One of his main points is that if the tax on unearned income (capital gains etc) < tax on earned income, inevitably, money flows towards people who have unearned income, asset prices rise, those people get wealthier than those who have jobs and that cycle becomes entrenched.
A welcome late conversion especially given how eloquently and passionately you argue the case for a corrective redistribution of wealth and resources. I’m in the UK where a supposedly centre left government has clearly been captured by the corporates and colludes with the distraction of immigration as the cause of all ills while opening the doors to AI, tech surveillance and letting Palantir loose on our data.
The essential case you make is being being widely popularised by Gary Stephenson’s Gary’ Economics, and the Labour Government is deeply unpopular among both public and its own MPs and members - raising the hope of an internal coup. But it’s so damaging to people’s faith in democracy when the leadership of every party, with the exception v of the Greens, is deferring to the fairy tales of mainstream economics and turning a blind eye to the hoovering of wealth and assets from our pockets and our governments into the rising tide of a super-wealth ocean.
I study these posts like homework because I don’t always understand the connections between thoughts. Today’s section on The Crypto Fantasy regrettably has gone over my head. I understand fixed currency like the gold standard, and I think I understand floating monetary policy. Does this section say that crypto is equivalent to a fixed “hard money” alternative?
We live in a world that is a maelstrom of conflicting ideals, motives, behavior and talents.
Personally, I do not think that there is some or one easy solution. Like much of life, there are multiple factors or parameters that are in play. There are foundational principles that also by their nature cannot be ignored.
#1. Goldilocks Principle. We could learn so much by reading children's' stories or fables. For me, and hopefully you, one basic tenet in Goldilocks and the 3 bears is about the porridge:
Not too hot, not too cold, but just right.
There is a need to look at wealth and at poverty and understand the pros and cons of each. I will use myself as an example. My mother was a mother and a hostess in a restaurant. My father was a gas station owner and an alcoholic. I grew up with anxiety about how secure my family was. I busted my chops in public school. I took on as many odd jobs as I could and handed the money over to my only responsible parent: my mother. I received a NY State Merit Scholarship and went to a private university, then another scholarship to the U of Chciago School of Medicine. All those years I worked in every imaginable odd job: hauling laundry, cooking on Sundays, working in the hospital laboratory, assisting in autopsies, painting houses, working in gas stations.
⇢ I became the first physician in my family. I achieved success. I lived up to what was taped to the wall of my workplace in the basement of our home:
"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Bring back Goldilocks. What are the facts about those getting free healthcare or free food or free whatever? I really don't know. But I know this. In this country, if you want work you can find it and you can elevate your situation. I resent, no resent is not the right word, I am pissed that some coming to this country are recipients of the great American giveaway- at taxpayer's like me expense. Yes, help those truly seeking asylum. I know that situation in my family having lost many to the carbon monoxide trucks of the Nazis and then the more advanced killing with Zyklon B cyanide gas. But why wasn't millions or more spent on proper immigration strategies? Don't blame the Republicans or Democrats, blame the voters who remain apathetic, ignorant and/or lazy. Do your friggin due diligence no matter what you do. If you do something, do it right or don't do it at all.
In America, our focus is so much on acquisition of stuff. I live in a modest neighborhood despite being a retired MD. My neighbors have two or three vehicles and also many have RVs and boats. The garage is no longer sufficient for all their stuff. You go to Costco and half the people are grossly obese. We are not a nation of Christians or Catholicis, but a nation of consumers. Consumerism is our religion.
So #2 is our focus on the Economy which is really on our consumerism- our ability to buy more stuff. Americans live to work, in order to buy. Much of the rest of the world work to live and enjoy Nature, family, friendships. We have lost our focus on what is important in this world.
More than 200 years ago, Wordsworth had it right:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
--William Wordsworth
If you want a more modern viewpoint on Economy and Life, read Wendell Berry.
"To those who still uphold the traditions of religious and political thought that influenced the shaping of our society and the founding of our government, it is astonishing, and of course discouraging, to see economics now elevated to the position of ultimate justifier and explainer of all the affairs of our daily life, and competition enshrined as the sovereign principle and ideal of economics."
Berry, Wendell. What Are People For?: Essays (p. 129). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
#3. Mike Brock is right most of the time. We don't read anymore. If you want to read an incredible purveyor of what has gone wrong in the US and elsewhere, read the above book. Berry is the Socrates of contemporary times; he is the gadfly of the State.
"It seems that we have been reduced almost to a state of absolute economics, in which people and all other creatures and things may be considered purely as economic “units,” or integers of production, and in which a human being may be dealt with, as John Ruskin put it, “merely as a covetous machine. And the voices bitterest to hear are those saying that all this destructive work of mindless genius, money, and power is regrettable but cannot be helped."
I do not believe there is anything wrong with ambition, but in perspective, not when it turns to greed over good, or greed over what was once understood as "god."
All of the major ills and crises come back to this insatiable greed to acquire, have more, and still more. Our ruination of the planet; the wars and genocides we are witness to, the inability to buy a home or afford healthcare all are intertwined with greed. And with greed comes envy and ego- sound famililar, like someone in the White House?
There is no simple solution. But there is a need to return to stepping back, looking at the grand scheme of things, having perspective about what are the important things in life. For starters I will tell you what I learned after spending six weeks in the USSR after Chernobyl in 1986.
Education: reading and discussing
Family: spending time with parents, children, grandparents
Nature: being in tune with this incredible gift of our pale blue dot, and realizing the oneness of all things.
We need to start this at the individual level and escalate to those who are in positions of change.
I am not saying that you are wrong. Because everything you said is accurate. I have a pet peeve when people talk about the 10% or 1% because the problem is really just a few thousand people. But I understand that you started with a point on consumer spending.
But things are never going to change without some kind of horrific revolution. Before Trump the US had structural problems that prevented fixing this problem. However, that wasn't enough and the few thousand people who own almost everything decided that the best protection is fascism. And that's where we are. We have a president, congress, and Supreme Court actively pursuing fascist autocracy. There is no peaceful fix to that. None. But even before, the only politician who said anything remotely close to fixing the problem was Elizabeth warren with her 2% wealth tax. There are a few politicians who say things like there shouldn't be billionaires, but they never back it up with policy positions. We couldn't even get the earned income loophole fixed, much less get capital gains taxed as income. While there are good democrats out there, Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries are fully into the pockets of the wealthy. Republicans are far far worse on this issue, but it was Bill Clinton who deregulated the banks. But the numbers are all insane. The top tax bracket is $600,000, while people are making tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or billions. We need new tax brackets that mirror reality. But it will never happen. We will not have a wealth tax. We will not fix the brackets.
Major problem is that we allowed the class warriors to use xenophobic scapegoating to start a culture war which is working on tearing apart the seams of the social fabric, and ignoring that for class solutions is like ignoring military forces repelling from helicopters and zip-tying infants, in order to speak about tax policy.
The damage done has turned the drought into raging wildfires, we need to stop the use our militarized agents on the vulnerable communities that they are targeting through culture war narratives NOW. That means taking on the anti-diversity forces attempting to occupy our cities head-on in public forums that private wealth is buying and consolidating as we speak.
I suggest you have a look at Gary Stephenson.
One of his main points is that if the tax on unearned income (capital gains etc) < tax on earned income, inevitably, money flows towards people who have unearned income, asset prices rise, those people get wealthier than those who have jobs and that cycle becomes entrenched.
Thanks for spelling out the TRUTH so clearly.
A welcome late conversion especially given how eloquently and passionately you argue the case for a corrective redistribution of wealth and resources. I’m in the UK where a supposedly centre left government has clearly been captured by the corporates and colludes with the distraction of immigration as the cause of all ills while opening the doors to AI, tech surveillance and letting Palantir loose on our data.
The essential case you make is being being widely popularised by Gary Stephenson’s Gary’ Economics, and the Labour Government is deeply unpopular among both public and its own MPs and members - raising the hope of an internal coup. But it’s so damaging to people’s faith in democracy when the leadership of every party, with the exception v of the Greens, is deferring to the fairy tales of mainstream economics and turning a blind eye to the hoovering of wealth and assets from our pockets and our governments into the rising tide of a super-wealth ocean.
I study these posts like homework because I don’t always understand the connections between thoughts. Today’s section on The Crypto Fantasy regrettably has gone over my head. I understand fixed currency like the gold standard, and I think I understand floating monetary policy. Does this section say that crypto is equivalent to a fixed “hard money” alternative?
We live in a world that is a maelstrom of conflicting ideals, motives, behavior and talents.
Personally, I do not think that there is some or one easy solution. Like much of life, there are multiple factors or parameters that are in play. There are foundational principles that also by their nature cannot be ignored.
#1. Goldilocks Principle. We could learn so much by reading children's' stories or fables. For me, and hopefully you, one basic tenet in Goldilocks and the 3 bears is about the porridge:
Not too hot, not too cold, but just right.
There is a need to look at wealth and at poverty and understand the pros and cons of each. I will use myself as an example. My mother was a mother and a hostess in a restaurant. My father was a gas station owner and an alcoholic. I grew up with anxiety about how secure my family was. I busted my chops in public school. I took on as many odd jobs as I could and handed the money over to my only responsible parent: my mother. I received a NY State Merit Scholarship and went to a private university, then another scholarship to the U of Chciago School of Medicine. All those years I worked in every imaginable odd job: hauling laundry, cooking on Sundays, working in the hospital laboratory, assisting in autopsies, painting houses, working in gas stations.
⇢ I became the first physician in my family. I achieved success. I lived up to what was taped to the wall of my workplace in the basement of our home:
"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Bring back Goldilocks. What are the facts about those getting free healthcare or free food or free whatever? I really don't know. But I know this. In this country, if you want work you can find it and you can elevate your situation. I resent, no resent is not the right word, I am pissed that some coming to this country are recipients of the great American giveaway- at taxpayer's like me expense. Yes, help those truly seeking asylum. I know that situation in my family having lost many to the carbon monoxide trucks of the Nazis and then the more advanced killing with Zyklon B cyanide gas. But why wasn't millions or more spent on proper immigration strategies? Don't blame the Republicans or Democrats, blame the voters who remain apathetic, ignorant and/or lazy. Do your friggin due diligence no matter what you do. If you do something, do it right or don't do it at all.
In America, our focus is so much on acquisition of stuff. I live in a modest neighborhood despite being a retired MD. My neighbors have two or three vehicles and also many have RVs and boats. The garage is no longer sufficient for all their stuff. You go to Costco and half the people are grossly obese. We are not a nation of Christians or Catholicis, but a nation of consumers. Consumerism is our religion.
So #2 is our focus on the Economy which is really on our consumerism- our ability to buy more stuff. Americans live to work, in order to buy. Much of the rest of the world work to live and enjoy Nature, family, friendships. We have lost our focus on what is important in this world.
More than 200 years ago, Wordsworth had it right:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
--William Wordsworth
If you want a more modern viewpoint on Economy and Life, read Wendell Berry.
"To those who still uphold the traditions of religious and political thought that influenced the shaping of our society and the founding of our government, it is astonishing, and of course discouraging, to see economics now elevated to the position of ultimate justifier and explainer of all the affairs of our daily life, and competition enshrined as the sovereign principle and ideal of economics."
Berry, Wendell. What Are People For?: Essays (p. 129). Catapult. Kindle Edition.
#3. Mike Brock is right most of the time. We don't read anymore. If you want to read an incredible purveyor of what has gone wrong in the US and elsewhere, read the above book. Berry is the Socrates of contemporary times; he is the gadfly of the State.
"It seems that we have been reduced almost to a state of absolute economics, in which people and all other creatures and things may be considered purely as economic “units,” or integers of production, and in which a human being may be dealt with, as John Ruskin put it, “merely as a covetous machine. And the voices bitterest to hear are those saying that all this destructive work of mindless genius, money, and power is regrettable but cannot be helped."
I do not believe there is anything wrong with ambition, but in perspective, not when it turns to greed over good, or greed over what was once understood as "god."
All of the major ills and crises come back to this insatiable greed to acquire, have more, and still more. Our ruination of the planet; the wars and genocides we are witness to, the inability to buy a home or afford healthcare all are intertwined with greed. And with greed comes envy and ego- sound famililar, like someone in the White House?
There is no simple solution. But there is a need to return to stepping back, looking at the grand scheme of things, having perspective about what are the important things in life. For starters I will tell you what I learned after spending six weeks in the USSR after Chernobyl in 1986.
Education: reading and discussing
Family: spending time with parents, children, grandparents
Nature: being in tune with this incredible gift of our pale blue dot, and realizing the oneness of all things.
We need to start this at the individual level and escalate to those who are in positions of change.
.
I am not saying that you are wrong. Because everything you said is accurate. I have a pet peeve when people talk about the 10% or 1% because the problem is really just a few thousand people. But I understand that you started with a point on consumer spending.
But things are never going to change without some kind of horrific revolution. Before Trump the US had structural problems that prevented fixing this problem. However, that wasn't enough and the few thousand people who own almost everything decided that the best protection is fascism. And that's where we are. We have a president, congress, and Supreme Court actively pursuing fascist autocracy. There is no peaceful fix to that. None. But even before, the only politician who said anything remotely close to fixing the problem was Elizabeth warren with her 2% wealth tax. There are a few politicians who say things like there shouldn't be billionaires, but they never back it up with policy positions. We couldn't even get the earned income loophole fixed, much less get capital gains taxed as income. While there are good democrats out there, Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries are fully into the pockets of the wealthy. Republicans are far far worse on this issue, but it was Bill Clinton who deregulated the banks. But the numbers are all insane. The top tax bracket is $600,000, while people are making tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or billions. We need new tax brackets that mirror reality. But it will never happen. We will not have a wealth tax. We will not fix the brackets.
Great article.
Major problem is that we allowed the class warriors to use xenophobic scapegoating to start a culture war which is working on tearing apart the seams of the social fabric, and ignoring that for class solutions is like ignoring military forces repelling from helicopters and zip-tying infants, in order to speak about tax policy.
The damage done has turned the drought into raging wildfires, we need to stop the use our militarized agents on the vulnerable communities that they are targeting through culture war narratives NOW. That means taking on the anti-diversity forces attempting to occupy our cities head-on in public forums that private wealth is buying and consolidating as we speak.