Who said spread the wealth

The way forward, Obama said, is for political systems to protect all participants and for the wealthy to contribute to the larger benefits of society. Like this story? Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. President Barack Obama. Senator in He ruled Louisiana as a virtual dictator, but he also initiated massive public works programs, improved public education and public health, and even established some restrictions on corporate power in the state. In Long organized his own, alternative political organization, the Share-Our-Wealth Society, through which he advocated a populist program for redistributing wealth through sharply graduated income and inheritance taxes.

As his national recognition and ambitions grew, he spoke with increasing frequency to national radio audiences. Huey Long : Now in the third year of his administration, we find more of our people unemployed than at any other time. We find our houses empty and our people hungry, many of them half-clothed and many of them not clothed at all. President Bush once said that all Americans already have access to healthcare because hospital emergency rooms are required by law to provide treatment for anyone in urgent need.

The question of Americans' right to healthcare is not whether, but in what measure. The same is true for food, clothing, shelter, education, and environmental health. We are inherently unequal in our ability to meet our basic economic needs because we are inherently unequal in our ability produce or acquire things of economic value. We are born with unequal abilities, inculcated with unequal aptitudes, and endowed with unequal wealth. Certainly, we can influence our economic achievements through our own initiatives.

However, there is never been a society in which all people could meet their basic needs without help from society as a whole. Promoting the general welfare is a necessary, constitutional function of government. Those who have wealth, or the ability and aptitude to acquire wealth, must be willing to share with those who are unable to acquire an equal measure of those things to which they have equal rights — including some measure of food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, and environmental protection.

While the richest continue to enjoy booming fortunes, they are also enjoying some of the lowest levels of tax in decades — as are the corporations that they own. Instead taxes are falling disproportionately on working people. When governments undertax the rich, there's less money for vital services like healthcare and education, increasing the amount of care work that falls on the shoulders of women and girls. Today million children — 1 out of every 5 — will not be allowed to go to school.

For every boys of primary school age who are out of school, girls are denied the right to education. Underfunded public services.

At the same time, public services are suffering from chronic underfunding or being outsourced to private companies that exclude the poorest people. In many countries a decent education or quality healthcare has become a luxury only the rich can afford. It has profound implications for the future of our children and the opportunities they will have to live a better and longer life. Every day 10, people die because they lack access to affordable healthcare. Each year, million people are forced into extreme poverty due to healthcare costs.

Denied a longer life.