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"wouldn't it be better to have all this power be in the hands of the democratically chosen" This assumes the money in question belongs to the state to begin wi

"wouldn't it be better to have all this power be in the hands of the democratically chosen" This assumes the money in question belongs to the state to begin with, and we're merely deciding how it is to be allocated. That is not the case. This is not the rich deciding what to do with the public money, it's the rich deciding what to do with their own money. I think we would all agree, regardless of level of income, we would rather our own money be allocated to the causes that we support, rather than the causes that 51% of people support.

HiLo 11y ago
"it's the rich deciding what to do with their own money." No, I wouldn't agree on that at all. That runs entirely counterproductive to what our society is built on. This is the arrogance people talk about - you think you know what is better for people than they do.
- anon4 11y ago
  Each individual knows what's best for themselves and also what's best for the people, duh. And the more money you have the more you know what's bester.
- saosebastiao 11y ago
  Actually, it is, at least using your own arguments. The money in this case actually does belong to the billionaire. He earned it under the legal environment decided by our democratically chosen government. And he gets to keep what the democratically chosen government decided is his to keep. And he gets to choose how to spend it, because the democratically chosen government has decided to afford him that freedom.
jsprogrammer 11y ago
The money does belong to the state. Examine the front and back of any bill. Where do you think Federal Reserve Notes come from?
- clock_tower 11y ago
  The money was issued by the state; the wealth that it measures was not. Money is a store of value; it isn't value per se.
JoshTriplett 11y ago
> I think we would all agree, regardless of level of income, we would rather our own money be allocated to the causes that we support, rather than the causes that 51% of people support. Exactly. Nobody thinks that the government can make better use of their own money; however, many people want to use the government to tell other people what to do with their money.

HiLo 11y ago

"it's the rich deciding what to do with their own money." No, I wouldn't agree on that at all. That runs entirely counterproductive to what our society is built on. This is the arrogance people talk about - you think you know what is better for people than they do.

anon4 11y ago
Each individual knows what's best for themselves and also what's best for the people, duh. And the more money you have the more you know what's bester.
saosebastiao 11y ago
Actually, it is, at least using your own arguments. The money in this case actually does belong to the billionaire. He earned it under the legal environment decided by our democratically chosen government. And he gets to keep what the democratically chosen government decided is his to keep. And he gets to choose how to spend it, because the democratically chosen government has decided to afford him that freedom.

jsprogrammer 11y ago

The money does belong to the state. Examine the front and back of any bill. Where do you think Federal Reserve Notes come from?

clock_tower 11y ago
The money was issued by the state; the wealth that it measures was not. Money is a store of value; it isn't value per se.

JoshTriplett 11y ago

> I think we would all agree, regardless of level of income, we would rather our own money be allocated to the causes that we support, rather than the causes that 51% of people support. Exactly. Nobody thinks that the government can make better use of their own money; however, many people want to use the government to tell other people what to do with their money.