When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. - Frederic Bastiat How to Identify Legal Plunder But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. \nThen abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law - which may be an isolated case - is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system. \nThe person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry; that this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and to pay higher wages to the poor workingmen. \nDo not listen to this sophistry by vested interests. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this has already occurred. The present-day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else; to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it.
Please tell me this is a joke. You actually came in here and literally used the "who will build the roads" argument? Are you lost?
Its funny how people can mask "robbery" with words that have less of a negative connotation such as "Redistribution of Wealth" Philosophically, they aren't at all different. Principles are weak with these ones.
The redistribution of wealth seems to only benefit the welfare and low class. The middle class gets nothing but more taxes. If you want redistribution of wealth, go to Russia and see how well it works. I'll pay your one way ticket.
I'm pretty surprised that no definition for "rich" was suggested. For me someone who makes 80k a year is rich lol Surely the op isn't referring to that income or even 100k, 250k or even a million. It's those who make more then it is possible to spend or invest within the country itself. Those super wealthy often feel the same. Zuckerberg, Gates, Buffet the host of billionaires cannot consume their wealth or have it invested it properly within the country. There is nothing wrong with the current setup. I am unsure how someone even earning minimum wage can feel "cheated" by the "system". By all means peeps are welcome to find there own means to an end. The standard of living today is leaps and bounds beyond what peeps had even 50 years ago. Think technology. Also think of billionaires as a necessary "evil". And don't think they're hoarding their wealth either. The appearance of inequity is NOT in consumption. It is in material goods. And rich peeps (billionaires) can only spend so much. The mathematics of growth that makes rich people richer applies for us all. It truly is a difference in mind set between the two, and this is coming from a consumer whore. There are different economies within the economy. Rich peeps don't go to macdonalds and pay a premium for a big mac combo because they are rich. Nor do the go and buy 10 Ford trucks instead of one import Audi. So you just never mind about concerning yourself with rich folk and focus on your own monies, and don't be hating if you can make millions or even 80k. Just be thankful for your cell phones, internet, computer, LCD tv, premium access to information, cheap and plentiful food/water, freedom of speech and other qualities of life that were provided by those before us. As far as taxes go...well who benefits more from the structure of the country itself? Maybe if you're pulling in more the 250 million a year there should be a special membership fee for being American. Oh and not allowed to leave the country.....yea....that's the problem....ya'll NEED the person (money) to stay. Money leaving (being invested) outside the country isn't cool or good. I'm in Canada, fuck it'd be cool if Canada could entice them to come do business here instead...but were too pricey....
redistribution of wealth amounts to theft. Not in all cases but in some. Some men came by their fortunes honestly. Some men did not. The easy fix is to change the tax code. Make it simpler, make it more fair. We pay roughly 15% on our incomes that we bust ass for, and Mitt Romney paid 14% on $20 million that he did nothing for. No risk of injury, no loss of sleep... and our tax dollars helped him to achieve those gains. Did you receive a nickel? I didn't. And I didn't receive a nickel from the money Obama has made from his side deals with corporations that used my tax dollars to benefit him and themselves. For those that call them Job Creators....really? Where in the fuck are they creating jobs? Southeast Asia, Dubai? This country is fucked! Wealth has been used to create a monopoly on wealth. Share Holder interests take precedent over the employee. Investments, capital gains, passive gains.....HOLY SHIT!!! Wal-Mart uses the welfare system to subsidize their payroll. McDonald's tells their employees to get second jobs, yet demand they be available 37 hours a week on a rotating shift. Get out of here with that bullshit. And I have to overhear a geriatric old bastard telling his buddy that he got a job just for money to blow at the slots, and that he didn't need health insurance and company matched 410k because he was retired and got a pension. And employers love that shit. Corporations love that shit. We have given our nation over to monied corporations and lending institutions. People are living on borrowed credit. Redistribution of wealth? We are taken from those that work, and giving it to those that don't. Those at the bottom, and those at the top. The only thing that will right this shit is armed revolution, murder, and outright theft. Or to change our political paradigm and start voting for people who want to fix a broken system, and not men who want to keep the status quo. And how are we going to do that when you have to pay to get a nomination from a party. So talking about it does nothing, doing something equates to doing nothing. Just pray fro a huge war, or giant catastrophe. Because THAT is the only thing that will fix a broken system this big. When men are forced to survive of their own volition, by their own hand and by the sweat of their brow.....then we will see things begin to right themselves. Now I am all for outright theft, murder and mayhem, because I have a lot of scores I'd like to settle. But a lot more innocent people will be lost, and more importantly men that this world needs will be lost. As all the fat rich fucks will be hidden away in underground bunkers waiting for the fighting to stop, or the numbers to diminish enough that they can roll out their troops and take over and enslave us again so that they don't have to lift a finger unless it is to bring a caviar covered cracker to their smug lips.
Well, are you lost? Are you gonna build the roads? Tell me a time in history when a society such as ours was able to eliminate taxes. I don't support heavy taxation but SOMEONE has to pay for things. I really don't understand why this is so complex for you, no offense. You can't just come out and say all taxes are unnecessary.
If you want to rob and steal, I'm all for it. But don't pretty it up so your soft conscience can deal with it. Man up and be a brute...why go to such lengths to justify treachery? Not all rich men are guilty of making their money from nefarious practices, yet they want to take crooked corporate moguls money as well as the money rightfully earned by some very hard working and innovative men. Where is the incentive for those men to return anything to society after that? It's bullshit, it's theft, it goes by many names...but yeah "Redistribution of wealth" makes it sound almost voluntary and philanthropic even if they have to be coerced at the point of a knife or barrel of a gun...doesn't it
Well, if taxes amount to thievery, I assume it angers all of you more when the low income people who live paycheck to paycheck are taxed, albeit at a lower percentage, than the rich who are taxed at a higher percentage but can still live comfortable lives. I know which one seems more fair to me.
Tell me a time in history when a society such as ours was able to eliminate taxes. This is basically a null hypothesis; something that cant be disproven. A society like that hasnt existed yet, except it shouldnt be something to just dismiss then. So let me ask you a question, without slavery, who would pick the cotton? I don't support heavy taxation but SOMEONE has to pay for things Well, the government doesnt pay for roads now, they simply tax and hire private companies to build. But without taxation there would be enough incentive from consumers to fund roads, since they want to go out and buy things and travel, from business owners since they want to have people come to their companies, and from everyone else, since roads are nice and convenient. And really, if people can figure out how to create cell phone towers to communicate with each other across the planet without government, I think roads would be pretty easy. The fact that people talk about it, should make a case for itself.
Sure, private companies can build roads. In fact they probably already do, through government funding. I really, really don't understand this.