On 2/18/2012 9:11 PM, George Plimpton wrote:

I do not think that most people would agree with your definition of
fairness. I think most people would agree that it is perfectly fair
for 1/2 the people to be poor and the other half rich , if all the
people have an equal opportunity to be rich.

See, Dan, you qualified your statement by saying if everyone had an
equal opportunity to be rich.

Everyone *does* have an equal opportunity to be rich.

Just like everyone has an equal opportunity to play in the NBA. We all
do don't we? We all have an equal shot at it? Yeah, sure we do.


In other words if the
rich are rich because they earned the money and the poor are poor
because they prefered to not spend any time or effort in earning
money, then it is fair that some are rich and some poor.

That would be a much better argument, yes.

That *is* the argument.

I said "if" because anyone with any brains knows that isn't the way it
is in the real world.

But again, we know that it's
not just a matter of who puts out a good work effort and who didn't.

That's almost entirely the argument.

That's not the argument at all. Because if it was then that would mean
Paris Hilton has put in far more work effort to earn money than you
have. She's worked far harder than you and has earned more because of
her superior effort. But something tells me you think you put in more
work than she has in making a living. So the fact she makes a lot more
than you do has nothing to do with the effort put into it does it?


In our society not all people have an equal opportunity so some people
are unfairly poor and some are fairly poor. The same for riches. Some
inherit a lot and are unfairly rich and some are rich through their
own efforts and are fairly rich.

So what does that mean?

It means that you need to keep your grubby totalitarian mitts off
people's money.

Or it means quit working so that way you won't have any duty to pay into
the American system you are a part of. But as long as you are going to
work then you are going to be obligated to pay taxes.

Hawke