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I'm in agreement with some of your points, but not others. The most important thing to stop the concentration of wealth taking over the government is to limit
by brc 16y ago
I'm in agreement with some of your points, but not others.
The most important thing to stop the concentration of wealth taking over the government is to limit the government powers. If the government is a smaller part of peoples lives, and the economy, then capture of the government by a relatively small minority must then have a limited affect on the greater population. Power always concentrates in the hands of a few - that's always been the way. In a free society the checks and balances are there so that even if a group manages to capture power for a short time, it should balance out over the longer term. As long as there is free association, free speech and free and open voting, then these things can be corrected.
I agree that capture of the economic benefits of a company by the executive at the expense of the workers (ie, company is bankrupted) isn't a good outcome, but the fact still remains that most companies are still operating and employing people. Not every company is an Enron, the majority of the population is still employed.
Yes, using one family is a bad data point, point taken. But then just about everyone I know is better off than their parents, if you take total measures of wellbeing into account (not just monetary measures).
As for other discussions such as outsourcing - it's beside the point. You give me the French revolution, I give you England with no revolution, and just as much disparity. The 'revolutions' were a giant waste of time and lives at any rate, and were as much to do with lack of control over destiny as much as relative wealth. In any democracy a revolution isn't going to happen while the polling booths are still taken seriously. Someone might lose their political head but not their actual head.
The problem with arguing against wealth disparity is that you can only end up arguing for wealth distribution, which generally ends up making things worse for everyone overall. And most people make the mistake of introducing the 'fixed pie' idea of wealth into their thinking at some stage.
Again it comes down to 'it's the worst system around, except for all the others that have been tried'.
- SkyMarshal 16y ago'The most important thing to stop the concentration of wealth taking over the government is to limit the government powers.' Completely agree. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The best way to defend against that is to distribute and decentralize power as much as possible. The original intent of the Constitution. A nice fringe benefit is that that also creates more agile, adaptive organizations, as the military and most modern businesses can attest. Unfortunately, the reality is that the US government is massive and top-heavy and growing, and it doesn't seem anyone is able to change that. I personally don't think the politicians are even in control of the government anymore, rather the massive defense, security, and other beauracracies, combined with corporate pigs suckling at their teats and funding the entire political process are. 'In any democracy a revolution isn't going to happen while the polling booths are still taken seriously. Someone might lose their political head but not their actual head.' I didn't mean to imply a revolution would happen in America, I don't think that will be the case either, at least not a full scale violent one. But lots of people are nevertheless pissed off and feel like they're getting screwed. I don't know where that will lead. 'The problem with arguing against wealth disparity is that you can only end up arguing for wealth distribution,' Not necessarily. Things looked better in this regard 30 years ago. Something changed. Or either it's the nature of the system. Either way it's worth understanding and devising more sophisticated solutions than wealth redistribution. 'And most people make the mistake of introducing the 'fixed pie' idea of wealth into their thinking at some stage.' True, it's rather unfortunate that even in this day and age so many don't understand how wealth is created and steady economic growth achieved.