Redistribution of Wealth
Posted by Brandon Lagao | Posted in What's Going On In The World Today | Posted on 10/30/2008 03:10:00 PM
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read 'Vote Obama, I need the money.' I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on a 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference -- just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
Joe Paycheck
--
My co-worker forwarded me this email today. I thought it was a very realistic and practical way of looking at Obama's ideology. As awesome as living in a Utopia sounds, sadly that is not the society we live in. I'd like to see all Obama supporters who are earning a paycheck, to take this into consideration before election day. Especially, voters who are in my age group. I guess you can take this as a challenge of sorts: I, Brandon Lagao, personally think that the majority of voters around my age group will be voting for Obama simply based on Trendiness and Susceptibility to a good Marketing Campaign. Yeah, I said it. Now prove me wrong. For the next paycheck you earn, inform your employer beforehand, to take a nice sized percentage of it and give it to somebody else that they feel needs it more than yourself. Make sure that you have No say in who your $$$ goes to.
It'll definitely be a great gesture of charity, but it will also show your support for Obama's plan to redistribute wealth among the nation and it will justify your vote. Here is the catch though...when taking on this challenge keep it to yourself and do not speak of it to anyone. This will keep the experiment honest and assure that you are doing it for the right reasons and not just to be seen doing something.
I'm Brandon Lagao and I approve this message.
Once in the restaurant my server had on a 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference -- just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
Joe Paycheck
--
My co-worker forwarded me this email today. I thought it was a very realistic and practical way of looking at Obama's ideology. As awesome as living in a Utopia sounds, sadly that is not the society we live in. I'd like to see all Obama supporters who are earning a paycheck, to take this into consideration before election day. Especially, voters who are in my age group. I guess you can take this as a challenge of sorts: I, Brandon Lagao, personally think that the majority of voters around my age group will be voting for Obama simply based on Trendiness and Susceptibility to a good Marketing Campaign. Yeah, I said it. Now prove me wrong. For the next paycheck you earn, inform your employer beforehand, to take a nice sized percentage of it and give it to somebody else that they feel needs it more than yourself. Make sure that you have No say in who your $$$ goes to.
It'll definitely be a great gesture of charity, but it will also show your support for Obama's plan to redistribute wealth among the nation and it will justify your vote. Here is the catch though...when taking on this challenge keep it to yourself and do not speak of it to anyone. This will keep the experiment honest and assure that you are doing it for the right reasons and not just to be seen doing something.
I'm Brandon Lagao and I approve this message.
did it. and it worked out completely fine. your theory has been debunked.
ps. just because something is popular, doesnt mean its wrong. things and people become popular for a reason. are you really one of those "oh i used to like this band, but then they got all big" type of people?
pss. i believe you think its popular or trendy to support obama because you live in CA. theres a lot of places that look down on obama supporters and those people are our age and not doing it because its the popular thing, theyre made into outcasts of their communities.
What was my theory in all of this? There is no "Theory" to be debunked.
i'm assuming that what you meant is that you took my challenge. Good for you, except you forgot one really important part: "...when taking on this challenge keep it to yourself and do not speak of it to anyone. This will keep the experiment honest and assure that you are doing it for the right reasons and not just to be seen doing something." It was a good gesture though and does show that you probably wouldn't have a problem having your hard earned money given away. I think it would be even more significant if you were making enough money to where you didn't have to borrow money for gas from Mom. Maybe it would've been best if you kept the money afterall.
p.s.- When did I ever say voting for Obama was wrong? I'm beginning to feel like you didn't even read this post all the way through. The only thing I am saying is wrong is voting without educating yourself first. For example: If McCain's real plan was to prohibit all filipino americans from eating rice, relocate all Southern Californian's to Fresno, and to replace the National Anthem with Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" and I was voting for him because all my friends are, or because most of the media tells me to, or because I bought a cool "McCain is my Homeboy" t-shirt...then I would be wrong for voting for someone who obviously doesn't have my best interests in mind.
And just to clear things up, I am definitely not an "oh i used to like this band, but then they got all big" type of person, being that some of my favorite music of all time comes from Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, Coheed, Jay-Z, Frank Sinatra!!!
p.s.s.- i'm sure that statement has some truth to it, but since I live in CA that is what is most relevant to me. And since Obama is supposedly leading in the polls, I think that makes McCain supporters the minority.
your theory was that given the real life choice of actually giving your money away and having no choice in where it goes, would somehow make someone second-guess obamas plan to redistribute wealth. people have been paying taxes since the times of caesar, with the exception that in obamas plan, taxes youre paying will eventually come back in a way that helps you. ie. healthcare.
the reason i even told you was because you said, "Yeah, I said it. Now prove me wrong." (im beginning to feel you didnt think this post all the way through.)
seeing as i havent borrowed any money for gas, what you said about it will not recieve a reply. (eddie asked mom to give me money to fill his car, if thats what your referring to.)
ps. you didnt say voting for obama was wrong. you DID say that the majority of people our age will be voting for obama based on trendiness and a good campaign. almost every obama supporter i have spoken to has shown knowledge on his ideals and standpoints, whereas, almost every mccain supporter i have spoken to has shown little to none. the most common of the reasonings to be : "well obamas middle name is hussein". or "obama was a community organizer". or "obama is a terrorist", which are all actual campaign attacks by the McCain/Palin campaign organizers.
its proven that the majority of voters vote for whoever their parents vote for. AND in almost every "rock the vote" type of rally to get young people to vote, they usually, if not always, say something like "i dont care who you vote for, just vote." all this to say, yes, of course there are going to be people on both sides voting without an educated background, but to say that the majority of people our age are voting for obama based on "trendiness" is wrong. mom had questions for me about my reasoning last night when i went to their house to have dinner, and i wasnt surprised to see that she was voting for mccain. i was surprised to hear her reasoning, which was all pretty much based on what her pastor said. so, i think that obama is ahead in the polls because more people are interested in the future and since this is such a monumental election, they have studied up on who they are voting for.
recently a girl asked me about my thoughts on prop 8 and i said im against it, then i had to explain to her that meant i was voting no on 8. she immediately told me i must be gay. so i told her, according to her logic, i am: black for not supporting african slavery, im a women because i believe in womens rights, and i am a tree for believing we should take care of our environment.
i didnt care that she was for prop 8, because she has a right to be. but then she starting bringing a slew of "facts" that have all already been proven to be wrong. i gave her the real facts on it and asked if she ever read any of the gay marriage law documents, she said no. then i asked where she got her information from and she said fox and basically all of this conservative media, plus the yes commercials, and her friends and church. these are the people you are talking about. people who go in and vote with no knowledge. so for you to make a statement saying that most people our age are voting for obama based on trendiness, you are wrong. of course theres idiots on both sides. but in my personal experience, it seems to be the other way around. i see more people voting for mccain without knowledge of the issues and facts. dont get my previous sentance confused with the begenning; "more people are voting for mccain." obama is in the lead and i think for good reasoning, and i think you have a skewed view on why people are voting for him.