I read a lot now about the growing economic gap between the rich and the rest of us. I think the situation is being mis-represented. The rich have a lot more money than the poor, but do they have a lot more stuff? When I was born back in the depression my Dad was a share cropper. We lived an uninsulated shack without indoor plumbing, running water, a telephone, or electricity. My Dad did odd jobs to make more money, since the share cropping didn't make a profit, but there weren't many job opportunities. He made about $200 to $300 a year. We barely had enough to eat and couldn't afford new clothes or shoes. I don't know if there was a government program that would have helped us, but my Dad wouldn't have taken government help anyway. Most of the people were in the same condition that we were in. People who made $5000 per year were like they were in a different world. They had large houses, nice clothes, good cars, radio's, plenty of food, and other stuff. The gulf between rich people and poor people is not as great now in terms of stuff as it was then. Now most families below the so-called poverty line have more living space than well-off Europeans, central heat and air conditioning, two cars, cell phones, cable and two color TV's, a computer, a playstation, good clothes, $150 pairs of Tennis shoes, and too much to eat. And there are jobs available. Poor people watch the same TV shows, see the same movies, etc., as rich people. The Democrats like John Edwards seem to want to slow economic growth to achieve more equality. They are willing to reduce the amount of pie we have to insure that every one's slice is the same size, as opposed to the current system in which the poor have more pie even though most people have even more. I remember reading about a Chinese soldier who said communism has made us all equal; we are all equally bad off. The Chinese decided that wasn't a good system, and have dumped communism for free markets. Cuba is an example of where the people are still equally bad off, and Venezuala is about to move to that condition. (I wonder if in order to achieve greater equality, John Edwards would be willing to give up the millions of dollars he has acquired by convincing juries that Doctors had made mistakes even though they hadn't?)

I forgot something in my original post. When I was a child my grandfather's pocket watch was a family heirloom. It cost upwards of $100, about half a year's income. Now, anyone can buy a watch for $12 that keeps time as well as one of $80,000 wristwatches that rich guys wear. And does anyone suffer because they are not weighted down with gold chains and diamond ear-rings like millionaire ball players? A lot of the stuff rich guys have is just to puff up their egos or to brag about how well off the are. Functionally it does nothing for them. Who needs that sort of stuff anyway?