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There have been times in the recent past when financial speculation was a capital offense. (A real death tax) I don't think we need to go that far, but the rich could be subjected to a wealth limit that would function like a speed limit on public roads; however, I don't think elected Republicans OR Democrats will connect the dots in time. IMHO, we need to break the corporate stranglehold on US politics by choosing our Representatives and Senators from established third parties instead of either wing of the Wall Street Party.Personal assets are separate from corporate holdings. One may be the CEO of a ten billion dollar corporation but his/her personal assets must remain below twenty million. In other words, forget the mansion on a mountain and the $40,000,000 yacht. Those obscenities would no longer exist in America.Millions would lose their jobs.
For example, many McDonald's stores are built by existing franchise owners. The value of a McDonald's store is easily $6 Million.
What this means is, every store owner would have a dis-incentive to open new stores, and provide more jobs.
If for each store they open, the amount of personal wealth they could enjoy, would be reduced.
I own one store worth $6 Million, and I have $14 Million in other assets (house, yacht, cars, blaw blaw blaw).
But if I build a second store, now I have two worth $12 Million, now I can only have $8 Million in other assets.
The incentive would be to not provide anymore growth and jobs.
Further, this rule would be nearly impossible to enforce. Most assets are not in personal property items anyway. Most wealth is tied up in stocks. Stocks go up and down in the market.
When the stock market goes up, and Bill Gates gains another $10 Million in stock price.... how do you propose we stop that? Just outright confiscate his stocks? We're going to be a nation built on thievery?
And wouldn't that simply encourage Bill Gates to move his assets out of the country? Move Microsoft to another country, where his stocks are out of reach by the government?
I think it would. And that kind of incentive would harm the middle and lower class, more than it would Bill Gates.
There presently is an "exit tax" which once would impose effective control over what we are seeing now in terms of offshore assets and expatriating billionaires. But the rules have been drastically softened over the years. If it were possible to impose the twenty-million dollar limit you may take for granted the imposition of rigid laws to prevent the substance of America's wealth resources from being removed from the Country.
Simply stated, if you manage to accumulate billions of dollars by exploiting this Nation's material, administrative, and human resources, that money stays here. You may not remove it. And any attempt to do so would invoke a severe criminal penalty.
My proposal is not confined to a twenty million dollar limit but would necessarily include many rules and strict laws to prevent evasion and manipulation.
Such contingencies would be managed with a 30 day period within which Gates must dispose of excess. He could transfer it to anyone he chooses whose assets are less then twenty million (any relative, friend, or charity). The alternative is confiscation.[...]
When the stock market goes up, and Bill Gates gains another $10 Million in stock price.... how do you propose we stop that? Just outright confiscate his stocks?
[If you're one of those fanatical Libertarians who think of taxes as thievery, then yes. But I prefer to think of it as a nation built on equitable distribution of its exceptional wealth resources.We're going to be a nation built on thievery?
Almost all the food you eat has been modified by humans. You should stop eating.
Does GMO mean modified by humans? Your comment only has meaning if GMO means simply modified by humans. But we all know GMO stands for something quite specific, so sadly your left stinky brown diarrhea for us all to read. Do us a favor and think before you type.
I was born in 1936. According to my parents I might have been born in a hallway or in an alley if it were not for FDR's WPA and CCC programs which rescued us from the verge of homelessness, along with millions of other desperately unemployed Americans. And, again, according to my parents, who lived it, the effect of those work programs had a clearly uplifting effect not only on the economy but on the very mood of the nation. So believe whomever you choose to.[...]
And last of all, there have been many modern scholarly works that suggest that WPA and CCC, had little if any effect on the economy. In fact, in 1936, the economy sank into recession, all while those programs were in operation.
[...]
So while I'm not academically capable of offering a scholarly response to those scholarly denials of the success of FDR's programs, what I'm saying here comes right from the horse's mouth. It's from the front lines in the depth of the Great Depression. My parents always spoke reverently of Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- and for good reason.
I'd like to add that the CCC built the federal park system in my area (Wayne National Forest, Lake Vesuvius) that would have otherwise not existed. It obviously took work and the workers got paid. If this isn't economic facts showing the CCC benefited, nothing can.
Economics is not and should not be an utter abstraction. It dictates the lives of each and every human being so just for a second, let's consider its impact in my area. People received pay for helping create a beautiful park that is used by thousands each year for almost 100 years, and has been my personal sanctuary, then yeah, this has significant economic and health benefits on the citizens. Indeed the region at large has benefited as the park attracts tourists and is a fantastic open meeting space for family picnics and birthdays.
I guess since the idea behind the CCC and others was not to create profit and speculation, then it has no value. What utter dumb-fuckery. Ever wonder why the CCC was created in the first place? The speculation of banks. Glass steagall.
What does a billionaire imply? A market that is manipulated.
CEOs and Hedge Fund managers know their job is to monopolize the market, manipulate it if they can't run a collusion and extrapolate capital by all sorts of tricks, like preferred calls, advanced information and high frequency trading.
Moreover, their campaign contributions drowns out you and me from political significance. So you prefer to have less influence in the decisions made about your life?
You sound like your'e being paid by billionaires to say they are so useful instead of being coherent.
No it doesnt imply anythng of the sort. Unless you think Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have manipulated the market for about 50 years.
I believe all the things that are wrong with capitalism would not exist if those with big money (CAPITALISTS OR SOCIALISTS) would not be able to buy politicians and make them pass laws favoring their interests. As you said, BALANCE, and socialists just like capitalists take advantage of our political prostitutes in Washington. If we argue about the name of the enemy THEY WIN:Where is Democracy to be found in a world where the three richest individuals have assets that exceed the combined GDP of 47 countries?
A world where the richest 2% of global citizens "own" more than 51% of global assets?
Ready for the best part?
Capitalism ensures an already bad problem will only get worse.
"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) states that income inequality 'first started to rise in the late 70s and early 80s in America and Britain (and also in Israel)'.
"The ratio between the average incomes of the top 5 per cent to the bottom 5 per cent in the world increased from 78:1 in 1988, to 114:1 in 1993..."
"Stiglitz relays that from 1988 to 2008 people in the worlds top 1 per cent saw their incomes increase by 60 per cent, while those in the bottom 5 per cent had no change in their income.
"In America, home to the 2008 recession, from 2009 to 2012, incomes of the top 1 per cent in America, many of which no doubt had a greedy hand in the causes of the meltdown, increased more than 31 per cent, while the incomes of the 99 per cent grew 0.4 per cent less than half a percentage point."
Spotlight on Worldwide Inequality
There are alternatives that don't require infinite "growth."
Noam Chomsky. Now there's an unbiased source.
Go take your class warfare success-hating bullshit and stick it up your ass.
I'm guessing Rabbi likes a Jew (Noam Chomsky) and I'm guessing I must be an "anti Semite" for stating that.Noam Chomsky. Now there's an unbiased source.
Go take your class warfare success-hating bullshit and stick it up your ass.
Now that's one well reasoned reply.
Can you tell me where class warfare was mentioned? Oh where was hate towards a group too? Oh, neither of your assertions have any relevancy to the matter at hand (in other words are strawman arguments)? To be expected when a child doesn't hear what it wants; adults assess claims based on their merit.
Rich bitches might pay even less in taxes if Wal-mart and McDonald's payed a living wageGovernment shouldn't make success so profitable for welfare queens:
"This issue has become more known as we learn just how far some companies have gone in putting their employees on public assistance. According to one study, American fast food workers receive more than $7 billion dollars in public assistance.
"As it turns out, McDonald's has a 'McResource' line that helps employees and their families enroll in various state and local assistance programs.
"It exploded into the public when a recording of the McResource line advocated that full-time employees sign up for food stamps and welfare.
"Wal-Mart, the nations largest private sector employer, is also the biggest consumer of taxpayer supported aid.
"According to Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, in many states, Wal-Mart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients.
"They are also the single biggest group of food stamp recipients.
"Wal-marts 'associates' are paid so little, according to Grayson, that they receive $1,000 on average in public assistance. These amount to massive taxpayer subsidies for private companies."
How McDonald's and Wal-Mart Became Welfare Queens - Bloomberg
I guess we'd pay less welfare if WalMart and McDonald's shut their doors.
Idiot.
Almost all the food you eat has been modified by humans. You should stop eating.
Does GMO mean modified by humans? Your comment only has meaning if GMO means simply modified by humans. But we all know GMO stands for something quite specific, so sadly your left stinky brown diarrhea for us all to read. Do us a favor and think before you type.
What does a billionaire imply? A market that is manipulated.
CEOs and Hedge Fund managers know their job is to monopolize the market, manipulate it if they can't run a collusion and extrapolate capital by all sorts of tricks, like preferred calls, advanced information and high frequency trading.
Moreover, their campaign contributions drowns out you and me from political significance. So you prefer to have less influence in the decisions made about your life?
You sound like your'e being paid by billionaires to say they are so useful instead of being coherent.
And get on food stamps since the only jobs left are other minimum wage jobs.Rich bitches might pay even less in taxes if Wal-mart and McDonald's payed a living wageI guess we'd pay less welfare if WalMart and McDonald's shut their doors.
Idiot.
If McDonald's doesn't pay you enough to survive, you should quit.
I thought it confirmed the fact. But that's just me.What does a billionaire imply? A market that is manipulated.
CEOs and Hedge Fund managers know their job is to monopolize the market, manipulate it if they can't run a collusion and extrapolate capital by all sorts of tricks, like preferred calls, advanced information and high frequency trading.
Moreover, their campaign contributions drowns out you and me from political significance. So you prefer to have less influence in the decisions made about your life?
You sound like your'e being paid by billionaires to say they are so useful instead of being coherent.
What does a billionaire imply? A market that is manipulated.
That only implies you are an idiot.
And get on food stamps since the only jobs left are other minimum wage jobs.Rich bitches might pay even less in taxes if Wal-mart and McDonald's payed a living wage
If McDonald's doesn't pay you enough to survive, you should quit.
Almost all the food you eat has been modified by humans. You should stop eating.
Does GMO mean modified by humans? Your comment only has meaning if GMO means simply modified by humans. But we all know GMO stands for something quite specific, so sadly your left stinky brown diarrhea for us all to read. Do us a favor and think before you type.
Does GMO mean modified by humans?
Most of the food you eat is genetically different than it was before man.
Do you need examples?
Do us a favor and think before you type.
Do me a favor and think. It would be a nice change.
And get on food stamps since the only jobs left are other minimum wage jobs.If McDonald's doesn't pay you enough to survive, you should quit.
If he blames McDonald's for being on food stamps now, is it still McDonald's fault when he quits and is on food stamps?
Noam Chomsky. Now there's an unbiased source.
Go take your class warfare success-hating bullshit and stick it up your ass.
Now that's one well reasoned reply.
Can you tell me where class warfare was mentioned? Oh where was hate towards a group too? Oh, neither of your assertions have any relevancy to the matter at hand (in other words are strawman arguments)? To be expected when a child doesn't hear what it wants; adults assess claims based on their merit.
