Friday, January 28, 2011

OUR TIPPED SCALES OF JUSTICE

In the unlikely event we need examples of how the scales of justice get badly tipped, here are some recent numbers from ForeignPolicy.com: "The world's four richest citizens -- Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mukesh Ambani -- now control more wealth than all of the world's 57 poorest nations."

If research had been this precise in the past, history would surely have shown the same tipped scales in ancient Egypt, Persia, China, Greece, Rome, right into the 20th C. It would have also shown that along with these few (on the heavy side of the scales) there would be the usual many (on the light side):

* There have always been the poor among us. Over the centuries, by the impoverished billions. Why this tragic state of affairs is often debated; rarely resolved. These teeming masses are forever pressing their faces against the candy store windows of the world. The few rich assuage the many poor in various forms. From ancient Rome's bread & circuses to modern America's welfare programs. But like Scrooge's Cratchit family, they never quite go away. And so the periodic uprisings, as in today's Middle East, which threaten and often succeed in toppling the few

* There will also always be the minorities among us. Different in different lands. Perhaps Armenians or Hindus or Coptics. In the US, usually African American and Hispanic. Once when national borders were sealed, the status remained fairly quo. Not anymore. Old Europe experiences waves of new citizens from abroad; and now the US faces a 2050 population 50% non-white. And so it is that we either integrate or disintegrate

* There will always be the wounded. Tens of millions in every land who exist wounded in either body or mind, with a pain that frequently becomes violence. The handicapped, the rejected, the ghettoed, the imprisoned. Often deprived of the what the few feast on, these many find various ways of trying to re-tip the scales. If not in the courts, then in the darkened city side-streets where most of us dare not venture

Sure, we all brush our teeth and comb our hair the same way. But after that -- well, out in the world where our peers don't often read the bold egalitarianism of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson -- we all takes sides on the scales. Those with the most, intend to keep it; those with the least, intend to change that. Now if "Justice" would just take off her blindfold, she might lose that serene look.

Every rich man and power broker in the world has already. What they do about what they see is each generation's biggest question...

4 comments:

  1. My generation has not resolved any of this ... so we must hearken to a newer one to take up the causes of humanity ...

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  2. So discouragingly true. I have three very bright grandchildren in college. Our fallen banners need to be scooped up by the likes of them. For now, geezers like us can wave them onward.

    Between great meals by great wives..!

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  3. My mind seems to go in a different direction here, at least sort of.

    Human nature what it is, if all the money were divided equally in the entire populations of the world, we would have total war. For human nature what it is, many would not work to continue to produce, but wait for the others to 'pay their way.'

    It is the incentive of being able to be rewarded for one's hard (or otherwise) labor. Russia and other nations have shown this to be the case, as well as every other nation on earth.

    But, that does not mean that those who are gifted in being able to achieve more, and thus be given more, should hoard their wealth. And I think there are many who do give back to the communities by their very ability to market a product, or an idea, that translates into more jobs for others.

    When left unfettered, this nation has shown what it can do when human ingenuity is left unbridled and allowed to surge. All seem to benefit.

    But to "punish those who are successful" by hitting them with more taxes or more regulations or taking away their incentives to continue to put their money at risk everyday, to do this is absolute insanity. I say let the market decide.

    As long as government is in the way, and MANDATING THE RICH DISTRIBUTE THEIR WEALTH AGAINST THEIR WILL, be it through taxes, regulations, or just doing as Obama has been doing, and that is to point a finger of blame at the profit-making companies, as though it were a sin to be profitable. And common sense says that if you keep punishing those who do make a profit for very long, one will discover that that the business/corporation just takes their money and let's the business go under, which almost seems like what the government here is trying to achieve.

    If everyone wants more, then get behind the many businesses that do do well, and will continue to hire those who need the work. For, if the regulations are too stiff, they just pack up and "head south." And if that is the reason for their departure, then I can hardly blame them.

    Let the free market dictate how things go in the economy, rather than the pointy-headed elites who rule from Washington.

    The rich can only spend so much. They usually end up investing thie wealth somewhere in the economy, which will hopefully end up supporting old and new businesses. Not perfect but if the rich are forced to redistribute their wealth, they will either move it somewhere where it will not be available to either governmental theft, or to the marketplace, wherever that may be.

    Human nature says DO NOT punish the successful worker. And do not reward the slackard. That is one recipe for disaster!

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  4. Dave, when you frame it this way, you can reach the conclusion you & my brother do. But Obama, it strikes me, is inviting FREE enterprise but with REFERRED enterprise as well. Most studies argue that this recession was largely caused by greedy entrepreneurs & weak regulatory controls. Had the referees been on the job, this may have been avoided before it happened.

    Besides, isn't any share-the-wealth ideology on Obam's part actually a little reminiscent of early Christianity?

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