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You have convinced yourself with a "~=". It doesn't address passive feedback as I mentioned, and the volume of transactions matters quite a lot, and is not even

You have convinced yourself with a "~=". It doesn't address passive feedback as I mentioned, and the volume of transactions matters quite a lot, and is not even close to comparable. Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and many more, solve problems at a scale and difficulty far exceeding any government, without a compulsory 42% draw against the population.

ben_w 7y ago
What do you even mean by “passive feedback”? The only things I would (grudgingly) give that description to are available to governments and businesses alike. > volume of transactions matters quite a lot Why? I only see a reason to divide between “lots” and “not much” (a spreadsheet vs a census) rather than anything more fine-grained, otherwise fridge manufacturers would be meaningfully different to Amazon because they sell so much less. > Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and many more, solve problems at a scale and difficulty far exceeding any government I think you’re radically underestimating the scale and difficulty of government. For one thing, governments have to balance the interests of all the businesses which operate in their jurisdiction against not only each other, not only against national security, but also against the interests of those working for those businesses and the consumers and any externalities of the products and services. > without a compulsory 42% draw against the population. The figures I’ve seen put German tax revenues at (2014) €593 billion from a GDP of €2.938,6 billion, or 20.2%. I pay more than that because I am well paid, something something whales something, it doesn’t bother me. Then there’s the matter of what counts as compulsory: Amazon sales fees seem to be “the average seller paying 15%”, but they also have enough profit margin — effectively though not literally a tax on the employees, because it’s wealth the employees created but don’t get — for Bezos to gave his own private space race with Musk. You might reply that this isn’t compulsory, to save time I repeat: I chose to move to Germany, my taxation in any particular nation is not compulsory because I can move away if I don’t like it. Therefore any argument along the lines that “business fees are not compulsory” also applies to taxes.

ben_w 7y ago

What do you even mean by “passive feedback”? The only things I would (grudgingly) give that description to are available to governments and businesses alike. > volume of transactions matters quite a lot Why? I only see a reason to divide between “lots” and “not much” (a spreadsheet vs a census) rather than anything more fine-grained, otherwise fridge manufacturers would be meaningfully different to Amazon because they sell so much less. > Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and many more, solve problems at a scale and difficulty far exceeding any government I think you’re radically underestimating the scale and difficulty of government. For one thing, governments have to balance the interests of all the businesses which operate in their jurisdiction against not only each other, not only against national security, but also against the interests of those working for those businesses and the consumers and any externalities of the products and services. > without a compulsory 42% draw against the population. The figures I’ve seen put German tax revenues at (2014) €593 billion from a GDP of €2.938,6 billion, or 20.2%. I pay more than that because I am well paid, something something whales something, it doesn’t bother me. Then there’s the matter of what counts as compulsory: Amazon sales fees seem to be “the average seller paying 15%”, but they also have enough profit margin — effectively though not literally a tax on the employees, because it’s wealth the employees created but don’t get — for Bezos to gave his own private space race with Musk. You might reply that this isn’t compulsory, to save time I repeat: I chose to move to Germany, my taxation in any particular nation is not compulsory because I can move away if I don’t like it. Therefore any argument along the lines that “business fees are not compulsory” also applies to taxes.