Props to Rick Sincere

Both the House and the Senate have passed minimum wage legislation, which is one way to redistribute income. (It is also a way to deny employment to poor minority youth, but that is a column for another day.)

Under the leadership of Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York), the Joint Economic Committee sponsored a hearing about income inequality in which the "bad guys" are corporate executives with generous pay packages made up of salaries, bonuses, and stock options, and the "good guys" are federal legislators claiming to look out for the poor and middle class.

Fears about income inequality stem from a pre-modern understanding of economics, in which because some people "have," others "have not." In the pre-industrial, pre-capitalist world, this was sometimes true. If Midas had a lot of gold, it meant he was taking it from his subjects, who had no gold. (He and other ancient rulers used force to pry the gold from the hands of people who had genuinely earned it, through slavery and confiscation.)

More Income Equality, Should We Worry?