“Seems like the economy functions better when there are less gross inequities.” Really?
No society in human history has ever made itself richer by taking money from some people and giving it others. Many, on the contrary, have turned into gigantic meat grinders following Marx’s vision of equality.
Rich people already reinvest and redistribute their wealth. In the 90’s, for example, rich people gave a lot of their money to working class yacht builders. This, obviously, was despicable.
Why should some people have yachts and not others? Furthermore, what role was there for this country’s considerable political talent?
Happily, America’s yacht building industry was taxed to death. Hurray equality! Working class people still got money from rich people, but instead of building yachts (hard work) they just had to sign a statement of uselessness and failure — i.e. welfare application (much easier). The intelligence and talent of the politicians became indispensable in facilitating the transaction. And the politicians lived happily every after — some of them even purchased European-made yachts for themselves. (the end)