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Good one! Let me try another angle: the greatest trick is to cover up the simple fact that the redistribution of wealth is arbitrary. We could agree that the ow
by patkai 8y ago
Good one! Let me try another angle: the greatest trick is to cover up the simple fact that the redistribution of wealth is arbitrary. We could agree that the owners of German Shepherd dogs do not pay VAT on Thursdays if they have a green hat on. Royals and the like were convincing people for who knows how many millennia that their status and power is from god. In a way we have the same with current tax laws, we all think they come from "somewhere", whether it's a necessity or logic, experience or a textbook. The search space is much larger than what we make use of.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThat's what I am telling people all the time. The "economy" is not a natural law but it's completely man made and can be adjusted to whatever goals a society wants to achieve. Obviously there are some constraints but there are a lot of parameters that can be tweaked. The owner class has convinced us that shareholders and property rights are the most important players but there is no reason why this can't be balanced with other things like workers rights, health care or retirement systems for all.
- Terr_ 8y agoAlso, it's not just the "redistribution" of wealth that has some "clear former owner", but also how people divide "new" value that is created on-the-fly. Consider a company that mines for gold -- how much of that new value is split between the people who own the land, the people who dig the ore, the people who process the ore, the people who lent some money long ago, etc.