to generate wealth from it, it would have the same effect on everybody involved if that person created that one piece of land. But, land does not have the same value to everyone everywhere all the time, and not everybody has the ability or the will to work the land. What is gained by simply taking land away from people who know what to do with it and know how to take care of it, and distributing it equally among people who neither want it or know what to do with it? Besides, what is the incentive to produce wealth when you know that no matter what you produce or how you produced it, it will be forcibly taken from you and handed to people who produce less? Or if you produce less, why expend your own blood, sweat, and tears producing more when you can always lay claim to the fruit of someone else's production? Don't you think a fairer system would be one in which if you produce more, you get to enjoy more of the fruits of that labor? I do. > tim sevener whuxn!orb My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. David Olson ..!ihnp4!drutx!dlo "We're on a mission from God!" -- Elwood Blues