In his Sept. 23 letter, "The rationale for redistribution," Joseph Jaworski asks for a valid rationale to justify the redistribution of wealth. After all, no one would expect a burger flipper to make as much money as the CEO of that company.

Jaworski has it backwards. What we should be questioning is why the people who actually produce things in our economy — such as the burger flippers, car mechanics, barbers, etc. — are barely scraping by economically while the suits over them sit around and collect more money than they can spend. Why are our resources diverted more toward entertaining the egotistic ambitions of a few, instead of the good will of all? What is the rationale for that?

Societies with huge income and wealth disparities are societies that have very serious problems. You say you don't like the redistribution of the wealth? Well, there's an easy way to avoid that: Make sure the wealth is distributed better to begin with.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.

timothy bedwell