CA Renter….good post, and one I agree with wholeheartedly. A nation made up solely of investors wouldn’t last very long I’m thinking. You’re in good company though, as I understand that Warren Buffett shares pretty much the same viewpoint.

Capitalism is a wonderful force for motivating people to work hard and save money, but it has to be moderated to prevent the mass accumulation of capital in an “investor class” for just that reason, or you wind up with Feudalism by another name (with the capitalists of course as the nobility, and everyone else as their serfs).

Unfortunately, taxation and wealth redistribution on some scale are a necessity given capitalisms inherent tendencies towards this kind of concentration of wealth into an investor class. Sadly, most people are unable to look past their own pocketbook and see that this, in the end, is a benefit to all, and the only way to maintain the system. They just see the money disappearing into the government. But it is a balancing act – you have to maintain enough disparity that most people will work hard to achieve the dream, and CAN achieve the dream if they work hard enough, but not so much that people give up on it as being unattainable. Right now, I think we’re getting close to the “giving up on it” part for a LOT of what used to pass for the middle class.