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Agreed, I see the billionaire tax as a bandaid to the wealth inequality that unchecked capitalism inevitably creates. Our system is built to funnel money away

Agreed, I see the billionaire tax as a bandaid to the wealth inequality that unchecked capitalism inevitably creates. Our system is built to funnel money away from the average worker and towards the top of management. Over time the boss wages grow and the labor wages shrink relative to the cost of living due to the incentives of those making the rules at the top. This solution seems crude, it takes a slice of money off the top to relieve the tax burden for those at the bottom. It doesn't fix the root cause of inequality but at least it's a patch.

_nalply 3y ago
Why "bandaid"? Or asked differently, how would you fix the root cause of inequality?
- munificent 3y ago
  I believe wealth tax is the best fix for the root cause of inequality. I see the root cause as being this observation: If you have power, you can use the threat of it to make people do things for you. Wealth is liquid power, and the threat of using it doesn't spend it. The effect of that is that inequality has a natural tendency to grow: those with a little more can use that as leverage to get even more and repeat that process over and over. Widespread progressive taxation is the most effective tool I can think of to act as a damping force on that positive feedback loop.
  - _nalply 3y ago
    I agree. How would you execute a wealth tax? People having power can avoid it by preventing legislation and after legislation by using loopholes.
    - munificent 3y ago
      > People having power can avoid it by preventing legislation I think a fundamental precondition is a functioning democracy. The magic of democracy is that it subverts the usual dynamic of "wealth = power". The currency of democracy is votes and in an election, everyone has equal spending power to purchase the candidate they want. Of course, lobbying, campaign financing, and all sorts of other shenanigans undermine that. I don't have a good solution beyond pushing for more civic engagement.
      - Ographer 3y ago
        All of the forces working against democracy are driven by capitalism. We need to at least remove capitalist influence from government and social programs because our goal should be to maximize living conditions for all, not to maximize profit for a few. Otherwise, the US is run by and/or funded by institutions that are legally obligated to shareholders to maximize profit over human well-being, and the ultra-rich get to hide behind these frameworks to shield them from guilt. Like you said, I don't think there is a great way to fix this without an overhaul of the entire government and voting systems to return power to the people.
        _nalply 3y ago
        Respectfully, I disagree. Forces working against democracy are driven by people wanting more power at the cost of the majority. These people can head companies. So it might look like capitalism is trying to infiltrate a democracy.
- Ographer 3y ago
  As the other person said, more widespread wealth taxation sounds more effective than just going after billionaires but it's a start. I don't think lowering taxes on the poor is going to raise them out of poverty though, the issue runs much deeper than that. The overall root cause would be much more complicated to fix. There is a lot of inequality built into the US that needs to be changed from the top and that probably isn't going to happen with a 2-party system where the 2 parties are fairly similar and block each other from making progress. Also, have so few choices when voting prevents any minority party from having a chance. I think that would involve rank choice voting across the board is critical. It would allow new political parties and candidates to come into power and people could finally vote for politicians they like instead of voting against politicians they dislike. Obviously we also need more fair election funding and an end to corporate lobbying. We need to interrupt all the corruption before we can begin making very much progress. The issue with all of this is that the people at the top with power have nothing to gain and everything to lose from these changes. Consider some of the criticisms in the following video. I realize that the video says my suggested methods are futile, but I still see them as the path of least resistance towards progress. https://youtu.be/oYodY6o172A?si=kr2A2RjEVBQvGW_s https://youtu.be/oYodY6o172A?si=kr2A2RjEVBQvGW_s

_nalply 3y ago

Why "bandaid"? Or asked differently, how would you fix the root cause of inequality?

munificent 3y ago
I believe wealth tax is the best fix for the root cause of inequality. I see the root cause as being this observation: If you have power, you can use the threat of it to make people do things for you. Wealth is liquid power, and the threat of using it doesn't spend it. The effect of that is that inequality has a natural tendency to grow: those with a little more can use that as leverage to get even more and repeat that process over and over. Widespread progressive taxation is the most effective tool I can think of to act as a damping force on that positive feedback loop.
- _nalply 3y ago
  I agree. How would you execute a wealth tax? People having power can avoid it by preventing legislation and after legislation by using loopholes.
  - munificent 3y ago
    > People having power can avoid it by preventing legislation I think a fundamental precondition is a functioning democracy. The magic of democracy is that it subverts the usual dynamic of "wealth = power". The currency of democracy is votes and in an election, everyone has equal spending power to purchase the candidate they want. Of course, lobbying, campaign financing, and all sorts of other shenanigans undermine that. I don't have a good solution beyond pushing for more civic engagement.
    - Ographer 3y ago
      All of the forces working against democracy are driven by capitalism. We need to at least remove capitalist influence from government and social programs because our goal should be to maximize living conditions for all, not to maximize profit for a few. Otherwise, the US is run by and/or funded by institutions that are legally obligated to shareholders to maximize profit over human well-being, and the ultra-rich get to hide behind these frameworks to shield them from guilt. Like you said, I don't think there is a great way to fix this without an overhaul of the entire government and voting systems to return power to the people.
      - _nalply 3y ago
        Respectfully, I disagree. Forces working against democracy are driven by people wanting more power at the cost of the majority. These people can head companies. So it might look like capitalism is trying to infiltrate a democracy.
Ographer 3y ago
As the other person said, more widespread wealth taxation sounds more effective than just going after billionaires but it's a start. I don't think lowering taxes on the poor is going to raise them out of poverty though, the issue runs much deeper than that. The overall root cause would be much more complicated to fix. There is a lot of inequality built into the US that needs to be changed from the top and that probably isn't going to happen with a 2-party system where the 2 parties are fairly similar and block each other from making progress. Also, have so few choices when voting prevents any minority party from having a chance. I think that would involve rank choice voting across the board is critical. It would allow new political parties and candidates to come into power and people could finally vote for politicians they like instead of voting against politicians they dislike. Obviously we also need more fair election funding and an end to corporate lobbying. We need to interrupt all the corruption before we can begin making very much progress. The issue with all of this is that the people at the top with power have nothing to gain and everything to lose from these changes. Consider some of the criticisms in the following video. I realize that the video says my suggested methods are futile, but I still see them as the path of least resistance towards progress. https://youtu.be/oYodY6o172A?si=kr2A2RjEVBQvGW_s https://youtu.be/oYodY6o172A?si=kr2A2RjEVBQvGW_s