In fact, where everybody is wrong is that we shouldn't seek to redistribute wealth. What we should be doing is redistributing risk. sort of. Global GDP is about $50Tn, and the total derivative market is approx $700Tn, much of it underwritten by taxpayers. Surely derivatives, financial bets, call them what you will, should be paid for by those who make them, not us?
Even the student loans they're going to privatise for profit will be underwritten by us, so any defaults will be paid by the taxpayer. This is not capitalism as we had it till the neoliberals came along. Until then financial institutions were allowed to go bust, but now they're kept alive with a combination of bailouts and quantitative easing.
The rules need to be changed back so we have the power back.