Is it society's responsibility to redistribute property and wealth to make things more balanced?

[Ben_F]

When I work for someone, I don’t feel that I’m his slave. I feel that I agreed ahead of time about the price of my services. I really don’t want “society” to tell me or anyone what that price should be. Soon that same “society” will be telling me where I should work and how much I should pay my employees should I acquire them. I do not want to sacrifice my freedom for security. I want freedom in order to provide for my own security. I’m not sure what is a livable wage. In Guatemala they make around $800-$1000 a month. Guatemala is a social consciencious country where “society” has pretty much control on everything. Thanks for your comments. I don’t think neither of us will make much difference anyway. We can only talk about it. God Bless

 

[Ben_F]

It’s disingenuous to say it either has to be “pure capitalism” or communism. No society is like this, not even America.

Maybe instead of comparing the USA to “communists”, compare it to Western European nations and Canada. Europeans and Canadians are more “communist” than America in that the quality of life of their “poor” is far better than that of the American poor. They tax more, there are more services provided by their governments.

Life is better in those places, people are happier. They still have very rich people, but they are just not as rich as the Americans.

People in Canada come here for health care.

 

[mkingdomlvr]

When I work for someone, I don’t feel that I’m his slave. I feel that I agreed ahead of time about the price of my services. I really don’t want “society” to tell me or anyone what that price should be. Soon that same “society” will be telling me where I should work and how much I should pay my employees should I acquire them. I do not want to sacrifice my freedom for security. I want freedom in order to provide for my own security. I’m not sure what is a livable wage. In Guatemala they make around $800-$1000 a month. Guatemala is a social consciencious country where “society” has pretty much control on everything. Thanks for your comments. I don’t think neither of us will make much difference anyway. We can only talk about it. God Bless

You’ve been lucky, you must have had decent bosses.

People in Canada come here for health care.

People in the USA go to Latin America for health care too…

 

[flyingfish]

People in Canada come here for health care.

Only very rich Canadians are able to do that.

Canadian system is not without its problems, but it is ranked higher than the US system and it costs about 9% of GDP whereas in America it costs 26% of the GDP.

 

[flyingfish]

When I work for someone, I don’t feel that I’m his slave. I feel that I agreed ahead of time about the price of my services. I really don’t want “society” to tell me or anyone what that price should be. Soon that same “society” will be telling me where I should work and how much I should pay my employees should I acquire them. I do not want to sacrifice my freedom for security. I want freedom in order to provide for my own security. I’m not sure what is a livable wage. In Guatemala they make around $800-$1000 a month. Guatemala is a social consciencious country where “society” has pretty much control on everything. Thanks for your comments. I don’t think neither of us will make much difference anyway. We can only talk about it. God Bless

At some point in America “society” decided that owning slaves was not okay, that child labor was not okay, that unsafe working conditions were not okay, that people shouldn’t be fired for getting sick and so on.

Maybe it’s time to decide that the minimum wage should be such that it would be enough to pay rent, buy food, buy healthcare, clothing and other necessities without having to get an additional job.

 

[Ben_F]

We agree, Flying Fish, on all the injustices that need to be fixed. We just disagree on the method. It sounds to me that only time will tell which method is correct. I did think hard and heavy about that fight to the death thing about 53 years ago. I think I made the right choice. At least I feel good about myself. God bless you all. Keep the ideas flowing. That’s what freedom is all about.

 

[Seeker100]

Yes of course. It is society’s moral responsibility to do this. One of the best ways to do this is to provide proper education for every citizen and proper health care for every citizen. These two elements develop the people and help redistribute the wealth so that all of society can be vibrant.

 

[Seeker100]

While I applaud your anti-envy position, I would recommend that you think hard about exactly what you would “fight to the death” for.

Actually, according to the Christian reading of scripture, it belongs to God.

The question is who is the proper steward. Who should decide how it is disposed?

That wealth is earned through human interaction is obvious to anyone who thinks about.it. But what marxists tend to mistakenly assume is that government is a surrogate for society. The same income earner who relies on society to earn his income is also contributing to society and the incomes of others. Even the rich.

It becomes “taking away” the instant force is applied, as Ben correctly noted, irrespective of the excuses offered for the taking. Taking does not become just merely as a consequence of want or even need.

So give to Caesar what he demands but don’t pretend it has anything to do with justice.

Very very good comment!!!

 

[Seeker100]

It’s disingenuous to say it either has to be “pure capitalism” or communism. No society is like this, not even America.

Maybe instead of comparing the USA to “communists”, compare it to Western European nations and Canada. Europeans and Canadians are more “communist” than America in that the quality of life of their “poor” is far better than that of the American poor. They tax more, there are more services provided by their governments.

Life is better in those places, people are happier. They still have very rich people, but they are just not as rich as the Americans.

Very very good comment!!!

 

[Seeker100]

Hi deb216 this is just my humble opinion

“Whatever you do to the least of my bretheren you do unto me”
if we walk past a homeless person and not help them we are not helping Christ.

On a personal basis we all have a duty of care for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Corporal works of mercy identify this

.Governments should be encouraged to take a caring stance on poverty in the world.

It is an ambiguous title “society’s responsibilty to redistribute property and wealth to make things more balanced” it could be construed in so many ways…politically i.e communism as previous posters have said or Robin Hood syndrome i.e take from the rich and give to the poor.
On a personal level we all have a responsibility forour own actions and our conscience and we should strive to be as Christ-like as possible i.e care for others as in Corporal works of mercy…this is just my humble opinion
Good luck with the paper by the way

Very very good comment!!

Seeker100

 

[Seeker100]

Don’t get me wrong, America has a good standard of living. It’s just that many other industrialized nations have better.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

I didn’t criticize the US college system, but the accessibility to it. The best schools are also very expensive. They don’t have to be. Europe, Japan etc. have contributed much in the way of scientific achievement to the world despite having far cheaper (or even free) universities.

As for college being a right or not, it should be for those who are good enough for it. The quality of the school you attend shouldn’t be influenced by how wealthy your family is. And sure you can say that those schools assist poorer families, and they do, but not so much if you’re middle class.

Not to mention that the selection for those types of schools begins early in life, and depends a lot on having parents wealthy enough to send you to private schools, buy you SAT tutors and the like. Education inequality is just another example of inequality in America. Other Western nations do better.

Excellent Excellent post!!!

Seeker100

 

[Seeker100]

At some point in America “society” decided that owning slaves was not okay, that child labor was not okay, that unsafe working conditions were not okay, that people shouldn’t be fired for getting sick and so on.

Maybe it’s time to decide that the minimum wage should be such that it would be enough to pay rent, buy food, buy healthcare, clothing and other necessities without having to get an additional job.

Excellent comment!!!

 

[Bubba_Switzler]

Yes of course. It is society’s moral responsibility to do this. One of the best ways to do this is to provide proper education for every citizen and proper health care for every citizen. These two elements develop the people and help redistribute the wealth so that all of society can be vibrant.

That would explain why Jesus lobbied Pilot for empire-wide health care for all Roman citizens and subjects, alike.

 

[Seeker100]

That would explain why Jesus lobbied Pilot for empire-wide health care for all Roman citizens and subjects, alike.

Yes!!! Exactly!!! In the long term that is one of the things He was pushing for!

Seeker100

 

[Bubba_Switzler]

Yes!!! Exactly!!! In the long term that is one of the things He was pushing for!

If you believe that, comrade, you will believe anything.

 

[Seeker100]

If you believe that, comrade, you will believe anything.

I believe what I see! Much of what was once the Roman Empire now has universal health care. Advanced countries outside of the Roman Empire reach now have universal health care. Hopefully Obama will bring health care to the USA. God is always working throughout history and now.

 

[deb216]

Thank you all. I completed this paper and earned a perfect grade. Thank you all for your suggestions. It was definitely appreciated.

 

[tbcrawford]

Thank you all. I completed this paper and earned a perfect grade. Thank you all for your suggestions. It was definitely appreciated.

Congratulations deb.Do you feel like sharing with us the gist of your paper?
Did you give perspective from differing opinions? Just wondered you don’t have to
tell us.
God bless you for giving us a good topic for debate.

 

[royal_archer]

I don’t see why it has to be one extreme or the other. Look at how most of the industrialized world lives. Look at Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, etc. The poor in these countries are much better taken care of than the American poor…

Then why do so many poor decide to stay in America?
I venture to say that for many freedom outweighs material wealth.

Is it possible thatIt’s not just about wages, it’s about what that wage has to buy. People in the rest of the industrialized world don’t have to worry about paying for healthcare, their medications are much cheaper or even free, they don’t have to worry about paying ridiculous amounts of money for university (and in fact in many places in Europe university education is either free or nearly so). .

Foriegn medicine is free/ cheep in part because they are not bound by American pattent laws. If you were to eliminate those protections here in the states, the price of drugs would plummett but so would the introduction of new drugs.

Is it possible thatAs for whether increasing the minimum wage would increase prices, really hard to say. It’s not just as simple as you describe. There would still be competition between companies, and if some decide to charge more there are at risk of being undercut by competition. The way you’re describing it makes it seem as though the companies are barely getting by, and an increase in minimum wage would mean they would cease to make a profit unless they started charging more for products. That’s absolutely not true. An increase in minimum wage could mean more people can now afford their products, so they may end up making money that way.

If you increased the minimum wage on of three things would likely happen to many businesses: more factories would move oversees; investors would pull their money out of the buisness and reinvest in businesses that had a better return on investment; or the company would loose sales to foriegn competitors.

Instead of trying to force redistribution, we should try to improve the quality of our work force through better education, incentives to work, and fighting the welfare/entitlement mentality.