All the Joe the plumber business is getting rather silly. Joe the Plumber, Joe Six-Pack, Hockey Moms. I feel totally disenfranchised because I’m none of those. But anyway, McCain criticized Obama’s answer by saying,
“You know what Senator Obama had to say to Joe? That he wanted to spread his wealth around. America didn’t become the greatest nation on earth by spreading the wealth. We became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.”
Here’s the problem. We’ve learned (or maybe we haven’t and that’s the problem) there are finite resources. We can’t just create things out of thin air. We’ve tried to do that financially in the past few decades and now we’re paying the price with economic chaos.
Yes, the US became a powerful country by creating new wealth, but we’re not going to stay that way unless we learn to spread the wealth around. If we keep trying to create new wealth we’re going to continue moving into economic chaos, and the other countries of the world will continue hating us. If we are willing to spread the wealth around, then life will be more equitable and humane.
Do we really need the McMansions that clutter the suburbs while child in the cities and rural areas live in substandard housing. Too many of us for too long have lived lives of excess. Yes, it is time to spread the wealth around without creating new wealth out of the air.
2 responses so far ↓
1
anonymous
// Oct 17, 2008 at 10:45 am
So, your students enter your program with a certain amount of ability to earn a living. They leave your program with an enhanced ability to earn a living. The difference you’ve made in their lives doesn’t “create wealth?” Explain.
2
gjacobs
// Oct 17, 2008 at 12:25 pm
To anonymous,
Your question indicates that you are thinking at the individual level. My point was directed at the global, economic level. Yes, one can “create wealth” for oneself based on the attainment of credentials or built from the cultural, social, and material capital one had coming into a situation, but in the end there is only so much available in the world. For a much better discussion of what I mean, I suggest you read Fareed Zakaria’s article http://www.newsweek.com/id/163449 in the most recent issue of Newsweek.
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