RSSHow rich is too rich?
Apr 21
Interesting article called How rich is too rich?
I do feel strongly that concentrations of wealth are bad for democracy. I think we’re starting to see the evidence of that now in North America. When individuals who own massive portions of the media try to advance a particular agenda, that’s obviously bad.
What’s the answer? There is no easy one that I can see yet. Obviously a big estate tax would help. Personally I don’t buy the argument that if you had a 25% estate tax it would demotivate people to generate wealth because their offspring would get less.It may even be the opposite. If they know they need to generate 125% to get their descendents 100% they may work harder. Also, make it only apply to estates worth more than $2 million or $5 million, which kills the argument that estate taxes affect people like farmers, whose children have to pay massive taxes.
If these wealthiest people would feel more social responsibility themselves, like it seems Bill Gates does, perhaps we wouldn’t need to force the issue. Really, if you leave your kids $100 million dollars instead of $150 million, is that going to change their lifestyle? If you answer yes, you’ve got a problem. It’s hard to feel bad though because someone who did answer yes obviously doesn’t have a very good life because of how much importance they place on money. Let them sit in their palace, alone, plotting how to make even more money, while the people on the other side of town have happy families and real friends.
Apr 25, 2005 @ 17:56:30
Somehow, I doubt Bush is up on his American history. I doubt he could name the capitols of all fifty states, much less what founding fathers said centuries ago. If he was really the kind of politician who cared about preserving the status quo, he wouldn’t have
a) launched pre-emptive wars,
b) rigged national elections,
c) attempted to ban the filibuster, by definition one of the “checks and balances”,
d) appointed corporate lobbyists to cabinet and advisory positions,
e) undone decades of environmental law,
f) proposed constitutional changes for niche lobby groups (eg. gay marriage, pres. Arnold)
g) made bankrupcy unattainable by average citizens,
h) pissed off America’s traditional allies or pushed them to the breaking point,
i) driven up a record national debt in record time,
j) given large corporations immunity to prosecution from customers,
k) violated the Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war,
l) ordered torture of prisoners or exported them to other countries for torture,
m) made it constitutional to strip enemy combatants of US citizenship,
n) taken control of US media companies from within the boardroom
o) reducing freedom of the press to a few press conferences
p) attempted to overrule the US Supreme Court (re Terri Schiavo)
q) embarassed the US on the world stage day after day
There are more, but I think the point has been made. Bush is not a status quo kinda person.
=D