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Groups > comp.os.linux.advocacy > #486023

Re: Rigged global economy

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Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 10:30:18 AM UTC-7, owl wrote:
>> Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 9:56:46 AM UTC-7, owl wrote:
>> >> Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> > On Saturday, January 26, 2019 at 9:10:49 AM UTC-7, Melzzzzz wrote:
>> >> >> On 2019-01-26, owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> wrote:
>> >> >> > Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> wrote:
>> >> >> >> https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1088510099079995392
>> >> >> >> 
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > That sounds great, but how do you motivate people without reward? 
>> >> >> 
>> >> >> Can't be done. 
>> >> > 
>> >> > I disagree. People who do things solely for money would go for
>> >> > whatever figure any gov't could 'cap' wealth at. For example, let's
>> >> > say there was a 100 million dollar cap on how much wealth one
>> >> > could accumulate. Do you think that would dampen the people
>> >> > who are driven solely by money to accrue that number? As for 
>> >> > the rest, well, they're not solely motivated by money anyway,
>> >> > so they're going to do what they love no matter what. 
>> >> 
>> >> And if you cap reward at 100 million, some will stop at that point.
>> >> At a certain level, even billionaires who may have started out for the
>> >> love of what they were creating, such as Bill Joy, turn to being venture
>> >> capitalists.  Not many *big* things you can do as a venture capitalist
>> >> with just  a 100 million.  And the "big things" need not be motivated
>> >> purely by future profit, but might just be really, really expensive to
>> >> get off the ground.  And don't forget philanthropy.  Even Rockefeller
>> >> gave away hundreds of millions.
>> > 
>> > I know I'd rather leave this to the private sector, as opposed to 
>> > the gov't, every day of the week and twice on Sunday. But I still
>> > think people would just pool together their money like they do
>> > now,
>> 
>> Like a corporation?   Are corporations going to be exempt from the cap?
> 
> Not in this scenario. I don't see why there'd be a lack of interest
> with the cap, though, if that's what they're legally limited to. I
> don't necessarily like the idea but it's clear we're heading down a
> path we shouldn't head down, where a very small percentage of the 
> earth's population owns most of the wealth (we did that sh*t  already).
> 

Even if corporations are not limited, you will have investors having to
watch that they don't invest in a way that wastes their money by having
the cumulative value of the stock they own in various corporations hit
the individual cap.  But why would corporations be exempt anyway?
That's basically the structure that today's billionaires use for
their wealth.  What difference does it make if 100 people control
$10 billion of stock or if it's just one guy?  The 100 people will
still have a board of directors and ultimately a CEO who makes
decisions that can be just as "bad" for society as an individual
billionaire might make.  Those 100 would also be hoarding that
wealth as a "team" of sorts.  And would changing the concentration
of the world's wealth from 26 to 26,000 have any noticeable effect?
 

>> > it'd just take more of them for a bigger project. And you can 
>> > still give away money out of your 100 mil and work on the next
>> > one (this might even encourage people to do so) or vow to give
>> > away that which is coming in over the cap to be donated... IOW, 
>> > it's still a cap but made elastic by time (a certain number of tax 
>> > seasons or whatever). 
>> 
>> "No caps" is better.  There are super-wealthy people who are good
>> people and who can accomplish great things much more expeditiously
>> than any plodding bureaucracy. 
> 
> No question and it may very well be the 'least worst' option but,
> like government, left unchecked, it'd likely lead to the destruction 
> of our system, that is supposed to work for all. I can even see the 
> case for the 70% tax... but, as I said earlier, I *don't* believe that 
> would fix things, we need to get rampant spending under control.
> Our national debt is way outta whack, and I'm talking about the
> real debt, not the ~22 trillion we're told it is (right next to those
> article that tell you how it's not an issue).
> 

There's not enough money, even if we took all the billionaires' money
and spread it around amongst the poor, to make a difference.  If we could
get to the point where some economic system -- as yet undevised -- could
guarantee a tolerable existence for everyone, while still permitting
reward commensurate with effort, then great.  But I don't see a way
for that to happen.

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Thread

Rigged global economy Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2019-01-26 09:56 +0000
  Re: Rigged global economy Amanda KoXXX <iscariot694me@simplivr4.org> - 2019-01-26 14:39 +0000
  Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 07:11 -0800
    Re: Rigged global economy Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2019-01-26 16:10 +0000
  Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 15:49 +0000
    Re: Rigged global economy Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2019-01-26 16:10 +0000
      Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 08:36 -0800
        Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 16:56 +0000
          Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 09:17 -0800
            Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 17:30 +0000
              Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 10:06 -0800
                Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 18:27 +0000
                Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 10:56 -0800
                Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 19:14 +0000
                Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 11:17 -0800
                Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 19:47 +0000
                Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-26 12:13 -0800
                Re: Rigged global economy owl <owl@rooftop.invalid> - 2019-01-26 20:32 +0000
                Re: Rigged global economy Steve Carroll <fretwizzer@gmail.com> - 2019-01-27 07:50 -0800
        Re: Rigged global economy Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2019-01-26 19:18 +0000

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