Oh no! Let’s not talk about spreading the wealth! That’s socialism. We shouldn’t even consider the possibility of spreading the wealth. Commie!
Of course, it’s only spreading the wealth if working folks benefit. When it comes to the elite, however, it’s not spreading the wealth, it’s consolidating assets. Why is it that it’s not considered spreading the wealth when rich people funnel money into tax shelters? How far and wide has American wealth been spread when corporations move their factors of production to over-seas facilities, off-shore their labor needs and subcontract services to India? Doesn’t the phenomenal wealth gap and the disproportionate salaries of the corporate elite compared to the manual laborer demonstrate and upward spreading of the wealth?
How is it that corporate welfare, amounting to over $90 Billion to such entities as Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, et al is not socialism, but when just over $16 billion dollars is spent on welfare for poor people in the same year (2006) that’s socialism, that’s a “welfare state,” that’s fostering dependency?
The bottom line is… WEALTH IS GOING TO BE SPREAD! That’s what markets do. The question is, WHERE is it going to be spread? Conservatives and Free Market ideologues would have you think that wealth in the hands of the wealthy is a universal good, but wealth in the hands of the poor is socialist doctrine. They would suggest that massive concentrations of wealth in the hands of the super rich, and the exporting of wealth to other countries is sound, free market policy.
And they all know that this is nothing more than the expression of greed and hypocricy.
The Mad Sociologist Blog 