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> The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labour before the nation's manhood can be conscripted.. We do conscript capital to
by simonh 3y ago
> The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry and labour before the nation's manhood can be conscripted..
We do conscript capital to fund military spending, through taxation. It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. There are always arguments about who should pay what, but thats what democratic politics is there to mediate.
Of course there is an argument that since individuals face conscription into the military, so why not conscript industry? But of course the US government had already laid down the legal basis for this by 1935 when this book was published. In fact they did so during WW2 in the form of commandeering, the power to compel any producer in the country to accept war orders, along with the imposition of price controls.
- landemva 3y ago> It’s levied across the whole society according to ability to pay. In US, sales tax is not based on ability to pay. The very rich often have minimal W-2 income, so they often opt out of progressive income taxes.
- simonh 3y agoNo idea, I’m a Brit so not familiar with the details of the US tax system. I’m mostly talking generally about free societies, as the sentiment in the book is broadly applicable. There are many forms of tax. If the system is unfair, sure, it should be fixed. Fundamentally though, my point is that the job of commandeering capital is taxation.
- achates 3y agoSales taxes are state taxes, they don't pay for the military (except for the national guard, but they're tiny and the feds pay when they deploy abroad).