[extropy-chat] Why I am No Longer a Libertarian Either...

[The Avantguardian]

--- Dirk Bruere <dirk at neopax.com> wrote:


> It's less a question of rich v poor than of the
> distribution of wealth 
> through a society.
> Japan is not a worse place to live than the US, and
> its wealth is spread 
> far more evenly across the people.

Yes, the distribution of wealth in the U.S. has gotten
out of hand. I think that it started during the 1980's
when "mergers and aquisitions" came into vogue as way
for corporations to avoid paying their taxes. I don't
know how to change it though. You could change the
laws and come up with a new system, but then the
greedy and ruthless would just come up with a way to
rape the new system as well. Just like what happened
in the U.S.S.R.

> The notion that the rich make the rules and that the
> rules should exist 
> to screw the last penny out of the poor to line
> their own pockets is not 
> a system worthy of praise.

Where is there where the rich don't make the rules? I
don't believe any laws are explicitly for the purpose
of screwing the poor. Take away every politician,
judge, lawyer, and policeman and I think that the
unregulated free market would STILL try to take the
poor's last penny. It's not just the "rules", it's
every part and parcel of society from big companies
all the way down to your annoying neighbor trying to
sell you life insurance. Let's face it, with the
exception of lovers, close friends, and family, the
only "value" that the average person holds for his
fellow man is as a employer, customer, client, mark,
or victim all of whom need to be relieved of their
hard won cash.     

> What Bill Gates does is
> NOT worth 100,000x  
> that of  some guy who cleans the public toilets or
> carries out the trash.

No, in fact I would much rather do without a computer
than have to live amidst my own trash, so on that
account the garbage man is MORE important than Bill
Gates to the health and welfare of the average
citizen. That aside however, I no longer hate Bill
Gates or even envy him all that much. To me Bill Gates
is not so bad as entrepeneurs come. He is surely a
breed above the likes of the Dick Cheneys of the world
in that Gates never killed anyone to make his fortune,
whereas the only way Cheney et. al.  make their money
is from the violent deaths of or, in the case of
Enron, the wholesale robbery of others. Hell George
Bush has probably killed more Texans than Santa Ana.
     The problem is that I don't know how you can
discourage the Gateses and the Cheneys of the world
without absolutely devastating the little guys that
dream big and the small business owners. 

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson


		
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