[batemanesque]

"naive wealth redistribution" seems to be a bit of a strawman to me. re: European tax rates, perhaps it would be more accurate to describe the Economist as supporting the current economic status quo. besides, while Europe does have a much stronger safety net, it's almost as unequal as the US - it's not like the well-off are any less hegemonic there.

[parasubvert]

Admittedly it is a bit of a strawman, because we haven't really defined "smart" wealth distribution in this thread :)

Re: inequality http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/the-inco...

So you have a point that the status quo isn't actually all that great except in the one country that The Economist always yells at.... France and Belgium. Though the Scandinavian countries also seem to do well (lots of natural resources help).