3 ms·
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I don't want to make this about about MM v Yahoo!. MM is at worst a symptom. My argument is that the disease is systemic. >
by pooper 9y ago
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I don't want to make this about about MM v Yahoo!. MM is at worst a symptom. My argument is that the disease is systemic.
> In what way? And why do you specify "large" shareholders?
I don't want to go too far into conspiracy theories but I think it is logical that under certain circumstances, a "large" individual shareholder may not have the best interest of ALL the shareholders in mind. Of course, I don't think what I propose will ever exactly happen. This is merely a thought experiment to guide us.
A guiding principle I remember learning in elementary school was that our rights are not absolute. Our right to freedom of speech is not absolute and neither is the right to bear arms. These rights, even though enshrined in our constitution, are arbitrary lines drawn in sand.
I think the right of a corporation to pay and the right of an individual to make a living are also such rights. Now, I don't expect anyone to pick this idea up. It is too toxic. The idea that we should put caps on how much an individual is allowed to earn is unthinkable for most people. People are talking about repealing the estate tax permanently which is a huge blow to my idea.
I hope some day we can push for an aggressive progressive income tax and estate tax. There are a lot of things that need to fall in place for it to happen though. For instance, it should become impossible to transfer large sums of wealth without it showing up on a public ledger of some sort. If someone has not earned $3M+ sum total (including inheritance) over their life and they buy something that costs $3M, that should automatically trip some alarm about back taxes.
The more I think about it the more absurd it begins to sound though. Maybe I was wrong to suggest progressive taxes as a way to enforce caps. If not taxes, what are some ways we can try to rein (is this the proper spelling?) in executive pay?