i’m pretty sure im a hypocrite, even in those cases where i can’t see it.

but given that, i could still have a point. even hypocrites can be correct…occasionally.

i wasn’t saying everyone should be equal.

just that ideally, the system ought to be designed so that wealth eventually gets spread around. regardless of what the rest of the world is doing.

Like, for instance, it would be bad, right, if one dude had 99.9% of the wealth and the rest of us split the balance, unevenly of course, according to our particular merits and efforts? even if the one dude worked hard and legally got all the wealth and was way smarter and more meritorious than the rest of us slobs….and even if the .1 % crumb we were splitting up was a decent chunk? I think we can all agree on that?

And if so, if you’d agree that one dude having all the dough would be bad, then I think you’re with me. The guiding principle is not “the best and the brightest win all the nuts” but instead, society has some obligation to spread it around…nott for free, or for no effort, but to ensure that everyone can get a piece…

I think you’d agree that excessive concentration of wealth, even if it was gotten with skill and brains and good old fashioned hard work, is not a good way to set up a society that has any chance ofbeing a decent fair, longlasting, good place tolive…

You don’t want all 99.9% ofwealth with just one, or in a nation our size, two or ten or 50 or 1000 dudes.

You want society to oeprate in a way –not where everyone gets something for nothing–but where there is plenty of oportunity to get in on the action and for everyone to do well. the base operating principle is not “cleverest guy gets to win and keep everything” but something more like “we all get a real chance to get a decent share”.

or soemthing like that

i don’t think we are forming that kind of society. I think we ought to. I have no idea what it would look like…

it might very well involve a lot less government involvement.

it’s prettyclear to me that there should be no govt involvement in student loans, for instance, and that the program itself is manifestly horrific.

but should the govt instead be involved in providing free education? hell, I don’t know. it couldnt be worse than the current scam…