Redistributing Wealth

Remember the campaign – seems like a year ago now – when John McCain caught Barack Obama saying to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to “spread the wealth around”? Critics tagged Obama as a socialist.

Now we’re in desperate need of having the wealth spread around. I’m not talking about changing tax policies. I suspect there’s plenty of wealth around – it’s just not being spread. The feds gave it to the banks, but are the banks making it available to borrowers?

When you buy something, your wealth is being spread, to the vendor from whom you bought it, to the wholesaler from whom the vendor bought it, all the way back to the manufacturer or provider. But it depends how wealthy you feel. If you have a lot but you think there’s only a limited supply of whatever it is beyond your holdings, you tend to hoard. That’s subjective, of course. Some millionaires feel poor because they used to be billionaires. Poorer people might feel wealthy if they had even some of the millionaire’s shrinking pie. But if you don’t feel comfortable doing something with what you have, then no one gets ahead.

Some folks are scrambling to invest in government bonds that are giving them zero percent return. They’re too scared even to put their money under a mattress – actually, it’s the ultimate mattress, at least for now.

If the bailout plan was supposed to stimulate the economy, it’s not working. I hope someone finds out why not, and soon. Get some money into people’s hands so they can spend it.

But there are some of you out there who have plenty. I hate to sound like George Bush after 9/11, but please, if you’ve got some wealth sitting around, now’s your chance to spread it. You could actually help stimulate the economy. The government can’t seem to get the job done, but you can. It’s a great time to buy something. Cash really is king, and it would help if some of us actually got off the throne.

There, now I’ve said it.