I'm speaking from personal experience with the people I have met and observed. I do not subscribe to any conservative ideology or the hyper-liberalism espoused by many on this site. I am a reasonably intelligent white male with good parents born in the US with no disabilities so I am EXTREMELY fortunate. However, I also believe in the American social system that has produced virtually all of the technology in the world for the past 200 years that has drastically reduced global poverty and likely is the reason why slavery no longer exists, and I believe those who provide significant value to society should be lauded and allowed to "keep what they kill" to preserve our culture of achievement. While they should be taxed heavily, they should not be required to hand everything away so that people like you, who play doom and complain on the internet, can buy a new iPad with the proceeds of the redistributed wealth, or so that a new senator can spend the government surplus on a vacation and some hookers. Once social mobility, educational opportunity, access to similar healthcare, and basic human rights are preserved, rich people don't owe you crap despite what you think. Our society is clearly not perfect and certainly requires continuous work, but there is nothing stopping a hungry and intelligent kid in the US whose parents feed him and shelter him from becoming a multi-millionaire in this country or even president. If you want more, stop complaining and go earn it. If you think things are unfair, then stop complaining and go help people.
Again with the completely baseless strawman attacks, holy shit.
>"they should not be required to hand everything away so that people like you, who play doom and complain on the internet, can buy a new iPad with the proceeds of the redistributed wealth"
Please point out exactly where I have even come close to advocating this idea, which seems to only exist in the heads of conservative tax dodgers.
>"Once social mobility, educational opportunity, access to similar healthcare, and basic human rights are preserved, rich people don't owe you crap despite what you think."
They don't owe me anything personally, but they do owe society as a whole a hell of a lot.
>"there is nothing stopping a hungry and intelligent kid in the US whose parents feed him and shelter him from becoming a multi-millionaire in this country or even president."
Really? How about cultural stigma, institutional racism, old boys networks, country club nepotism, access to prestigious higher education, and a whole host of other factors?
Firstly, there are a lot of kids whose parents can barely feed and shelter them (hungry and well fed, can you make up your mind?), either despite their best efforts, or because they spend everything on booze or drugs. Secondly, even if they are adequately fed and sheltered, there is still massive societal pressure to not "rise beyond your station", both from above and below.
US society seems tailor made to keep the rich rich and the poor poor, by constantly putting obstacles in the way of progress, all because rich white old men are terrified they'll lose even a small part of their mountains of money.
No one (apart from hardcore old-school concrete commies) are advocating for 100% equal distribution of wealth. I believe that if someone puts their neck on the line and makes it big, good for them. But they should also pay their goddamn taxes and contribute back to society, and not with some excuse along the lines of "I'm investing the money in my own pet causes, so I shouldn't have to pay taxes". That's what's happening currently, the super rich don't feel any connection or responsibility towards keeping society running. They need a good strong lesson in humility.
I'm sure everything seems possible from your ivory tower, but that's not reality.
It's a classic case of just world fallacy.