is socialism a good idea. is it fair to take money from the rich to give to the poor?

Question

you make 40.000 a year and i make 20000 a year .is it right for the goverment to say we will tax you 10000 dollars to help fund my health care. and put us on a even playing field. because we all should be equal.

Answer 1

No it's not fair.

If you go to college and work hard to get a 4.0 GPA while your roommate parties and gets a 2.0. Is it fair for the school to take 1 of your points and give it to your roommate so you can be "equal"?

Answer 2

I dont necessarily think I'd like some person who doesnt work taking my money, but how will it affect the bigger piecute? Perhaps the economy may be well functioing? I'm not sure. I feel there are pros and cons to socialism, and most ppl only talk about the cons b/c they have never worled. I think it is attempting to give people an oppurtinity to survive even though they aren't making as much, or on the same educational level as others. There are good reasons this is a good ideology: the rich will be obsolete, and crimes related to money such as theft and embezzlemt may be diminished. The cons are obviously keeping socialism from getting in the hands on corruptible people. Usually, people are willing to make this change, but the power makes socialism turn to communism and then there, all is down hill. But the idea that man should have certain rights available like healthcareand free schooling is a strong point ina positive direction. why can't you have medical care because you don' have insurance? And for some, it may not be as good, but others have said otherwide. Education and housing should be accessible to all members of the society. Perhaps if we tweak somethings in the socialisctic idea, (maybe all members should wor to qualify or something, or the economy has to be good in order to begin ) it will prevail.

Answer 3

Of course not, it is simply stealing, however in a marxist system, 9900 of the 10K would go to the proletariat and the remaining 100 would be split among a million or so starving individuals.

I must add this because I just read the answers, socialism is never a good idea, it is always evil, there is no utopia, just marxist brainwashing.

an example
THE SIMPLIFIED EXPLANATION OF THE TAX STRUCTURE

Bar Stool Economics
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for a couple of beers and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes according to our current tax structure, it
would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily bar bill by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same percentage of total of what he had been paying, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 in stead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two"

"The rich get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money among them all for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier, or not reinvest in the community.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.


David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Answer 4

I am a Democrat and I say....Hell NO!

What I find funny is that "stealing" from the rich to give to the "poor" is viewed as socialism.

The top income earners love the fact that most people seem to focus on income and not weath.

Let see.......the top 1% earners in the US have more that twice the weath of the bottom 80% of the population.

In the mean time, most of us seem to always argue about whether or not these people have been ripped off.

Just exactly who is getting ripped off. Let see:

Who pays their share of income tax? You

Who pays the majority of property tax? You

Who pays the majority of sales tax? You

Who is spending the $$ that moves the economy? You

Who has the ability to increase the cost of living for everyone by passing on their losses due to taxation? Not You

If ALL taxes beyond the income tax are counted, the fact is that the majority of taxes are paid by the middle class.

The majority of economically responsible people in the population wallows in debt, hoping to have some kind of a nest egg for a retirement that will never come.

That somehow the upper income people have paid their share is funny. The majority of the wealth is untaxed.........yet somehow people that make less than $50,000 a year are the problem.

It is not socialism for a guy making $20,000 a year to ask for a reduction in taxes when the taxes are reducing his ability to live within his means.

You want a good example of socialism.......

How about tax abatements for companies to set up shop in cities.

How about all of these pro football stadiums built using tax dollars.

How about government contracts that seem to always go to a select few companies.

No one is saying that everyone should be financially equal......just that we should be taxed fairly. Taxing a guy that makes below the poverty line at the same rate as a guy that is gamefully employed makes no sense.

Most people need to quit living under a rock and look at what is actually happening.........not what the top 1% wants you to think.

Answer 5

i'm sorry your premise is incorrect. hearth and Police isn't a socialist corporation, they're public centers paid for by employing the those that are contained in the section they provider. for this reason i think that Democrats don't comprehend what socialism is. Socialism is the government possession of the flexibility of production. Like case in point GM. They now provide GM tax breaks that competing companies don't get that distorts the industry and could finally harm different automobile producers. the college gadget is incorrect because of the fact it somewhat is a central authority monopoly and lacks opposition that capitalism could grant if there exchange right into a unfastened industry in training. Capitalism isn't working precise because of the fact it has lots interference from government. in actuality there has been no unfastened capitalist industry for over a hundred years. confident we desire rules to guard the wide-unfold public yet comprehend this for each regulation we've we get further from a working unfastened-industry gadget.

Answer 6

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" sounded great in theory, but in practice, it deprived the able-bodied of any motivation to produce, while encouraging the needy to remain that way, hence the stagnation throughout the socialist world and why China itself is transforming into a capitalist economy.

A counter observation was made by a US senator, that if you tax something, you tend to get less of it, but if you reward something, you tend to get more of it. Hence, the rise of the welfare state in America.

Where is it written that we should all be equal? There is no model for that in the natural world.

You need to read the writings of economist Thomas Sowell, formerly of the Department of Labor, especially his insightful books, "The Quest for Cosmic Justice" and "The Vision of the Anointed." He's a Black college professor who does not believe in "equality" but only equal opportunity.

Answer 7

the real answer for any decent society is should we ought to help people to help themselves,things like job training vs. say welfare checks for abled bodied americans.Puntitive wealth taxes,or more ,higher rates of economic growth because more jobs will be created and the pie will actually expand,later even become more equal in the end because enough people will be employed making money,which business firms will have to then have to do more things to keep their workers.I think what a lot of people actually long for,but can't quite realize this is their longing not so much an equal society as such as a more fairer one. I believe so.

Answer 8

In theory socialism is a good idea. People working together and helping one another is a positive thing. Although there is no drive to work harder than someone else to get ahead in life. That means poor output for a socialistic country. Overall I would say it is a good idea but not practical in the real world.

Answer 9

No! because the rich folks work hard for their money = puttiing Bush in the White House and Dick no bid contract with Halliburton.

Americans should only be making $2/hr so the rich Americans could move to Europe and stay there.

Without the rich Americans the USA will be nothing!!!

Answer 10

In this scenario, there would be no motivation for people to make more money or to improve their financial circumstances.

Most of the money would be taken,not from the rich, but from the middle class. Socialists always manage to preserve the financial status of the rich ruling class, while taking money from the middle and lower-middle class, and giving it to the lower class in order to garner the support of the poor masses.

Answer 11

You need to read up on this subject. First you will find that the wealthy do not pay taxes. Look at your IRS instructions, you will find Corporations pay hardly any taxes relative to individuals.
Also do a read of time magazine. Who pays taxes and how much is in it. I would rather have health care for every American then the $9 trillion debt ran up by Republicans. Also I prefer health care for Women and Children over the $2 trillion cost of the occupation of Iraq. Equal is not the correct word. Fair is a better word. Look what Cheney paid in Taxes. Peanuts.