분야
pptx2. Free-Market Philosophy
3. Michael Jordan’s Money
4. Do We Own Ourselves?
5. Conclusion
Each fall, Forbes magazine publishes a list of the four hundred richest Americans. So vast is the wealth at the top of the American economy, even in a weakened state, that being a mere billionaire is barely enough to gain admission to the Forbes 400.
In fact, the richest 1 percent of Americans posses over a third of the country’s wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent of american families.
The top 10 percent of American households take in 42 percent of all income and hold 71 percent of all wealth.
Some people think that such inequality in unjust, and favor taxing the rich to help the poor. Others disagree. They say there is nothing unfair about economic inequality, provided it arises without force or fraud, through the choices people make in a market economy.
Who is right?
If you think justice means maximizing happiness, you might favor wealth redistribution, on the following grounds:
Suppose we take $1 million from Bill Gates and disperse it among a hundred needy recipients, giving each of the $10,000. Overall happiness would likely increase. Gates would scarcely miss the money, while each of the recipients would derive great happiness from the $10,000 windfall. Their collective utility would go up more than his would go down.
