Income Redistribution - A fulfilling experiment when personally applied!

[SUBMAN1]

Great article.

-S

By Lee Walton

Last Thursday while walking to lunch on the corner of Market and East Bay, I passed what appeared to be a homeless man standing on the corner of Wentworth and East Bay holding a hand-made sign that read,“Vote Obama, I need the money.”, I laughed to myself and admired the man for his misplaced, albeit blatant honesty.


Once inside one of my favorite restaurants, I noticed that my waiter was wearing a bright blue ,“Obama 08” tie; again I laughed to myself as he boldly and proudly advertised his political preference for all the world, and his customers, to see -- just imagine the odds of encountering two such 1st Amendment harbingers of change in less than 10-minutes.


When the check finally came I decided not to tip my waiter and explained to him that I was going to implement a practical application of Obama's Redistribution of Wealth concept as my own personal socialistic experiment.



He stood there in stoic disbelief as I explained to him that I was going to redistribute his rightfully earned $10 tip to someone who I deemed more in need...a homeless fellow standing a few blocks north in front of the Harris Teeter parking lot. The waiter stammered a few "Why practice on me? I’m just a local college student!" retorts and then angrily stormed away from the table in a steaming huff of progressive self-righteous indignation.

Apparently, after experiencing firsthand the application of such socialistic governance from the perspective of the rightful wage earner, my young liberal-minded waiter was quickly convinced that income redistribution was much easier to support as a noble, magnanimous social policy than when his own hard-earned income was about to be redistributed, against his will, to another I deemed more needy.


I went outside, walked back up to Wentworth, gave the homeless guy a $10 bill, and asked him to walk down to the restaurant on the corner and thank the waiter there who was wearing the “Obama 08” tie as I've decided he could use the money more than my waiter who had actually earned the $10. The homeless fellow smiled in grateful disbelief, tossed his sign in the hedge, and promptly bounded for the liquor store across the street.


At the end of this impromptu and rather unscientific income redistribution experiment I realized the homeless fellow was truly grateful for the money that he had not exerted any effort to earn, but my liberal-minded waiter was highly indignant that I would take from him and then give to another the honest wages that he had worked hard to earn even though the homeless recipient needed the money more.


As I walked back to my office, I began thinking about the heavy burden of corporate ownership and the endless frustration from beating my head against the wall of increasing bureaucracy year-after-year. I also thought of the majority of this year’s hard-earned profits that I had planned to reinvest in a few new employees, annual raises to reward loyalty and hard work, Christmas bonuses for extraordinary effort, and year-end corporate donations to the SC Aquarium, Coastal Conservation League, and the Historic Charleston Foundation.



After reconsidering my apparent politically incorrect capitalistic beliefs, the needs of my hard-working, albeit financially struggling, middle-class staff, and the six-figure salaries of the three non-profits’ directors sitting in the big stately, well-maintained buildings that each called home, I decided then and there to give every last penny of this year’s profit directly to Charleston’s Homeless Shelter, layoff all my staff, close our company, retire early, and depend upon the largesse of Obama’spromised Redistribution of Wealth for my every need!

In that brief instance, I too became a practicing socialist!http://charlestonwatch.com/2008/10/s...grits_131.html

[Digital_Trucker]

Amen

[Kapitan_Phillips]

That guy just sounds like an arrogant *****, lol

[caspofungin]

that's socialism? ok, how's this for capitalism...

Last Thursday while walking to lunch on the corner of Market and East Bay, I passed what appeared to be a homeless man holding a hand-made sign that read,“Vote Obama, I need the money.” Disgusted the temerity of the man, begging on a sidewalk that my hard-earned taxes had paid for, I kicked him aside. "Get a job, you slob."

...When the check finally came I decided not to tip my waiter and explained to him that I was going to implement a practical application of capitalism.

He stood there in stoic disbelief as I explained to him that I was going keep his rightfully earned $10 tip to myself. After all, the service wasn't that great, and he was already getting a slary from the restaurant owner. The waiter stammered a few "Why practice on me? I’m just a local college student!" retorts and then angrily stormed away from the table in a steaming huff of progressive self-righteous indignation. "Oh well," I thought, "one day he may be a systems analyst or have some other good job, but today he's learned that just because you've worked hard and done your best, you don't necessarily get a tip. Or even a wage. Actually, he's lucky that I eat here regularly, otherwise he'd be out of a job. He should be tipping me."

As I walked back to my office, I began thinking about the heavy burden of corporate ownership and the endless frustration from beating my head against the wall of increasing bureaucracy year-after-year. I also thought of the majority of this year’s hard-earned profits that I had planned to reinvest in a few new cars, annual raises to the CFO and COO to reward loyalty, Christmas bonuses for my own extraordinary effort, and year-end corporate donations to the Republican Party, my Ivy League alma mater, and the Historic Charleston Foundation.

Yes indeed, in a society of have's and have not's, it's harder than you think to be a have.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by caspofungin

that's socialism? ok, how's this for capitalism...

Last Thursday while walking to lunch on the corner of Market and East Bay, I passed what appeared to be a homeless man holding a hand-made sign that read,“Vote Obama, I need the money.” Disgusted the temerity of the man, begging on a sidewalk that my hard-earned taxes had paid for, I kicked him aside. "Get a job, you slob."

...When the check finally came I decided not to tip my waiter and explained to him that I was going to implement a practical application of capitalism.

He stood there in stoic disbelief as I explained to him that I was going keep his rightfully earned $10 tip to myself. After all, the service wasn't that great, and he was already getting a slary from the restaurant owner. The waiter stammered a few "Why practice on me? I’m just a local college student!" retorts and then angrily stormed away from the table in a steaming huff of progressive self-righteous indignation. "Oh well," I thought, "one day he may be a systems analyst or have some other good job, but today he's learned that just because you've worked hard and done your best, you don't necessarily get a tip. Or even a wage. Actually, he's lucky that I eat here regularly, otherwise he'd be out of a job. He should be tipping me."

As I walked back to my office, I began thinking about the heavy burden of corporate ownership and the endless frustration from beating my head against the wall of increasing bureaucracy year-after-year. I also thought of the majority of this year’s hard-earned profits that I had planned to reinvest in a few new cars, annual raises to the CFO and COO to reward loyalty, Christmas bonuses for my own extraordinary effort, and year-end corporate donations to the Republican Party, my Ivy League alma mater, and the Historic Charleston Foundation.

Yes indeed, in a society of have's and have not's, it's harder than you think to be a have.

I was going to write something like that too

The real thing that's wrong with this story is the assumption that wealth is something that is obtained with total ethics and is completely deserved, while poverty necessarily comes from laziness and is associated with social ills. The recourse of wealthy people is that, well, they played the system by the system's rules. But who is to say those rules don't exploit the misfortune of others? I for one can't you if the author's having an extra $10 and going to restaurants is the result of working diligently his whole life, or whether in fact it comes from the profits he makes while employing a staff of migrant workers on minimum wage.

I can't speak for rich people, I've only known a few in my life. I can tell you, however, that most poor people aren't naive, stupid, lazy drunks. So this particular ideology irks me like you wouldn't believe. The fact is that for every fear that socialist approaches will screw over people and their hard-earned income, there are already a dozen poor people screwed over by the capitalist system by virtue of never having access to this type of income in the first place. The "American dream" ideas here help, but they're rapidly breaking down even in the States.

I will continue warning of this: the day America will be really screwed is the day they wake up and realize there is no real middle class anymore. When that happens, all that was good about the system can very much be considered to have gone down the drain. In the case, using a limited amount of socialist thinking is a good and acceptable idea. It helps you keep a middle class, which will allow a reasonable liberal democracy to continue functioning. This is the same type of "outrageous socialist agenda" that probably saved the West from a communist revolution akin to that of Russia in the early 20th century - things like unions, wage and working conditions and regulations, and social benefits are directly the products of the socialist agenda. They weren't easy to agree to. They brought the same type of resistance as this. But in the end they saved the system from the brink of collapse. The system is again approaching it. Either a tough, painful fix is brought in to help balance it again, or you can say goodbye to democracy as such.

[Skybird]

It's not that many pubs and restaurants pay sub-standard wages with the argument that their employees get tips, no.... Giving a tip depending on the quality of the service is okay for me, but nevertheless I then want to see a regulation that makes sure that a guaranteed minimum of wages cannot be avoided by employers if the habit of giving tips get sorted out. Which again will not be liked by ultra-liberal capitalists who in principle would not want to pay tips, and want to pay symbolic wages to employees only: as little as possible by law, and sometimes even illegally, so that their own interest keeping can maximize and they must not care at all for all others - and that is the basic idea behind capitalism: me first, and coming after me: I don't care.

no wonder then that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing rapidly, and that more and more wealth is accumulated in few and fewer hands, while more and more people from the middle class join the ranks of the poor. A philosphy of egoism cannot create a wellbeing for the community - that is the one great self-deception of capitalism. Or better, it is a lame excuse of self-justifying one's own egocentrism. Capitalism seeks monopolism and the vulnerability of others, monopolism is wanted for better exploitation of the defenselessness of the others. Social responsibility? What'S that?

That is fine if you live alone on a planet. But if you live on a planet within a community, there also is responsibility as long as you do not want to live like a tyranosaurus in the jungle. That responsibility does not lead as far as socialists want to see it, but it goes farther than what capitalists want to see in limitations to it. That is why in principle I will neither accept a capitalistic nor a socialistic market economy. In theory, what over here is called the concept of "social market economy", seem to have done the trick better than all others. It avoided the excesses you have seen in the USSR and at the other end of the spectrum: the extremes in the US. as much regulation as needed, but as little as possible. which does not mean that the EU does not turn on a course away from this as well. It tries to establish an over-regulateed ecnomy with a centralised command in Brussel bypassing national political control and private enterprise alltogether.

To me, that describes the Us better than anything else: a model lacking balance and modesty, but creating polarised extremes, wether it be in the religious, the economical, the educational, the political or the social field or the relation between rich and poor. Always polarising, always painting things in black and white, always arguing in extremes, always thinking in absolutes. Hell, even the spectrum of possible weather phenomenons is extreme compared to middle europe!

[NealT]

Interesting concepts.

Let's see...

To get GOOD service you MUST TIP. (What ever happened to earning your pay?)
Oh...that is why there is a high cost for the food, a service charge, a delivery charge, and a tip expected when you order a meal to be brought to your room in a hotel.

Yet, when you eat at an all you can eat buffet getting your own drinks, etc., you get fat and therefore that is bad for you...

Why do hotels charge outrageous prices to have a valet park your car? With the way the room prices are...they certainly make enough from that don't they?

Frustrated? You bet! With the company I work for, we do not get 'bonuses'. Our raises average perhaps 2-3.5% a year at best. I have gone without one more than once. Yet, with the job that I do, and the documented performance and money-saving improvements I have made, if I worked in a different industry and did the same thing I would be making a 6 figure bonus each year.

Ok, now to get off my soapbox...

[baggygreen]

Originally Posted by NealT

Interesting concepts.

Let's see...

To get GOOD service you MUST TIP. (What ever happened to earning your pay?)
Oh...that is why there is a high cost for the food, a service charge, a delivery charge, and a tip expected when you order a meal to be brought to your room in a hotel.

Yet, when you eat at an all you can eat buffet getting your own drinks, etc., you get fat and therefore that is bad for you...

Why do hotels charge outrageous prices to have a valet park your car? With the way the room prices are...they certainly make enough from that don't they?

Frustrated? You bet! With the company I work for, we do not get 'bonuses'. Our raises average perhaps 2-3.5% a year at best. I have gone without one more than once. Yet, with the job that I do, and the documented performance and money-saving improvements I have made, if I worked in a different industry and did the same thing I would be making a 6 figure bonus each year.

Ok, now to get off my soapbox...

We must be soulmates

[MothBalls]

It's just another political BS tale. Another distortion of the truth, and another round of convincing the Hee Haw brigade that anything other than same ole crap is bad for them.

The real amazing part to me is how all of the low brow double digit IQ redneck idiots of the US are being brainwashed into believing that one tax plan amounts to socialism. They eat it up because they couldn't figure out the truth if it jumped up and bit them in the ass.

I'll be glad when the election is over and the rednecks go back to getting drunk and fighting with each other rather than trying to convince the world that their candidate is the only answer to all their ills.

[Hylander_1314]

What we need are elected officials that have the courage of the founders to put us back on the path to liberty, and drop the seudo imperial path we've been on since the end of WWII.

[August]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

It's just another political BS tale. Another distortion of the truth, and another round of convincing the Hee Haw brigade that anything other than same ole crap is bad for them.

The real amazing part to me is how all of the low brow double digit IQ redneck idiots of the US are being brainwashed into believing that one tax plan amounts to socialism. They eat it up because they couldn't figure out the truth if it jumped up and bit them in the ass.

I'll be glad when the election is over and the rednecks go back to getting drunk and fighting with each other rather than trying to convince the world that their candidate is the only answer to all their ills.

You're being kind of hard on your fellow citizens. So just what makes you all that?

[Digital_Trucker]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

It's just another political BS tale. Another distortion of the truth, and another round of convincing the Hee Haw brigade that anything other than same ole crap is bad for them.

The real amazing part to me is how all of the low brow double digit IQ redneck idiots of the US are being brainwashed into believing that one tax plan amounts to socialism. They eat it up because they couldn't figure out the truth if it jumped up and bit them in the ass.

I'll be glad when the election is over and the rednecks go back to getting drunk and fighting with each other rather than trying to convince the world that their candidate is the only answer to all their ills.

Well, this redneck will match IQs with you any day you want. Now could you be more specific about how you feel about folks from south of the Mason Dixon line? :rotfl:

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm about 50 miles south of the Mason Dixon line. I sure my IQ is in the triple digits somewhere. I need to go make my Kool Aid now. I hear banjos. Paddle faster Buck.

[MothBalls]

"Redneck" has nothing to do with location. It has everything to do with being stupid enough to believe political propaganda.

Throw out a few multi-syllable words and the rednecks are confused. To solve this dilemma, throw out a few scary words like socialism and they're stupid enough to believe it.


Amazing.

[August]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

"Redneck" has nothing to do with location. It has everything to do with being stupid enough to believe political propaganda.

Throw out a few multi-syllable words and the rednecks are confused. To solve this dilemma, throw out a few scary words like socialism and they're stupid enough to believe it.


Amazing.

You mean like all the Obamaites who believe in unspecified one syllable slogans like "change" and "hope"?