Those who talk glibly about redistribution often act as if people are
just inert objects that can be placed here and there, like pieces on a
chess board, to carry out some grand design. But if human beings have
their own responses to government policies, then we cannot blithely
assume that government policies will have the effect intended.
We
have all heard the old saying that giving a man a fish feeds him only
for a day, while teaching him to fish feeds him for a lifetime.
Redistributionists give him a fish and leave him dependent on the
government for more fish in the future.
If the redistributionists
were serious, what they would want to distribute is the ability to fish,
or to be productive in other ways. Knowledge is one of the few things
that can be distributed to people without reducing the amount held by
others.
That would better serve the interests of the poor, but it
would not serve the interests of politicians who want to exercise power,
and to get the votes of people who are dependent on them.
Yet, to many people who cannot be bothered to stop and think, redistribution sounds good.
Article by Thomas Sowell in here.
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