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Ask HN: Would our world be better with wage ceiling?

4 points by albi_lander 10y ago

actionwords 10y ago
would the world be better if the government controlled economic scale and the distribution of wealth? No. They already suck at just about everything else.
smt88 10y ago
Research tends to show that people are happiest (and most innovative) when the consequences of failure are low and the rewards of success are high. You could see this in the US for a long time: if you truly failed, you were protected by bankruptcy and welfare. If you truly succeeded, you could make enough money that none of your descendants would ever have to work again. (Bankruptcy is one of the most important reasons for the success of the US, by the way.)
- internaut 10y ago
  What about a very aggressive inheritance tax?
  - smt88 10y ago
    I don't know what effect that would have. I do know that some countries have very, very high capital gains taxes (30% or more) and no income tax. The goal is that people who work and provide value are not taxed, and the wealthy are taxed while their money is doing the work for them (rent-seeking). That's a great solution to the problem in theory, but it doesn't work very well in a modern economy. If capital gains taxes are too high, the wealthy will find ways to shelter their income from them.
    - internaut 10y ago
      Yes it's hard to tell what will work in practice. I'd setup Seasteads with different taxation systems if I had the money, which of course nobody does. Still an experimental approach is what's warranted. We wouldn't run a pharma trail without a control group on millions of people simultaneously.
internaut 10y ago
No. Next question please. Would the world be better off without taxation? Yes. Yes it would. If we could produce all the products/services the government needs to produce using Seniorage our economy would take off like a rocket forever. Now fight me. But I'm convinced that that's how you get from the world of Snow Crash to the Diamond Age. If it's not this, it's something like it.

4 points by albi_lander 10y ago

would the world be better if the government controlled economic scale and the distribution of wealth? No. They already suck at just about everything else.

smt88 10y ago

Research tends to show that people are happiest (and most innovative) when the consequences of failure are low and the rewards of success are high. You could see this in the US for a long time: if you truly failed, you were protected by bankruptcy and welfare. If you truly succeeded, you could make enough money that none of your descendants would ever have to work again. (Bankruptcy is one of the most important reasons for the success of the US, by the way.)

internaut 10y ago
What about a very aggressive inheritance tax?
- smt88 10y ago
  I don't know what effect that would have. I do know that some countries have very, very high capital gains taxes (30% or more) and no income tax. The goal is that people who work and provide value are not taxed, and the wealthy are taxed while their money is doing the work for them (rent-seeking). That's a great solution to the problem in theory, but it doesn't work very well in a modern economy. If capital gains taxes are too high, the wealthy will find ways to shelter their income from them.
  - internaut 10y ago
    Yes it's hard to tell what will work in practice. I'd setup Seasteads with different taxation systems if I had the money, which of course nobody does. Still an experimental approach is what's warranted. We wouldn't run a pharma trail without a control group on millions of people simultaneously.

internaut 10y ago

No. Next question please. Would the world be better off without taxation? Yes. Yes it would. If we could produce all the products/services the government needs to produce using Seniorage our economy would take off like a rocket forever. Now fight me. But I'm convinced that that's how you get from the world of Snow Crash to the Diamond Age. If it's not this, it's something like it.