One of the statements I heard made years ago when I was a socialist was in reply to comments I would hear people make saying that "if you redistribute the wealth, the wealth will be back in the hands of the same people within five years". My challenge back then was that we should try wealth redistribution then, because it wouldn't hurt the wealthy and would, in fact, give them a five year tax write off. The fact that we don't pretty much supports the fact that even the most hardcore capitalist doesn't believe this tripe.

My challenge was not take seriously then, nor would it be now.

As I look back on my life, I see a series of successes. I see myself having to rebuild from next to nothing with nothing but my work ethic and my personality to get by. And I've always succeeded, even if I've never advanced beyond the ranks of the middle class. Let me give you a timeline to show you what I mean.

Three months after I graduated high school, I was in jail. It was a felony conviction, albeit a Class C, the least serious of felony offenses. But it was enough to seriously limit my options in employment. Within a month of being released to work release, I nonetheless had a seasonal job, which I held until the season ended, with only a weekend's buffer between that and my next job as a pressman's assistant in a print shop. I held a variety of moderate to low paying jobs for the next couple years, before moving back "home".

Back home I returned to the same economically depressed state I had left. While everyone I knew complained about not having a job, I was employed within a week of arriving in town, at an employer where I had worked back in high school. I held that job for two years until I moved away.

Enter Chicago. A "down" period. Despite hard efforts, good work was hard to come by, although I worked enough jobs to get by, pay the rent, and occasionally have a little fun. I moved on, though, when prospects weren't especially good, to a seasonal job in Wisconsin.

I moved from there to a college community, winning my rent money to move at the poker table. I was employed four days after I stepped off the bus. It was a seasonal job, but I spent exactly two work days unemployed after the season ended, working in a factory job I held for 3 1/2 years.

Then, the pinnacle. I held a job where I worked my way up from an entry level grunt with no experience to a mid level manager. I couldn't take the continued strains of the job, though, so I moved on to more banal employment.

But I've never been one to stand still. We took a leap and headed out to Nevada, where I worked in the mines, and briefly, for a plumber. The long range prospects weren't there, though, so we made plans to move. A week before we left, I was offered a permanent job for respectable wages that I had gained through a solid reputation as a day laborer, but since our tickets were already purchased, I had to decline.

We arrived in the TX Panhandle with the maximum amount of luggage Greyhound would allow, no job, no car, and $1200 in our pockets. Our new home was 15 miles out of "town", so the car problem had to be remedied that day. So I set out about walking until I found a car for $500. The car is long gone, but it did us until we could get established with better.

Now I'm on a serious career upswing again, and it has me wondering: How many of our wealthy, our affluent, our CEO's, could do what I've done? Reinvent themselves constantly and build back up from nothing multiple times? I'm willing to bet very few. They know how to make money, but,  it seems, only when they HAVE money to begin with.

I'd like to see a reality show that takes these people and leaves them with nothing but the shirts on their back. Then see how they would be able to rebuild. Throw out their little black books. Throw out their degrees. Have them build back from as close to nothing as they can. It's an interesting concept.  But I'm willing to bet there wouldn't be a waiting list for contestants.