Inequality is a problem. Confiscation is a solution.
I have been thinking about this problem for a good while now, and I suggest
you look at toomuch.org, or the book Can the Poor Save, by Mark Schreiner and Michael Sherraden (about Individual Development Accounts). Our economic system looks like this: 50% own only 2 and a half % of all wealth, an average of $25,000 per household, that is half of the 111 million American households. The top one percent own about 700 times that average. (See the Federal Reserve report Consumer Finance Survey "Currents and Undercurrents")You might think this is OK, but most of us don't. About a quarter of all jobs pay less than the poverty level for a four person family. That means people don't have a realistic path to savings and economic security. Both the inequality and the low incomes are signs of a damaged society. You said, "preposterous" to Howard Gardner's proposal, and I say to you "ignorant" of the realities. Respectfully yours, Ben Leet in San Leandro California.