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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/31/19 11:20 PM, Nick Thompson
wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoPlainText">Speakingof the non-adjacent impossible,
I woke up the other morning with a fantasy of being in some
sort large community meeting, and standing up and asking the
question: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>"Why </i></b><b><i><span
style="font-family:Wingdings">è</span>exactly</i></b><b><i><span
style="font-family:Wingdings">ç</span> is it that
everybody shouldn't have the same annual income?"</i></b></p>
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<p>Try it and you will get a very quick and probably series of blunt
answers.<br>
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<p>I've had my version of that fantasy and the next step in it is to
find the person in the room with the lowest income (the shabby
homeless person lurking in the back is a good start) (or just
arbitrarily pick some one standing next to you) and offer to
"average incomes" with them. Repeat. Not everyone will
participate, maybe only those with "similar" incomes will share,
but the exercise would be useful, even with Monopoly Money. <br>
</p>
<p>Ultimately this can become a "sorting exercise". It would be
much easier to "share" what you have with someone just a little
less well off than you. As a bottom up exercise, (least wealthy
shares with next least, repeat) it might work well until you hit
the big disparity gaps... The billionaires won't want to share
with the millionaires nor they with the upper-middle-class but
there might be a trickle-up effect that relieved a LOT in the
meantime. Just sayin'.<br>
</p>
<p>I am in the midst (literally today) of a complex of "pay it
forward" exercises with friends, organizations and acquaintances
who either are, or support folks living in or near homelessness.
A little bit of $$, Time, Attention goes a *LONG* way with these
folks. I'm not averaging my income with them, but in the spirit
of religious tithing, I probably do give order 10% of my income
and time to these kinds of exercises and *I* believe that provides
a several X leverage factor for what I do give. It can be
tedious, it can feel risky, it can be disappointing sometimes, but
it feels a lot more connected than writing a check to one of the
big charities. I AM a fan of some of those (many not), so don't
want to dissuade that kind of giving, just encourage more
personal, local, engaged "sharing".</p>
<p>-Socialist Steve<br>
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