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Wealth acquisition and distribution?

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I was thinking of this: if all American citizens committed a mass suicide, you could own all the lands of the US.
Wouldn't it be nice?
I am just saying hypothetically: to explain the paradox of greed. :)
No paradox.
Just a useless hypothetical.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Woohoo!
Look at you being tolerant towards the caviar & champagne set.

Eventually though, we'd run out of other
people's money. Someone must be productive,
which requires incentivizing.

We have real world examples that show
inevitable economic & social woe if private
wealth is banned. But allowing individual
economic success does allow prosperity &
liberty.

A big difference here is that my story actually
happened. Yours is mere parody. Your socialism
has never provided a single example of success,
ie,, economic & social liberty.
It sure is not improving Hong Kong
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
I'm not getting this. Why shouldn't anyone be allowed to accumulate more than $10 million of wealth? If you are under the impression they can commit crimes and get off, change the laws that allow this; but that's a law problem, not a financial one. Assuming they obey the law, why shouldn't someone be able to accumulate an unlimited amount of wealth?
Well I don't think this particular kind of cap would work, but the principle of having an unlimited scale of wealth just seems so wasteful - as to any resources or power often going to the individual rather than to greater numbers within societies, and this often being spent on frivolous things rather than benefitting the community. The trickle-down effect is usually quoted to defend this but this just doesn't seem to work. And with such wealth comes the chance to influence politics - and which appears to be quite likely in the USA, for example. Tax evasion seems to be the major crime that the very wealthy are so often committing.
 

Secret Chief

Degrow!
LOL The "it's typical" argument. Nice try.
How many do you want, lol?

"The bonds or "glue" that maintain stability in society."

- social cohesion — definition, examples, related words and more at Wordnik

"The belief held by citizens of a given nation-state that they share a moral community, which enables them to trust each other."

- https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2014/LarsenDevelopmentinsocialcohesion.pdf


"A community that has naturally many cross-links, where people from different race, age, background, feel free and happy to mix together in housing, in education, and in leisure facilities."

- social cohesion


"Collective attributes and behaviours characterised by positive social relations, a sense of identification or belonging, and an orientation towards the common good."

- https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...osch/1609db8f12b66dfc97c191a2aae43616a47fb446

"Social cohesion can be thought of as the relational or even the affective dimension of our national life ... the peace, harmony, and connectedness of society” and which is “most commonly indicated by the degree of trust people have in one another and in government, their sense of belonging and their participation in their communities”."

- What is social cohesion, what cultivates it, and what undermines it? - ABC listen


"Social cohesion is a term associated with functionalism and refers to the extent to which people in society are bound together and integrated and share common values."

- Social Cohesion
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
How many do you want, lol?

"The bonds or "glue" that maintain stability in society."

- social cohesion — definition, examples, related words and more at Wordnik

"The belief held by citizens of a given nation-state that they share a moral community, which enables them to trust each other."

- https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2014/LarsenDevelopmentinsocialcohesion.pdf


"A community that has naturally many cross-links, where people from different race, age, background, feel free and happy to mix together in housing, in education, and in leisure facilities."

- social cohesion


"Collective attributes and behaviours characterised by positive social relations, a sense of identification or belonging, and an orientation towards the common good."

- https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Social-cohesion-revisited:-a-new-definition-and-how-Fonseca-Lukosch/1609db8f12b66dfc97c191a2aae43616a47fb446

"Social cohesion can be thought of as the relational or even the affective dimension of our national life ... the peace, harmony, and connectedness of society” and which is “most commonly indicated by the degree of trust people have in one another and in government, their sense of belonging and their participation in their communities”."

- What is social cohesion, what cultivates it, and what undermines it? - ABC listen


"Social cohesion is a term associated with functionalism and refers to the extent to which people in society are bound together and integrated and share common values."

- Social Cohesion
You made my point. Each of these definitions differs from the others. Mine was based on simple etymology.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
My definitions show it is broadly seen as a good thing, not something amoral.
It also shows two other things. One is that there is no universally accepted definition. The other is that you chose cherry-picked definitions. Your definitions are rejected.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
The more it becomes like mainland China,
the happier our socialist friends will be.
But I'm sure they really want a return to....
Speaking of socialism... well...in the US, the 67% of people are homeowners.
In Romania, historically socialist country, the 95% are.

I have just showed you that Socialism is 100 times better. :)
 
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libre

Skylark
Staff member
Premium Member
Often gnawing at the back of my mind, especially when seeing the taxes avoided by the wealthy, what are your thoughts on this issue?




This is a philosophy that appeals to me more than most, and which mostly has done all my life, given that apart from the iniquities of vast wealth differences, unearned power often comes with such wealth as well as the greater chance to escape justice or wield such power for dubious purposes, and of course the notion that some should be rewarded exponentially more than others - because they own or control a business - is just ludicrous, and why I would like to see more public ownership - certainly of essential services. But no doubt many will disagree.



Got my vote. :D



I think I have this book - Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty - but as usual, economics books are about as much top of my reading list as religious and political ones are. :eek:

Any interested in economics/politics and/or philosophy want to chime in?
Generally speaking I find perspectives that preoccupy themselves with limits to the amount of money that can be accumulated instead of the means for that accumulation to be unsatisfying. Better to go to the source instead of fixating on the symptoms.

I don't have the economic background to judge Piketty's book, but I found his preoccupation with studying the difference between wealth and income to be framed in a way that evades recognizing the antagonistic interests of the worker and owner.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Speaking of socialism... well...in the US, the 67% of people are homeowners.
In Romania, historically socialist country, the 95% are.

I have just showed you that Socialism is 100 times better. :)


95% is 100 times 67%? Not mathing.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
Why does anybody need unlimited wealth?


It's an addiction, for some people. Wealth equals security, status, and power, and some people can never get enough of those things. The quality of addiction being such that, the satisfaction of hunger leads never to satisfaction, but always and only to stronger craving.
 
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Kfox

Well-Known Member
First, I didn't mention rich individuals specifically not being allowed to own atomic bombs, I said "regular citizen".

What I was talking about is that whoever owns atomic bombs possesses a lot of power, and that it is usual to prevent regular individuals from possessing this much power. By the same rationale, since owning money is owning power, it is reasonable to put a limit on how much money someone can have.
Wealth does not equal power in today's economy. There are plenty of people with little wealth, but through the power of social media have far more power and influence than some of the richest.
 
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