Wealth redistribution has become one of the most important subjects of modern discourse, however what does wealth redistribution look like? Wealth redistribution is the act of reorganizing the distribution of wealth within a nation. What this means is that things like assets and cash are being redistributed to the lowest earning sections of the population.
Furthermore, the redistribution of wealth presents itself as one of the major solutions to wealth inequality. Yet, what does this solution look like? Taxing the rich could be an effective means to fund programs that impact the working class. Moreover, the result of this is a redistribution of wealth from the rich into lower income people. Furthermore, raising the minimum wage is a great way to raise the quality of living standards.
Tax The Rich
Additionally, taxing the rich has become a popular means of wealth distribution for a reason. A wealth tax strikes directly at the problem of wealth inequality by using the accumulated wealth that the rich wield with absolute power, for social programs. Things like a universal basic income, Medicare for all, and even universal education can be achieved through a wealth tax.
“Just a modest tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s richest individuals could bring in $1.7 trillion in a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty,“ according to OxFam University. Taking some of the incredible wealth away from some of the richest people to ever live to make sure that the people of America have little to no cost health care is a worthy endeavor. In this way, social programs that help the working class could be what wealth redistribution looks like.
Raise the Minimum Wage
Furthermore, if the problem is that people don’t make enough, then people making more money will solve that problem. Based on the data, the biggest problem with wealth inequality is that the rich get richer and the everyone else gets poorer over time. Additionally, if poor people, simply weren’t poor, no one would have a problem with rich people.
However this isn’t the case when it comes to wealth inequality. This is the primary reason that raising the minimum wage works as a means of wealth redistribution. The minimum wage is the lowest amount possible that owners of companies are allowed to give their workers.
Labor theory of value
Furthermore, the minimum wage is important because when workers labor upon materials, whatever materials that may be, value is created and the owners of the companies they work for take said value and give a portion back as a wage. What this means essentially, is that the workers create value, however, under the current economic system, they are not entitled to the full value of the labor created. Instead they receive a “wage.”
Moreover, with all of this in mind, the reason why the minimum wage works well as a means of wealth redistribution is because it takes back some of the labor value and gives it back to the worker who created it in the first place. This analysis of labor is called the labor theory of surplus value.
“Surplus value is defined by Marx as the difference between the value that living labor creates in production and value paid by the capitalist to the worker in the form of wages,” according to Karl Marx, a German philosopher and economist from the 19th century. Finally, wealth inequality is one of the biggest issues in America. However, ever problem has a solution.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources
Oxfam: Richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years
Marxists: Surplus Value/ Vitoly Vygodsky
Drexel: MINIMUM WAGE IS NOT ENOUGH: A TRUE LIVING WAGE IS NECESSARY TO REDUCE POVERTY AND IMPROVE HEALTH
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Thomas Hawk’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Don DeBold’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
