Interesting enough, Thomas Paine argued the exact opposite in his famous pamphlet arguing for Social Security. Paine is that American revolutionary you always s

Interesting enough, Thomas Paine argued the exact opposite in his famous pamphlet arguing for Social Security. Paine is that American revolutionary you always see quoted at anti-tax rallies. His pamphlet on Social Security shared the same conclusions as Piketty's "Capital" except written two centuries earlier. "It is wrong to say God made rich and poor; He made only male and female, and He gave them the earth for their inheritance." -- Thomas Paine, On Agrarian Justice http://www.ssa.gov/history/paine4.html http://www.ssa.gov/history/paine4.html The Social Security system Paine advocated was more targeted to 21 year olds and was designed to offer everyone opportunity at the height of their lives. While he also theorized keeping the elderly from poverty, it was not the core idea of his plan.