Conrad Knauer posted this cartoon on the Thorium Energy Alliance Facebook page with the following comment: I think this works for Thorium too. ;)
How do we stop too much wealth accumulating in one place?
Posted by: iraszl on September 23, 2013
Question is why so much wealth should be accumulated in one place and some should be poor? It shows a deficiency in economy system, taxes and stuff.
Taking the money out of politics is the first step -- and good luck with that. Because once it's in, it infects and changes the essential character of the host. Citizens United is but one example. Being able to determine the actual monetary amount for buying a vote in congress is yet another. The barn door's been open for way too long, and by now the republic's essential character may well already be lost. Witness the logjam on capitol hill. But you have to follow the money to truly understand it.
Money and power begets money and power - virtuous circle only for them's that got the money and power. Like an ungoverned internal combustion engine, unregulated capitalism naturally accelerates until it blows a gasket or burns out -- boom and bust.
The trick is how to regulate it. And debating how best to do that for the good of all concerned is the legitimate function of open government. Government has always been a balance of individual liberty versus the greater good of the group. It's what ethics are all about -- a frightfully difficult balancing act. Ideology is easy, ethics are hard.
Taking the money out of politics would be first step toward sensible regulation. But good luck with that. The camel's nose got under the tent a long time ago.
Agreed. I never thought it would be possible. Just saying that's what would have to be done -- short of revolution or civil war -- to resolve the current state of affairs. (Then again, neither one prevented us from getting here today, did it? :)
Any culture, country, or civilization is on a trajectory, backed by its own inertia. It's going where it's going, as predictable to plot as an artillery shell in terminal phase.
What would it take to alter the trajectory of such a hefty mass as the USA? Chilling to even contemplate.