Be afraid Very afraid

For several days I've been lessoning to people talking about 'socialism' and 'redistribution of wealth'. they seem to think that, one this is something that is going to be done and two, it is something to fear. I hate to tell you this but both 'socialism' and 'redistribution of wealth' are here and they've always been here. What people are really afeared of is not 'socialism' but the 'State' taking what is mine away from them and giving it to someone else. It is not the 'State control of the means of production', which is the classic definition of 'socialism'. WAKE UP people, the 'State' has been doing this ever since the first laws were passed.

When the first tribal leader told Joe the Hunter to go and hunt rabbits, not boar the 'State' has been controlling the means of production. City-state tyrants to modern day Nation-states the government has exercised control over the means of production. And don't go saying that 'socialism' is 'State ownership of the means of production'. If ownership does not contain control then it is basically means nothing. Ownership with out control means you are totally dependent on who does have control of what you own for the welfare of your property.

As for 'redistribution of wealth', that's been going on since first exchange of my stone tool for your carved bone. What has been happening on the Stock Markets these last few weeks has been a sudden, dramatic redistribution of wealth from the people who sold stock before the big selloff to the people who sold stock during the big selloff. Right here I'd like to point out that for the last 30 years there has been a steady transfer of wealth from the those who make less that $250,000/yr to those who do. In fact wealth has been being concentrated in 5% of the population and when this concentration gets to high there will be a sudden and dramatic flow of this wealth from where it has been concentrated to some where else. We only have two chooses now, the wealth can be more evenly distributed over the population by moving the wealth to other people or we can destroy it. In the former case the nations wealth will stay just about the same, in the other it will get markedly smaller.

There are many ways we can implement the 'redistribution of wealth'. We can do it in a relatively peaceful way, with only a few people getting hurt, or we can let it be destroyed (the more traditional way) where a lot of people get hurt.

The choice is ours to make.