With the Romney campaign tossing around the word "redistribution" as if it were the secret political weapon that will sink their competitor President Obama, Hardball host Chris Matthews sought to provide a little perspective on this word and unpack what it really means.
"So when we get a Social Security check, that is redistribution. Somebody's payroll tax is going to someone like them who worked all their life to earn it. Terrible. When a teacher gets paid, a VA doctor, or a private in the Army—oh my god, more redistribution," Matthews said in his Let Me Finish wrap-up on his show Wednesday night. "Or a student who manages to get into college but might not have gotten there otherwise if not for a Pell Grant; how about a police officer working the night watch in a tough neighborhood. When he gets paid—there it goes again: redistribution."
What kind of redistribution would Romney agree to, asks Matthews?
"The only redistribution Romney likes is when he takes over a company, dumps the workers, widens the profit margins, flips it, and walks off with the proceeds," he said. "Now that's a redistribution he can get excited about."
For more on what a completely "redistribution-free" society would look like, read Ned Resnikoff's Lean Forward piece.