From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Fri Jul 20 2001 - 08:41:59 MDT
I was trying to disengage from this discussion, but...:/
On Thursday, July 19, 2001 11:52 PM J. R. Molloy jr@shasta.com wrote:
> > However, the real reason that I oppose government confiscation
> > of the wealth of the prudent to finance the needs of those whose
> > lives haven't worked out for some reason, is evolutionary:
>
> Seems as likely to me that government confiscates the meager wealth of
those
> whose lives haven't worked out for some reason, and uses it to finance the
> needs of the prudent (who have managed to figure out how to gain access to
tax
> dollars, viz., politicians).
That depends on what you mean by prudent. If stealing is prudent, then
successful thieves should be seen as exemplars of that virtue. Of course,
if you judge people by how well they get along in each system, then certain
types of people do well in a welfare state -- not necessarily the same
people who would do well under either a free market or full socialism.
You should also ask what it is that taxation and redistribution achieves
ultimately -- e.g., what sort of changes it makes in society. More people
will devote their efforts to trying to get at unearned wealth and less to
other, more productive activities. (Before it can be taxed, wealth must be
produced. The more taxes there are, the less reason there is for many
people to produce.)
I would also point out, this class of tax takers includes not only
politicians, but, in general, those who chase after government money or
favors. I recall in the 1990s, the Cato Institute http://www.cato.org/ came
out with a report on corporate welfare in the US, finding that this was a
huge part of the Federal budget. (I.e., reducing it, would reduce the
overall budget -- and the money saved could be given back to the taxpayers.)
Cheers!
Daniel Ust
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
See me singlehandedly defeat pancritical rationalism at:
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/PCR.html
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