Zero Sum Thinking

In a commencement speech Democratic Congressman Edward Markey advised students to "comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable."

Markey seems to be saying that there are two ways of improving society (1) make the poor better off, and (2) make the rich worse off.

This is consistent with a zero sum world view under which the rich get all their wealth at the expense of the poor. In contrast the post-Adam Smith worldview of most economists is that when the rich get richer they create more wealth for society and some of this wealth goes to the poor. So one great way to "comfort the afflicted" is to comfort the comfortable as well.