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So, shall we just arrest the richest 100 people, confiscate their wealth, and solve all the world's problems at once?

by swombat 14y ago

gamache 14y ago
In our post-moral world, we could at least pretend that's on the table.
- newbie12 14y ago
  That type of confiscation of legitimately earned wealth would be profoundly immoral.
  - _delirium 14y ago
    A good portion of the wealth of the 100 richest people in the world was rather more "illegitimately" earned. Look up the history of Carlos Slim or the Al Sauds, say.
jswinghammer 14y ago
I think he's suggesting we give it to oxfam which would at least end this guy's problems.
calibraxis 14y ago
Of course not; that is never the prescription. Because if you keep the institutions in place, gross inequality would simply reemerge. Like if you toppled the kings while keeping a feudal system, or freed all the slaves while keeping slavery intact. You have to alter the system to one which doesn't doesn't have these outcomes. Obviously, the powerful elites don't like this, as they correctly perceive this as "revolution": a fundamental change to the institutions. (An egalitarian society by definition means they won't have massively greater power than others.) So they will predictably respond with violence. (Note that the police and military effectively work for them.)
- swombat 14y ago
  Obviously, the powerful elites don't like this I don't think so. I know a number of wealthy people, and they are very open about how to make money, how to maintain wealth, and so on. Many of them have even decided that the best way to spend their time now that they're wealthy is to teach others how to get there too. Of course, teaching 7 billion people how to behave in economically sensible ways is a pretty arduous, long-term task, so it'll take a while for the effect of this to be visible... but I don't think the "elites" are in the way of lifting everyone else up - so long as the method isn't principally to pull them down. Equalisation by bringing everyone up to the highest possible level is a worthwhile goal. Equalisation by bringing every down to the lowest possible level is not.
danielharan 14y ago
Holy straw man argument! In the linked report, Oxfam suggests even more radical things, like closing tax havens and taxing the capital gains. [sarcasm]Sadly, they do not want to arrest or kill all those rich people.[/sarcasm]
- swombat 14y ago
  I'm not sure which one you're calling a straw man - my jest, or the entire original article. I'm going to assume both. Only one of them is intentionally a straw man.

So, shall we just arrest the richest 100 people, confiscate their wealth, and solve all the world's problems at once?

by swombat 14y ago

So, shall we just arrest the richest 100 people, confiscate their wealth, and solve all the world's problems at once?

gamache 14y ago

In our post-moral world, we could at least pretend that's on the table.

newbie12 14y ago
That type of confiscation of legitimately earned wealth would be profoundly immoral.
- _delirium 14y ago
  A good portion of the wealth of the 100 richest people in the world was rather more "illegitimately" earned. Look up the history of Carlos Slim or the Al Sauds, say.

jswinghammer 14y ago

I think he's suggesting we give it to oxfam which would at least end this guy's problems.

calibraxis 14y ago

Of course not; that is never the prescription. Because if you keep the institutions in place, gross inequality would simply reemerge. Like if you toppled the kings while keeping a feudal system, or freed all the slaves while keeping slavery intact. You have to alter the system to one which doesn't doesn't have these outcomes. Obviously, the powerful elites don't like this, as they correctly perceive this as "revolution": a fundamental change to the institutions. (An egalitarian society by definition means they won't have massively greater power than others.) So they will predictably respond with violence. (Note that the police and military effectively work for them.)

swombat 14y ago
Obviously, the powerful elites don't like this I don't think so. I know a number of wealthy people, and they are very open about how to make money, how to maintain wealth, and so on. Many of them have even decided that the best way to spend their time now that they're wealthy is to teach others how to get there too. Of course, teaching 7 billion people how to behave in economically sensible ways is a pretty arduous, long-term task, so it'll take a while for the effect of this to be visible... but I don't think the "elites" are in the way of lifting everyone else up - so long as the method isn't principally to pull them down. Equalisation by bringing everyone up to the highest possible level is a worthwhile goal. Equalisation by bringing every down to the lowest possible level is not.

danielharan 14y ago

Holy straw man argument! In the linked report, Oxfam suggests even more radical things, like closing tax havens and taxing the capital gains. [sarcasm]Sadly, they do not want to arrest or kill all those rich people.[/sarcasm]

swombat 14y ago
I'm not sure which one you're calling a straw man - my jest, or the entire original article. I'm going to assume both. Only one of them is intentionally a straw man.