[Vision2020] The Nation, 6/30/08

[lfalen]

Amen
-----Original message-----
From: "Kai Eiselein, Editor" editor at lataheagle.com
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:34:48 -0700
To: "lfalen" lfalen at turbonet.com,  "keely emerinemix" kjajmix1 at msn.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The Nation, 6/30/08

> I would venture to hypothesize this:
> If wealth were distributed equally to every person, it would only be a 
> matter of time before there would be the "haves" and "have nots" once again.
> There will always be those who manage money well, see opportunity and make 
> the most of it and gain wealth.
> There will always be those who spend money as soon as they have it, with no 
> eye to the future and are soon penniless.
> I would say the odds would be good that most of the people would be in the 
> same position they were before redistribution.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "lfalen" <lfalen at turbonet.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 10:14 AM
> To: "keely emerinemix" <kjajmix1 at msn.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The Nation, 6/30/08
> 
> > Keely
> > The free market system with all its faults is still the best system ewver 
> > devised. As in your statement an unfettered free market leads to abuse. 
> > The role of government to to apply such restraints that will keep things 
> > fair and everyone has a chance to participate.
> > Roger
> > -----Original message-----
> > From: keely emerinemix kjajmix1 at msn.com
> > Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:28:32 -0700
> > To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> > Subject: [Vision2020] The Nation, 6/30/08
> >
> >>
> >> Visionaires,
> >>
> >> I recently got ahold of The Nation and would commend the entire June 30 
> >> issue to all of you who are concerned about this country's economy. 
> >> Every article is devoted to wealth inequality, and of particular note is 
> >> the article titled "The New Inequality," which introduces the idea of a 
> >> "parallel universe" of haves and haves-not.  This, of course, is nothing 
> >> new; most of us realize that wealth disparity and the bane of 
> >> conservatives, "wealth distribution," is at record levels.  Consider 
> >> this:
> >>
> >> -- The richest one percent of Americans currently hold wealth worth $16.8 
> >> trillion dollars, nearly $2 trillion more than the bottom 90 percent.
> >>
> >> -- A worker earning ten bucks an hour would have to work for more than 
> >> 10,000 years to earn what any of the 400 richest Americans pocketed in 
> >> 2005.
> >>
> >> -- Household debt is at its highest level since 1933
> >>
> >> The article goes on to state that "wealth distribution," far from the 
> >> scenario of taxing hardworking Americans to provide for social programs 
> >> for the less well-off, is actually realized in the breaks given to 
> >> corporations by conservatives who pretend that the market is working 
> >> well, thanks, only when it shifts enormous resources to the wealthy.
> >>
> >> "Our top-heavy era has evolved from a heavily bankrolled effort by 
> >> conservatives and corporations to instill blind faith in the market as 
> >> the magic elixir that can solve any problem.  This three-decade war 
> >> against common sense has preached that tax cuts for the rich help the 
> >> poor, that labor unions keep workers from prospering, that regulations 
> >> protecting consumers attack freedom.  Duly inspired, our elected 
> >> officials have rewritten the rules that run our economy -- on taxes and 
> >> trade, on wage policies and public spending -- to benefit wealthy asset 
> >> owners and global corporations."  (Cavanaugh and Collins, The Nation, 
> >> June 30, 2008)
> >>
> >> Then there's the Rod Stewart and $400-apiece crabs for lunch . . .
> >>
> >> In a world where justice reigns and has reigned since its inception, 
> >> where all players have access to free markets and no one benefits from 
> >> demographics and class and circumstances outside of the markets provence, 
> >> the free market system is, in my mind, the most likely to enable 
> >> prosperity.  But we don't live in that world.  Not by a long shot.  I 
> >> read once where our socioeconomic system is much like a baseball game 
> >> wherein one team leads 20-zip in the bottom of the ninth inning, and only 
> >> then calls for "equality and justice," finally distributing bats, balls, 
> >> and gloves to the other guys.  Until the playing field is truly level, 
> >> until justice and equality are fully realized, an unfettered free market 
> >> will only perpetuate the evils and divisions of the past.
> >>
> >> It's a fascinating article.  Get it!
> >>
> >> Oh, and, by the way -- since it seems important to our Everlasting 
> >> Blogstalker that someone from the liberal side condemn John Edwards for 
> >> having a mistress, if in fact he does (the National Enquirer would not 
> >> seem to be my idea of a credible source, but that's just me), I'll say 
> >> it:
> >>
> >> Cheating on your wife is wrong, and if Edwards did, shame on him.
> >>
> >> There, Dale -- are you satisfied?
> >>
> >> Keely
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _________________________________________________________________
> >> Stay in touch when you're away with Windows Live Messenger.
> >> http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_messenger2_072008
> >>
> >
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> Kai Eiselein
> Editor, Latah Eagle 
>