Freedom of Choice, Hard Work and Income Inequality

Income inequality is real.


So is the inequality of results we achieve based on what we do as well as the amount of preparation and hard work that we employ to be in a position to do what we do.


So which road will We the People choose to travel for our future selves, our kids and grandkids?


Will it be the disciplined time management and doing what's necessary to take care today of our "tomorrow self" or the eat, drink and be merry "today is all that matters" approach to life?


In 1976 economist Friedrich Hayek nailed it when he wrote the following in "Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. 2: The Mirage of Social Justice" (1976):

"Nobody capable of useful work need today lack food and shelter in the advanced countries, and for those incapable of themselves earning enough these necessities are generally provided outside the market. Poverty in the relative sense must of course continue to exist outside of any completely egalitarian society: so long as there exists inequality, somebody must be at the bottom of the scale. But the abolition of absolute poverty is not helped by the endeavour to achieve 'social justice'; in fact, in many of the countries in which absolute poverty is still an acute problem, the concern for 'social justice' has become one of the greatest obstacles in the elimination of poverty. In the West the rise of the great masses to tolerable comfort has been the effect of the general growth of wealth and has been merely slowed down by measures interfering with the market mechanism. It has been this market mechanism which has created the increase of aggregate income, which also has made it possible to provide outside the market for the support of those unable to earn enough. But the attempts to 'correct' the results of the market in the direction of 'social justice' have probably produced more injustice in the form of new privileges, obstacles to mobility and frustration of efforts than they have contributed to the alleviation of the lot of the poor."

Summing Up

So which will it be?

(1) An emphasis on 'social justice' by pursuing a paternalistic big government knows best approach or (2) a society based on equal opportunity where individual freedom reigns, including the freedom to fail or succeed, depending on the choices we make, the effort we exert, the work we do, and even the luck we have?

Equal results or equal opportunity?

Less or more for ALL?

Socialism or freedom?

Government choice or individual choice?

World follower or leader?

As a nation of free people, the choice is always ours to make.

We'll ALL be the better for it if we make the 'correct' choice, and we'll ALL be the worse for it if we make the 'incorrect' choice.

That's real JUSTICE FOR ALL and that's my take.

Thanks. Bob.