The National Debt

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

And how do you close the gap between rich and poor?

1. Make the poor have more money.
OR
2. Make the rich have less money.

I don't see how you can do these independantly. Just do 1. and the national debt increases even faster and there are millions more dollars in circulation. Just do 2. and you've got lawsuits, tax evasion, fat cats moving out of the country, etc. You've got to do both.

And then you will have both sets of consequences happening.

There's a simple answer to the quandary, but first one has to ask a simple question (or a more complicated version thereof): Do we, as a country, really care about the gap between poor and rich? Or, if you prefer, do we as a country (or world, or whatever) really want to help impoverished people escape their poverty?

If we do, then the problem should solve itself because the people with more money will help those with less. Not just through governmental forms of welfare and unemployment benefits--for a country the size of, say, the U.S. that's not likely to be very efficient for very long--or through large charitable organizations and the like, but through old-fashioned "lending a hand". Helping out friends in a tight spot. Giving a few loaves of bread to the local food pantry. That sort of thing.

If we don't, then maybe we should stop pretending we do care. It might even be a service to charities and the like because then they'd see more clearly what they're up against. *shrugs*

I could go on in any of several directions, but I'd risk turning this into a long-winded, way-too-serious essay.