Greed IS human nature. It's the truth. (Reply #12)

In the discussion thread: So really ... what is wrong with redistributing wealth? [View all]

Thu Sep 20, 2012, 10:08 AM

randome (34,845 posts)

12. Greed IS human nature. It's the truth.

Even if the 'money clock' was somehow reset and all of us started with the exact same amount of money and resources, people would find ways to accumulate more than their neighbors.

I think the single, most important attribute of human beings is they want attention. To stand out in some way. For many, the easiest way to do that is through the accumulation of wealth.

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148 replies	Author	Time	Post
So really ... what is wrong with redistributing wealth? [View all]	chemenger	Sep 2012	OP
I can't think of a thing wrong with it.	ananda	Sep 2012	#1
I don't believe in a cap on personal wealth	gollygee	Sep 2012	#2
Why is it axiomatic that there will always be poor among us?	Duer 157099	Sep 2012	#70
There will always be people who are unable to support themselves in any way	gollygee	Sep 2012	#77
Well, it's the nature of social hierarchy.	haele	Sep 2012	#79
In any race someone will come in last.	GreenStormCloud	Sep 2012	#85
A "cap on personal wealth" would be just nuts.	Nye Bevan	Sep 2012	#3
The biggest reason is the Constitution	Major Nikon	Sep 2012	#103
yup	former-republican	Sep 2012	#107
Agree, but..	99Forever	Sep 2012	#4
Money is like manure, spread around it can help things grow	HereSince1628	Sep 2012	#5
even if that means printing more money?	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#15
Sometimes that's necessary if money has been taken out of the economy	CJCRANE	Sep 2012	#20
but doesnt that just lower the price of the dollar making it harder to purchace things when we print	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#21
What about the $2 trillion dollars taken out of circulation by big businesses...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#26
so if you have money you must spend it?	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#33
You can hold on to it, if you wish...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#37
pay a fair tax on money you hold in your posession that you have already paid taxes on?	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#41
That you paid taxes on?	kentuck	Sep 2012	#48
So in other words you think its right for the govt	Missycim	Sep 2012	#54
Nobody's being forced to spend money	theKed	Sep 2012	#110
Well if you offer tax cuts to goad people into investing then i am for it	Missycim	Sep 2012	#124
In Arkansas you've got to pay property tax on a car you already own and that is rusting away...	HereSince1628	Sep 2012	#87
Not necessarily. The crash took $2 trillion per year out of circulation in the economy.	CJCRANE	Sep 2012	#30
so when people hold onto their money we need a stimulus to replenish	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#34
If we let the banks fail, the global economy would have collapsed	CJCRANE	Sep 2012	#42
Frankly,	theKed	Sep 2012	#112
But that might interfere with the freedom...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#129
Here you go	ChazII	Sep 2012	#50
Yes this is a good idea	Missycim	Sep 2012	#58
Funding two wars by borrowing mostly from the Chinese is what got us in this mess	HereSince1628	Sep 2012	#81
I don't think there should be a cap on personal wealth...	cynatnite	Sep 2012	#6
This is an ethical question, depends on how you feel about your fellow human beings.	Avalux	Sep 2012	#7
BBC: Is redistribution a foreign idea to the US?	pampango	Sep 2012	#8
My thoughts	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#9
100% ?	Incitatus	Sep 2012	#14
yes 100%	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#18
I do understand what makes you think someones property	Missycim	Sep 2012	#23
Why does there need to be a modest tax to pass it on?	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#27
Because it is still income for the recipient	Incitatus	Sep 2012	#38
I am just saying that to be fair	Missycim	Sep 2012	#53
Why should unearned income be tax free when earned income is not? nt	dmallind	Sep 2012	#59
I agree with this surface fishing.	dmallind	Sep 2012	#55
this is true, currently	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#28
Question..	Lightbulb_on	Sep 2012	#44
Wealth should be taxed on transfer, regardless of timing.	dmallind	Sep 2012	#64
So if you built up a company to support your family,	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#25
It is not putting my children in harms way	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#36
so every American citizen should start out poor and see if they can make it?	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#43
it depends what you consider poor	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#45
there are still a lot of bugs..	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#47
Thats putting it very,very,very kindly.	Missycim	Sep 2012	#61
say it, freedom of speech.... n/t	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#62
Nope, I am trying to be nice today	Missycim	Sep 2012	#65
I just want to know why you think you or the gov't is	Missycim	Sep 2012	#68
A person gained their wealth by	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#86
You labor under the delusion that all wealth is ill gotten.	Missycim	Sep 2012	#126
What a load of misguided nonsense.	kentuck	Sep 2012	#131
Well aren't the	Missycim	Sep 2012	#133
"...doesn't mean you deserve all of their profits."	kentuck	Sep 2012	#140
But if the workers get half of the profits	Missycim	Sep 2012	#142
You are trying to go against evolution. Nature will win, you won't.	GreenStormCloud	Sep 2012	#91
Society and civilization go against evolution	Kindly Refrain	Sep 2012	#135
Society and civilization do NOT go against evolution.	GreenStormCloud	Sep 2012	#137
If that is the case	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#141
I previously stated that there are individual exceptions.	GreenStormCloud	Sep 2012	#144
if you try to enslave a population of over 300,000,000	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#148
So, let me get this straight...	virginia mountainman	Sep 2012	#116
that is a good point	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#117
Good!	virginia mountainman	Sep 2012	#119
also, if you read my post	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#118
Yes but...	virginia mountainman	Sep 2012	#120
It's actually a good thing.	moondust	Sep 2012	#10
What you described isn't redistribution. It's confiscation by government.	slackmaster	Sep 2012	#11
+10000	Missycim	Sep 2012	#24
+1,000,000	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#29
+100	ChazII	Sep 2012	#82
Going by your INITIAL logic the government will NEVER go after the non wealthy...this statement	uponit7771	Sep 2012	#83
+100. A Libertarian friend put it in the form of a question:	Skip Intro	Sep 2012	#94
This message was self-deleted by its author	Skip Intro	Sep 2012	#95
The power	tama	Sep 2012	#132
thank you	SmileyRose	Sep 2012	#106
Greed IS human nature. It's the truth.	randome	Sep 2012	#12
+1000	Risen Demon	Sep 2012	#102
Two wolves	tama	Sep 2012	#128
If it were not for the administrative nightmares . . . .	abumbyanyothername	Sep 2012	#13
the only problem I can see is that	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#16
That's a separate issue...	CJCRANE	Sep 2012	#22
right but those people are only taking money from their relative who left it for them.	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#32
That's	theKed	Sep 2012	#115
The "free market" tends to redistribute wealth	Ron Green	Sep 2012	#17
I think this is an excellent topic...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#19
The people with it don't want it redistributed. n/t	porphyrian	Sep 2012	#31
Yes, if we look at the middle class...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#35
That's not my position, that's the position of many of the wealthy.	porphyrian	Sep 2012	#89
well thats common sense	awwwsheet	Sep 2012	#39
And the people who who have a bunch of it don't want to share it at all. n/t	porphyrian	Sep 2012	#90
Nothing, It's actually very beneficial to the wealthy to redistribute wealth through taxes -	haele	Sep 2012	#40
The problem with redistribution of wealth is it needs to be reversed.	hay rick	Sep 2012	#46
Morons only think in one direction...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#51
I think it's the language as opposed to the actual concept	loyalsister	Sep 2012	#49
Government doesn't necessarily have to take all of it.	Cleita	Sep 2012	#52
Lots of "new" posters on board with this thread	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#56
You aint ringing up the post count either,	Missycim	Sep 2012	#63
I wasn't talking about you, but	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#66
Ok sorry but I really dislike	Missycim	Sep 2012	#69
We redistribute wealth in the extreme, but most of it goes TO people like Romney.	Marr	Sep 2012	#57
If there aren't enough jobs to go around, giving people money is a moral imperative!	reformist2	Sep 2012	#60
in the rich's eyes	JesterCS	Sep 2012	#67
American culture has a very narrow circle of moral outreach - always has.	ehrnst	Sep 2012	#71
Collecting great wealth is anti-social	rock	Sep 2012	#72
To answer your question, it's what all governments do.	JackRiddler	Sep 2012	#73
I Don't Believe in Caps on Personal Income	Yavin4	Sep 2012	#74
Depends on how you do it.	dmallind	Sep 2012	#75
Thom Hartmann's limit is one billion $ cap.	ErikJ	Sep 2012	#76
Goodbye NFL, NBA etc.	One_Life_To_Give	Sep 2012	#78
Most of them are NOT in the 1%, that's how bad the knowledge of income in the US is....	uponit7771	Sep 2012	#84
What do you believe the income threshold is	SickOfTheOnePct	Sep 2012	#111
$770,000/yr is not in the 1%?	One_Life_To_Give	Sep 2012	#134
What I don't know is ...	chemenger	Sep 2012	#80
Very little personal wealth is in cash accounts.	GreenStormCloud	Sep 2012	#88
Nothing, an economy exists to distribute resource. If there is no movement then the economy fails.	TheKentuckian	Sep 2012	#92
Well ideally I'd like to see capitalism itself abolished, but in the short term...	white_wolf	Sep 2012	#93
So the government would confiscate anyones money that has liquid over 1 million ?	former-republican	Sep 2012	#96
We already tax people, this would just be an extension of that.	white_wolf	Sep 2012	#97
Revamping the tax code would be a start	former-republican	Sep 2012	#99
And also remember	former-republican	Sep 2012	#100
I'm not trusting the "same" people to do anything.	white_wolf	Sep 2012	#104
Modern revolutions never end well	former-republican	Sep 2012	#105
I haven't actually proposed revolution in the sense of violent overthrow.	white_wolf	Sep 2012	#108
It won't be in our lifetime or your children's but I believe	former-republican	Sep 2012	#114
Goodbye Clooney, Tom Hanks, Stephen King, John Kerry....	Zax2me	Sep 2012	#98
''So really ... what is wrong with redistributing wealth?''	DeSwiss	Sep 2012	#101
You can go back to Native Americans	former-republican	Sep 2012	#109
Another ancient Indian proverb says:	DeSwiss	Sep 2012	#121
Depends on whos wealth it is.	L0oniX	Sep 2012	#113
I think it is all about recirculation	gulliver	Sep 2012	#122
If the goal is to raise revenue for those things you outlined	hughee99	Sep 2012	#123
Yikes!!!	greytdemocrat	Sep 2012	#125
The whole frame is misleading	tama	Sep 2012	#127
If the horses don't poop, the sparrows don't eat...	kentuck	Sep 2012	#130
So whats to stop someone from making up to 10mil and	Missycim	Sep 2012	#136
Don't take offense, but	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#138
no offence taken,	Missycim	Sep 2012	#139
I was not	PowerToThePeople	Sep 2012	#143
oops my bad :D	Missycim	Sep 2012	#146
Who cares?	TBF	Sep 2012	#145
Having higher taxes is similar to that.	LiberalFighter	Sep 2012	#147

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