Republicans love to whine about redistribution of wealth, but it's all just an act. They may scream about “socialist” welfare programs, they don't make a peep when massive amounts of America's wealth goes straight to the top.

According to Paul Buchheit over at Alternet, the 14 richest Americans increased their wealth by $82 billion dollars in the last year alone. And, they're just a small part of the wealthiest 400 Americans, who Forbes magazine says got $270 billion dollars richer over that same time period. To put those numbers in perspective,

Paul pointed out that our entire food stamp budget is only $80 billion dollars – and it feeds 50 million people in our country each year. The wealth that flowed to the 14 richest people could have hired two million pre-school teachers in our country, while middle class wages stayed stagnant, and programs for the poor were slashed at every turn. Talk about redistribution of wealth.

Republicans in Congress say that we can't afford to rebuild our infrastructure, extend unemployment benefits, or help students struggling with college debt, but they're wrong. We can afford to make those investments in our nation, and we must reverse the trickle-up economics that sends all the wealth straight to the top.

We've had three decades under the disastrous policies of Ronald Reagan, and we don't need more evidence to prove that trickle-down is a myth. Thirty-plus years of Reaganomics have put more and more wealth in the hands of a few, and left our government struggling to care for many.

The greed of the richest 14 people doesn't out-weigh the needs to 50 million, and it's time to stop the real redistribution of wealth that's been going to the top.