From: James (jamillar@socs.uts.edu.au)
Date: Wed Sep 02 1998 - 04:37:25 MDT
On Sun, 30 Aug 1998, Avatar Polymorph wrote:
> I meant half my wealth after tax. I'm quite happy to live on 12-15,000 a
> year.
I think increasing the world avg. income would be far more plausible than
getting every person who earns 25,000+ to pay 75% in tax or donations.
> The top 10% in America have 80% of the total wealth. It is very
> instructive to do a graph of what that means. The top 355 billionaires
> had as much wealth as the bottom 2.5 billion (1978). Do a graph of that.
> Let the Y line be population and the X line total wealth. See the
> intensity and height of the spike.
I have no doubt that the distribution of wealth is similar to those
figures you have stated here. It is this distribution, however, that
provides momentum in the economy. It gives incentive for individuals to
earn more and provides a concentration of funds that companies can then
reinvest in new technologies. This adds to the total wealth of the
system.
The challenge therfore is to find a economic model that allows a more
equitable distribution of wealth whilst not reducing the incentives to
generate wealth.
> But debate about food costs isn't the point. It's about not helping your
> brothers and sisters in trouble, because they live far away. Australia
> produces heaps of grain and wool and coal and so forth, like the US. But
> we don't give it away cheap. Just like the English landlords in Ireland
> during the potato famine, we let them starve.
If you remove cost from the debate nothing will ever be done to help
anybody.
Who pays? Who pays? Who pays?
Unfortunately these are the three question most people will
ask. Answering these questions with "It's the right thing to do." will
compel only a few individuals to act. A better way to answer is to point
out the benefits of paying. Bringing third world countries up to frist
world standards provides many wealth generating advantages to
both countries and coporations.
James - jamillar@socs.uts.edu.au
"Where Time Becomes A Loop"
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