What are your views on economic equality?

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   liberposted 8 years ago

   Is economic equality positive or negative in your view?
   
   Suppose there were an egalitarian world, and to simplify things suppose the government had nothing to do with it -- all the richest people in the world voluntarily decide to redistribute their own wealth to the poor -- is this desirable?
   
   I ask this because I can never sort out the right wings view on economic equality. Sometimes it seems like they endorse the view that economic equality is good, but the government shouldn't have anything to do with it; then five seconds latter they return to calling anyone in need a parasite.
   
   This is a good example of what I mean:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ik4f1dRbP8
   
   Which is it?  Do you want the government to get out of the way so you can give to the needy personally?  Or do you want the government out of the way so you don't have to give to the needy?  I can never sort it out.
   
   Please comment.

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2. 43

   thranaxposted 8 years ago

   I always thought charities where businesses with benefits that give to the needy?
   
   ~thranax~

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3. 70

   Mishaposted 8 years ago

   Life is not fair

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   1. 56

      liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Elaborate.

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      Dobsonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Without trying to put words in Misha's mouth I think it is known some will have and some will not, no matter how well we try to level the playing field. Some people can maek a fortune starting with pennies while others could squander a million dollars.

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      1. 56

         liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I think this is a cop out.  Obviously we can't have a perfectly equal world, even Jesus said "the poor will always be with you" -- it didn't mean he didn't think we should work to help the poor.
         
         Again which is it?  Should we help the poor?  Or should they "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" and so on?  I know my views on this matter, I want to know if other people do.

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            Cagsilposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Even Jesus was conscious enough to realize that human will be human and some are subjected to their own identity crisis(greedy, corruption, abuse) which will create the poor or needy.
            The problem is a lack of knowledge. You educate those people and teach them to respect the power of money, and you will maintain a relative equal society.
            Other people cannot know your view, until you tell them. What you want to know is what is other people's views on the topic at hand. However, that isn't what you said above.
            
            But, since you asked, you have mine. Also, I published a hub on a Solution for Poverty, if that helps.

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               kimberlyslyricsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               must add
               
               great hub at that

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                  Cagsilposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you kindly Kimberly. Nice to see you.

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               liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               My view is that the solution is cultural.  If we have a culture that values things other than money and power than things will basically solve themselves.  Though valuing money and power have an instinctual component as well (not just cultural).
               
               I think that might be what you were saying above.  If so then we are in agreement.

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         liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Not making any assumptions about you Dobson, I don't know your political views etc.

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         Mishaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         That too.
         
         But mostly different people have different needs, both subjectively and objectively - and giving them a level field immediately makes it unfair for those with higher needs
         
         There is no way to make it fair for everybody, and any attempt to make it fairer makes it less fair. Live with it

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            liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Live with it?  I'm not bemoaning how unfair the world has been to me or anything like that.  I can live in this world perfectly fine.
            
            It's not true that any attempt to make things fairer makes things less fair.  If someone voluntarily gives aid to another, then obviously the recipient is better off, and even more maybe the giver is better off (if the psychological reward of charity remunerates the gift) -- so it can almost be self interested on both sides.  Now in that case how can we say that everything has been made less fair?

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               Mishaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               What makes you thinking that when someone voluntarily helps the other s/he does it in the name of economic equality? Or increase in global fairness? I can't say for others, but I personally never think in those terms.

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                  liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Well whatever you call it then.  You're right, global fairness is an absurd concept, I used the example above of all the rich people in the world giving away their money voluntarily more as a thought experiment to get people thinking.
                  
                  So in your view if the government can't force you to give to the poor, you should volunteer to do it anyways?  That's all I really want to know.

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                     Mishaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     "Should" is the wrong word. I do as I please.

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                        liberposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        "I do as I please" great, I couldn't be more sympathetic to that.
                        
                        Okay, so I'll consider this as an "if the mood strikes me" or "if it's in my free will to do so."

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