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"Imagine what sort of world we could have if the Silicon Six [gave the government more of the $15 trillion]." The modern concept of wealth doesn't work that wa
by jeffdavis 7y ago
"Imagine what sort of world we could have if the Silicon Six [gave the government more of the $15 trillion]."
The modern concept of wealth doesn't work that way.
If you transfer money from someone not likely to spend it any time soon (tax shelter) to someone who is going to spend it right now (the government), it works almost exactly like inflation.
And often the money isn't held in cash anyway. So, moving it to the government requires divestment. That divestment has consequences that are complex, and it's far from clear that the government would spend it better in every case.
- bsanr2 7y agoThat's only with a limited supply of product. Instead, I see a throwaway culture, where we have a surfeit of product such that anything not perfect is thrown away (safe but expired food, appliances with dents in them, electronics with a single broken component, etc.). Likewise, Americans suffer through services that run inefficiently, or go without services that don't exist because there isn't a critical mass of demand for them. People are pretty good at coming up with good uses for an influx of money without crashing the entire system. That's the whole point of a market-based economy, right?
- jeffdavis 7y agoIf what you want is inflation... why not just inflate the money supply more directly? What's the point of trying to do so through the tax system?
- bsanr2 7y agoLet me flip that: why would you create more money when there's already plenty to go around, just that it's locked up in tax havens, and only used to allow the wealthy to live, effectively, for free? If inflation is a menace, why would we risk the absolute calamity that would occur if disappeared wealth was repatriated after we'd created a bunch more money?