Redistribution is a dirty word. Redistribution is most commonly sold as the taking of wealth away from people who earned it (the Makers) and squandering it on the poor (the Takers). But, the functioning of the human Cardiovascular system provides a better metaphor for how Redistribution really works. Blood is collected from all around the body, cleaned, oxygenated and redistributed. If blood is allowed to pool up because of disease, discoloration of the skin and necrosis of tissue follow with death not far behind. Anyone suffering from circulatory problems knows how ugly, painful, and deadly a lack of blood redistribution can be.
Money to a country like the United States is just like the life blood of an organism. When life bearing investment fails to reach the extremities of our society, paralysis and decay are certain. Indeed, circulatory problems in the flow of money have historically caused the slow demise of empires. The dystopian collapse of Detroit is a perfect example of what happens when money in the form of investment stops flowing. In many ways the third world is like one giant Detroit. Decaying institutions and infrastructure are obvious signs of cultural atrophy that the excessive concentration of wealth brings. Though the steady advance of our collective disease has been shockingly apparent for decades, we in the First World U.S. seem somehow powerless to stop it. Our shameful inability to solve the problem comes from a simple lack of good public relations.
The words “income inequality” and “fairness” are totally insufficient to communicate to the majority of people the dire state of our shared illness. It's just too easy to maintain the straw man argument that taking money from talented people who have worked hard only to give it to “slackers” is unfair. This class warfare concept of Robin Hood social equity is a distraction from our mutual assured destruction that stems from a lack of investment. Too bad the word “investment” never caught on.
We could call our disease something like “Euroslerosis” a word from 1970's Europe describing economic stagnation caused by generalized non-inclusion, but this term is too scientific. A term that is almost too terrifying to utter but may be the closest to the truth is Sudden Economic Death Syndrome. This name, however, sounds a bit melodramatic and too easy to shrug off. Third World-itis is good because it conveys a certain amount of shame by emphasizing the erosion of our status as first worlders. It also encapsulates the narrative quite nicely. By whatever name we chose, however, it is a disease, and crucially, one that will destroy everything we ever loved about our country.
Our ailment comes from the primal instinct to survive and is better known simply as greed. John Kerry tried the catch phrase “Creed of Greed” in his unsuccessful 2004 Presidential run, but it never caught on. Though greed is one of the seven deadly sins, it is not viewed as a personal failing. No, greed is the sacred means to the material status we worship. In spite of every christian admonition against the idolatry of materialism, the sole of America is infused with a bizarre mixture of Christ and greed. This is because the disease that is killing us has advanced with the aid of fabulous P.R.. We might hope that just as the chemical weapons of one microorganism are used to cure sickness caused by another, the P.R. weapons of this disease can be harnessed for its own eradication. Unfortunately, the cunning, baffling, and powerful nature of our collective ailment my require us to simply hit bottom.
Obviously, the collapsed of 2008 wasn't scary enough to bring us to our senses. This is probably because the delirium of our addiction is reenforced by a popular misconception. Most people who are moderately successful today think that because they are relative “winners” now, they will still be on top when the game is over. But, is it a game? Clearly, true hardcore capitalists see life as a game with ultimate winners and losers. This world view has no pity for the “losers” whose ultimate demise is viewed as totally fair. Cue every racist or cast system ideology that has ever existed with the role of the loser to serve the winner with absolute obeisance.
Ironically, almost all of the so called winners today will be losers when the last die hits the table. History does not lie. The popular board game “Monopoly” was invented around the time of The Great Depression as an object lesson about the game we are still playing today. Without redistribution of wealth (Progressive Taxation and public investment) the natural force of greed will leave us with one or two families in the entire world who own virtually everything. Even before this happens, it will be game over for every other player. There can be no social mobility without the flow of capital as it is all locked up by one party. An Associated Press headline today warned that by 2016 the top 1% will own half of the wealth in the world. How about double or nothing?