I don't know about anyone else but the $1200 stimulus check was very helpful in getting through these tough times during the COVID-19 pandemic. And I think that Congress should continue giving regular monthly payments to everyone like they did. The US has an enormous amount of money but the problem is that the money is distributed in an extremely unfair way. Less than one percent of the people in our country own most of the wealth and we have swallowed the line that it would be evil to even talk about redistribution of wealth. Oh, my god, I said it. Redistribution of wealth. What every capitalist hates. How dare the 99% suggest that the 1% spread their fortunes around to the rest of us suckers who sit around doing nothing and we're even afraid to say redistribution of wealth.
I like the idea of a guaranteed monthly income proposed by presidential candidate Yang. Actually that idea has been around for over 20 years and it started with a group of bipartisan Congressmen in the 1990s. We could provide everyone with at least $1200 every month. This would mean that we wouldn't pay unemployment, disability, or other supplemental income to people needing welfare. Most of these people get less than a $1000 a month now, so if they had a guarantee of $1200 or so, they should be able to pay rent and survive pretty well. Other low income and middle class people could also use this money to pay expenses and buy things they need. They would be spending money and stimulating businesses by buying their products. The middle class worker could not complain they his/her earned income was going to people who didn't contribute, because they would be getting the same supplemental monthly income.
The problem is that we don't like to give things away. We haven't learned to share. So many people think of getting something for nothing is charity and taking charity is for weak people. Come on. Sharing is not being weak. If we all get together as a nation, we can figure out how to better distribute our enormous wealth. The national wealth should belong to us all. We all have been part of the great American experiment haven't we? When you share, you give what you don't need to others who do need things. That's not charity. It's sharing, like we should have learned in kindergarten.
The reason we don't like to share is that we have been conditioned to be competitive, to fight for what we want, and to do it on your own. We want to prove how better we are than others because we have more wealth. Wealth makes us feel superior to others and we feel powerful with tremendous wealth. At least, that's what I have seen. I certainly wouldn't know what having wealth is like. But I would hope I would want to share my wealth. Why would I need multiple mansions, jet planes, and money that I couldn't possibly spend? Why does anyone? I would like to ask billionaires, why do you think you need or deserve billions of dollars and don't you feel extremely guilty for hoarding such a large piece of the pie while millions are literally starving to death?
Our problem is our egos. Our egos want money and power. Right now, we have people in power who are very ego-minded and they do not want to share. They will lie to us or do whatever it takes to keep us thinking that sharing is wrong. That sharing is Liberal and sharing is Socialism. They want us to feel guilty if we suggest that they share and redistribute their wealth. I don't mean to equally redistribute all the money, but just to use taxes and such means to limit how much some people can accumulate so that money can be shared with people of less wealth, which is most of us. The ego-minded person is self centered and can only love self and a few others. We need to expand our minds to let our egos go and learn to love others as ourselves. Seems like someone named Jesus Christ said something like this a couple thousand years ago. We seem to be slow learners. Love others and share. This is simple to understand as a concept but we haven't quite learned how to implement it.
Just think of how we could use the wealth of our nation in better ways that could benefit all of us and not just a few. What else could we do?
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