Shouldn't society's wealth be equalized?

Question

I dream of a future where there aren't any billionaires, because society will have shifted so much that billionaires would aim to redistribute their wealth for the benefit of human society.

Anyone ever feel that a scientist earning an income of $60,000 a year researching a cure for cancer is making as much, if not more, of a contribution to society than a business-person earning $500,000 per year running a consulting firm?

Ugh, I don't mean communism. I mean, more, I hope that the divide between the rich and poor doesn't grow.

Capitalism/democracy definitely is the way to go. It's just that, certain wealthy people aren't contributing enough to society. Hopefully, some day, this will change and the very wealthy will contribute more to society.

Sorry for the huge misleading title of my question. As amct01 said, what I meant more is that I hope that the society's gap between the rich and poor lessens.

Answer 1

Now why should someone who works hard for their money have to "share" their wealth with those who do not? What's the sense in that? Opportunities are out there and some people are just more driven to be successful than others. Some peole are born into wealth. I would guess that many of these "billionaires" donate plenty to charities, but why would they want to just redistribute their hard earned money to people that feel that they also deserve to be rich, but don't want to do anything for it?? The ones I hope DO pay the price though are the Enron exec types...hope they lose it all to pay back what they stole from those employees. Now THAT's greed.

Answer 2

I disagree. I do not believe it is particularly important to reduce the gap between the rich and poor, or to prevent people from becoming extraordinarily wealthy. As long as everyone is generally enjoying a higher standard of living, why should I care if some are moving up more quickly than others?

The possibility of becoming rich is what motivates a lot of people to work hard and to be creative and inventive. That benefits everyone.

Something else to think about concerning "contributions to society." Almost every wealthy person HAS already contributed to society...that's how they got rich. Suppose I make 1 million dollars a year playing basketball. Every night, people pay to buy a ticket to watch me play. To the people in the audience, watching me play basketball is more valuable than the money they spend on the ticket, otherwise they wouldn't spend the money to begin with. I "give" them entertainment. That is my contribution to society.

Answer 3

Please, move somewhere else where you can experience your utopia. This is the USA, a profit driven economy. I am not going to work hard so you can live a better life. If you don't like that, leave. Just so you know, the guy making $500,000 buys a nice house built by tradespeople. They buy the material for the house in the USA. The car he drives is from an American run dealership with American sales people and American mechanics. Why do you socialists/communists all think rich people are bad? We start businesses, we invest in the economy and we take chances on certain investments. How and why do you think the dot com revolution, Yahoo, Google etc, were able to flourish? So before you take the money from 'consulting' entrepreneurs, study economics and get a club about how money works, because your understanding of 'wealth' is equivalent to that of a 7th grade civics student.

Answer 4

What your talking about is communism,I don't agree but I think may be there should be some type of limit of how much one can earn like 50 million,no one ever needs more then that.Any thing more is just pure greed plain & simple.If you have all the money then what. No one else has any.That dosn't work either.This system will fail because rich get richer poor get poorer & now the middle is becoming poor.So whats next ? The rich are going to become poor until one super rich person/ corp owns everything .Capitalism is opposite of communism & it will devour itself.We need moderation,or eventually we will all be slaves to that one corp/person.

Answer 5

I do not believe anyone has an obligation to redistribute the wealth that they worked for. I do however feel that businessmen should not be so greedy that they take jobs away from hard working people in order for them to have extra on top of what they are already making.

Answer 6

Of course, but nowadays people are more worried about the next Pirates of the Caribbean than people with cancer. They benefit from that movie purchase than a donation to a cure for cancer, until they get cancer, then people don't do enough for them. Everyone nowadays is ignorant and wants what is best for them, not all.

Answer 7

The wealthy do contribute. They are the ones who have the money to create and expand businesses that provide jobs.

Answer 8

Communism/Socialism looks good on paper....
However I wish we did have government run health care like so many Western European countries do. Too many Americans pay through the nose for medical insurance and many more go with out...

Answer 9

I disagree. Those billionaires you speak of....that is their money, not ours. By their own abilitys (or familys abilitys) they have earned that money. You do not have to give your money to those that do not earn it from you, why should they. They do not owe society any more than the next person. It is up to the government and the tax payers to pay scientists, not the individual, and perhaps that is what you really should address...How your money is spent. Put YOUR money where your mouth is.

Answer 10

communism looks good to most people on paper , but it does not work, the saddest part is that our american system is turning into a socialism. the rich get rich, and the poor get poorer..