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For almost all of history the rich and powerful have had to play by different (more favourable) rules than everyone else. I suppose that the general situation i
by ogezi 10y ago
For almost all of history the rich and powerful have had to play by different (more favourable) rules than everyone else. I suppose that the general situation is a better now since people can get into positions of power by means other than their birth and there's democracy, but in some ways much hasn't changed.
It's interesting to me when I think of a world where people that paid higher taxes (absolute values and not a % of income) had more votes during elections.
- dkarapetyan 10y agoDon't forget the good looking.
- pm90 10y agoIf you look at history, the rich often used their influence to reduce their tax burden from the state, and this often led to crushing tax burdens on the people who could not represent themselves: peasants and the like. I think Fukuyama gives some great examples of how this led to instability in the political order and finance in pre-revolutionary France [0]. I'm afraid we are seeing something similar now, with some billionaires desperately trying to reduce any and all kinds of taxes they need to pay. Frankly its breathtaking to see how much greed these people have...also, a supreme lack of solidarity with they society they live in (and apparently a lack of knowledge of historical precedents as well). I should add that the same doesn't hold for all the rich/billionaires. Very much respect the work the Gates foundation is doing, just as an example. [0]: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9704856-the-origins-of-political-order http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9704856-the-origins-of-po...