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Redistribution is the norm

Steve Dunham wrote March 7 of the “socialistic redistribution of wealth,” but he has no idea what this means. The only method used by government to accomplish any purpose is to redistribute wealth, whether the taxes are collected to build a highway, fund firefighters, or the military.

No matter what the money is used for, it is collected from one person and paid to another to accomplish some purpose. This is the redistribution of wealth, and it is not socialistic. It is how every government in the world operates, as it is the only way that a government can operate.

Every economic system in the world has socialistic and capitalistic elements. There are hundreds of millions of small family-owned businesses in China, and a few hundred Wal-Marts, and there is universal health care in the more progressive capitalistic countries. Neither pure capitalism nor pure socialism works. This is the lesson of the economic history of the world.

Dale Raugust

Spokane

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