The last gilded age didn't end very well.
We know what John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in Gilded Age America, made in 1894, because in 1895 he had to pay income taxes. (The next year, the Supreme Court declared the income tax unconstitutional.) His return declared an income of $1.25 million, almost 7,000 times the average per capita income in the United States at the time.
But that makes him a mere piker by modern standards. Last year, according to Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine, James Simons, a hedge fund manager, took home $1.7 billion, more than 38,000 times the average income. Two other hedge fund managers also made more than $1 billion, and the top 25 combined made $14 billion.
How much is $14 billion? It's more than it would cost to provide health care for a year to eight million children the number of children in America who, unlike children in any other advanced country, don't have health insurance.
So?
they made that money because they performed a service...which is making a high return on the money given to them to invest by people with the money to PAY for their wealth creating services.
if they had not made that money, it would not have just randomly gone to provide health care to anyone...since it would likely not have existed, since those same wealthy people would have taken the principle and instead of investing it in hedge funds, would have put it in securities such as muni bonds, which yield a far lower rate of return, do not give over 20% of profits to hedge fund managers, and are exempt from federal taxation.
money that has not been earned does not just magically appear to help the unfortunate and down trodden...it is EARNED by someone else for providing a service in most cases.
Hedge fund operators have just as much right to make as much as they can if people deem their services to be valuable.
you cannot just take what someone has earned, which is what those hedge fund managers did, and just say, "oh someone else should have that"
here is a tip...the wealthy ALWAYS get richer, if they are smart, because they can afford the services of people who specialize in wealth and asset management.
this is not the Soviet Union...
people are free to earn and succeed here.
you want free health care for the uninsured? what are there, 43 million uninsured people in this country? what would it take to get them a decent basic health care plan? probably 100 billion a year.
try legalizing marijuana, and taxing it heavily. Try increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages. Try increasing taxes on fatty fast food places like McDonalds.
Done.
don't blame successful people for being successful.
done in an instant.