Marx

Karl Marx was born in 1818, a time when the nobility throughout Europe were losing power and revolution was in the wind. When a small group is very rich and the vast majority are poor the country is ripe for change. Marx believe that the unfair distribution of wealth will only end when the poor people rise up and overthrow the rich. The industrial revolution of the 19th century encouraged working people to demand a bigger share for their labors. The best example was the Russian revolution in 1917 when the TSAR was dumped. More recently we have Venezuela. The dream of socialism dies when it becomes too successful. Under socialism the redistribution of wealth is the incentive but it is capitalism that creates wealth so when capitalism dies so does socialism. The United States today would be a perfect example of what changing to socialism will do. We have so much wealth that for the first ten or maybe 20 years it would be utopia for the poor people. Instead of each family having $60,000 annual income they would have $200,000. The average net worth of the working class is about $20,000 but if the wealth were evenly shared each person would have $140,000. As the country moves toward socialism the desire to earn more and to create more diminishes. The US for years has successfully balanced the two concepts of socialism and capitalism but it has been creeping toward socialism. While the uneven distribution of wealth has been increasing over the past 40 years it is far less than in the past. Since 1980 the share of wealth by the top one percent has increased from 17% to 32% but in 1890 it was 51%.