As far as what the founders had in mind... I don't know. I wasn't there."
Well, we have two things here in the United States called The Declaration of Independance and Constitution, and they tell us in no uncertain terms just what their intentions were. I understand you are not an American, but it is easy to know exactly what they intended. For you to say you don't know because you weren't there is a poor argument. If you never have, you may want to read them. They are clear and easy to understand.
You said..."Really... stop and think about that. The accrued wealth of 400 people essentially exceeds the annual value of the national economy of 33 million people. You would really have us believe that there is NOT an uneven distribution of wealth?"
And again I say, wealth should be earned, not distributed. You have the mindset that there should be some entity, be that government or an individual, I don't know which, that should determine how much a person can or should earn. Who is that entity? And what gives them the right you feel they should have to limit what a person can earn? And to take from that person wealth they have leagally earned and give it to another person who has not?
Do you believe that when Henry Ford developed the means to mass produce automobiles through assembly line production, and therefore earned great sums of money, that the government should have stepped in and said "Wait a minute, that's too much, we must take what we think is approriate and give it to others who had nothing to do with your idea or your efforts."?
I say no. Ford developed a means to produce things people needed and wanted and was rewarded buy people who felt his product was worthy of their money. No one forced anyone to buy a car, they wanted a car.
So at what point would you limit one's ability to create new products and earn from it? I sugest that any limitation, or interferance into the free market stiffles innovatoin. That is why the U.S.S.R. had to constantly steel our ideas to create their jets, tanks, and other things. With no incentive to create, there is no reason to. I also suggest that this is why America has prospered to such a great degree. We were the first to unleash man's creativity and ingenuity.
I think a big problem is what people expect their lives to be. I think we are bombarded by the media to believe we should all be able to have what Bill Gates has. We see "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and they make us believe it's not fair that someone else gets to live that way while we must work so hard for what seems like so little when campared to them.
I say look at our standard of living. When campared to 80 or 100 years it's beyond belief. Even those of us that labor daily to put food on the table have more than our grandfather's could possibly imagine.
So I say be happy with what we have and stop being envious of those who have more. We don't have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the cold smelly outhouse. We don't have to get up early and gather eggs from the henhouse and milk from the barn. Very, very few people go to bed hungry in this country. And our country, the United States of America does more to help people around the world than any other, because we have prospered to such a great degree.
That's how I see it. I hold no grudge against Ford, Gates, or anyone else. I thank them for what they have given us and hope that there will be many more of them in the future that will bring us new technology and innovations that will forever continue to raise our standard of living.
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