Friday, October 31, 2008

"Redistribution of Wealth 101"

"A Jesuit friend forwarded to me a 'best of anti-Obama stuff' e-mail. (Yes, a Jesuit who is not voting for Obama and is, in fact, forwarding Obama jokes. Never stop believing in miracles.)
Yesterday on my way to lunch at Doe's, I passed one of the homeless guys in that area, with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money."

Once in Doe's, my waiter had on a "Obama 08" tee shirt.

When the bill came, I decided not to tip the waiter and explained to him while he had given me exceptional service, that his tee shirt made me feel he obviously believes in Senator Obama's plan to redistribute the wealth. I told him I was going to redistribute his tip to someone that I deemed more in need -- the homeless guy outside. He stood there in disbelief and angrily stormed away.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $3 and told him to thank the waiter inside, as I had decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy looked at me in disbelief but seemed grateful.

As I got in my car, I realized this rather unscientific redistribution experiment had left the homeless guy quite happy for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn.

Well, I guess this redistribution of wealth is going to take a while to catch on, with those doing the work.
"I think I'll let my oldest kids pick their favorite charities at Christmas, and I'll redistribute their gifts accordingly."

[Hat tip: "Some Have Hats" (October 28, 2008)]

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