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The argument is a utilitarian argument, based on the notion of "the greatest happiness for the greatest number."
1. Nobody knows if there is an afterlife or not, so we must focus on this life.
2. Pleasure is good, and pain is bad.
3. Money allows people to enjoy more pleasures, and to reduce their pains. (Money doesn't solve all problems, and it can't always buy happiness, but it can solve most problems).
4. There is no a priori reason as to why some people deserve to enjoy more pleasures. Why should person X have the right to enjoy more pleasures than person Y? (Some people work harder than others, but why is a lazy person inherently less worthy of enjoying pleasures than a hard-working person? Everyone just assumes this to be true, that hard work should be rewarded, but why? Explain from first principles and using a reasoned argument why someone who works hard deserves more in society.) When there is no a priori reason as to why someone deserves more of something than someone else, the solution has been to give everyone an equal amount of that something in other spheres of life, such as politics (one man one vote, nobody can have more than one wife). So one man one dollar isn't something unprecedented.
5. The best way to ensure everyone experiences an equal amount of pleasure is to give everyone an equal amount of money (there are other ways, but this is the simplest).
6. Therefore, everyone should be made equally wealthy (regardless of how doing this affects productivity). Also, this doesn't violate the utilitarian principle of the "Greatest good for the greatest number" since the wealthy and upper middle class in any society are fewer in number than the poor, so taking money from the rich and upper middle classes and giving it to the poor will increase the happiness of the poor by more than it decreases the happiness of the rich and upper middle classes.
7. In a capitalist system, inequality is inevitable. Therefore, capitalism must be abolished.
There is only one way to install such a system, which is ludicrous to begin with, and that is through forced theft. This Liberal Leaning American would rise up and fight any such effort as would enough other Americans to ensure no such fantasy will become reality. The arguments are ludicrous and not worthy of serious consideration IMO.
There is only one way to install such a system, which is ludicrous to begin with, and that is through forced theft. This Liberal Leaning American would rise up and fight any such effort as would enough other Americans to ensure no such fantasy will become reality. The arguments are ludicrous and not worthy of serious consideration IMO.
Some people do genuinely put in the hard work and deserve to be better off than someone who chooses to take a $9/hour job, blow $300/month on cigarettes, and live off their parents welfare.
How can you possibly justify taking away the money of someone who worked hard to earn it and give it to people who choose to be lazy and have no direction in life?
My big pet peeve is women who choose to sleep with alpha "bad boys" and have kids out of wedlock and then expect me to pay for them. I realize the urge is genetic to go for the exciting guy, but I don't want to have to pay for your "fun"
They're lucky they don't live 20,000 years ago.. they wouldn't live a week.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stockwiz
Some people do genuinely put in the hard work and deserve to be better off than someone who chooses to take a $9/hour job, blow $300/month on cigarettes, and live off their parents welfare.
How can you possibly justify taking away the money of someone who worked hard to earn it and give it to people who choose to be lazy and have no direction in life?
My big pet peeve is women who choose to sleep with alpha "bad boys" and have kids out of wedlock and then expect me to pay for them. I realize the urge is genetic to go for the exciting guy, but I don't want to have to pay for your "fun"
They're lucky they don't live 20,000 years ago.. they wouldn't live a week.
Because there are only so many seats at the table. What about the people who bust their balls, but because their job isn't as an executive or investment banker, they are lucky to make $50k/year (which is not a lot of money these days)?
Redistribution of wealth. Taking from the haves and giving to the have nots is stealing.
very true but gaining wealth unfairly is also stealing
happiness comes from within- greedy wealthy people seldom happy - they just have the means to seek false temporary fixes. Think about this --90% of people in the world are not rich-- think they are none happy in that bunch?
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