And we can't all be venture capitalists, or software developers, or business executives or stock traders. The problem is that technology has changed things so that we don't need a large proportion of our population working to produce the goods and services the population needs--or wants.

This has happened before. The Roman Empire had the same problem, although in their day it was not technology that made citizen labor too expensive to employ. It was slavery.

The Romans dealt with their problem by instituting a massive welfare system: bread and circuses--and a massive military to keep the human and material wealth flowing in from the Empire. This is the same way we're dealing with the problem, and in the long run, it won't work for us either.

The only way we can deal with this problem equitably and humanely is through the redistribution of wealth. Not surprisingly, the rich are not going to be too happy with this solution. They will point out that even if the tax on the wealthy were raised to 100%, there are so few of them that those revenues would still not be a drop in the bucket when it came to fulfilling the needs of the poor.

There may be a small nugget of truth in this, but I suspect it is mostly cloaked in a blanket of lies. After all, those same rich are always boasting that they are carrying the weight of the society on their shoulders, that they are paying all the taxes and doing all the work.

You can't have it both ways, Daddy Warbucks.