[ExI] The Dogs of Immortality

Gary Miller aiguy at comcast.net
Tue Jul 15 11:28:57 UTC 2008


Stathis Papaioannou replied to Kevin Freels as follows:

> Do you honestly believe that my standard of living is based on the taxes I
pay? Are you kidding? It's just money. It moves around. People create things
of value. This is what creates wealth. Taxation just moves it around
differently. There is no net benefit.

But how the movement of money is organised does make a huge difference,
otherwise all countries with similar amounts of natural resources would be
equally wealthy.

> I am sorry you feel that somehow you are entitled to the wealth that
others create. A person who saves is a "miser" and it's their responsibility
to spend their money to keep the economy moving to create jobs? That's
insane. Savings is not a bad thing and this feeling that everyone should
spend what they have - and keep spending when they don't even have money is
what has this economy messed up as it is. If what you say is true then we
should promptly create a bunch of BS jobs with no value to prop up the
failing auto industry.

Actually, all else being equal, higher taxation decreases overall spending
and increases total national savings, while lower taxation has the opposite
effect. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_policy.


My Response:

I agree that how the movement of money is organized does make a huge
difference. I believe an expanding middle class fuels the economy, but when
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the middle class shrinks and we
head towards the kind of economies we see in the rest of the world where 3
or 4% of the population own 95% of the wealth.

I also agree that higher taxation on the poor and middle class decreases
overall spending because people do have as much discretionary income and can
not afford to buy as much of what they feel they need.  They also feel more
insecure and fearful causing those who can afford it to save even more for
worse times ahead.

But for the upper 3 or 4% of Americans who either already have most
everything they need, a $500 tax break is not going to change their saving
or spending habits one iota.  At some point when you can afford all that you
want, saving becomes just a numbers game or a way of dampening the fear that
the stock market will crash and I'll only be worth half of what I am now.
Nevermind that the half is still 100 times what most Americans will ever
accumulate.

Thank god a few billionaires have realized that it's not how much you have
that matters but how to maximize the good that can be done with it.  I do
admit I wish he would be as active in helping the United States as he is in
other countries but his choice to spend the majority of his fortune helping
others sets an example for us all and I hope eventually earns him a Nobel
Peace Prize.




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