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posted by
martyb
on Saturday January 27 2018, @12:43PM
from the I-got-mine!-And-Yours.-And-Yours.-Annnnnd-yours,-too. dept.
from the I-got-mine!-And-Yours.-And-Yours.-Annnnnd-yours,-too. dept.
The 1% grabbed 82% of all wealth created in 2017
More than $8 of every $10 of wealth created last year went to the richest 1%.
That's according to a new report from Oxfam International, which estimates that the bottom 50% of the world's population saw no increase in wealth.
Oxfam says the trend shows that the global economy is skewed in favor of the rich, rewarding wealth instead of work.
"The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system," said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International.
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Only 1% of World's Population Grabbed 82% of all 2017 Wealth
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squatcho, n.:
The button at the top of a baseball cap.
-- "Sniglets", Rich Hall & Friends
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Saturday January 27 2018, @07:47PM
You cannot adequately measure harm by its general class; theft of a tootsie roll is no less theft than theft of all your savings.
However, the harm done is vastly different, and yes, we do, and we should, treat these instances quite differently. Likewise, you take 20% of Joe Floorwasher's income, it's radically different than taking 20% of Joseph Mergatroid Moneybags the Fourth's income. Even if both are tax, or, if you must, "theft."
Even if I accept your implied assertion that taxes are inherently theft (I certainly don't), such action I deem necessary in order to build and maintain the underpinnings that make a society, a thing I value far more highly than your offended, if grievously simplistic, sensibilities on the matter.
Where I will stand with you, if you like, is that some use of tax money is absurd, some is evil, and some is far more wasteful than circumstances actually call for. In this, pushback seems appropriate and righteous to me.
But tiered income taxes in general... there are many things that we cannot do on our lonesome or in small groups because they are simply too large to approach at that level. Highways are one good example of this.
Others could be approached, but greed prevents success: healthcare and shelter and animal welfare are good examples of that sort of thing. They could be largely addressed by charity of the wealthy in a substrate of enabling legislation; but they are most certainly not. Consequently they become big jobs that should fall to government; it's either that, or they won't get done to the degree they need to be done.
For government to be able to actually try and/or approach solutions these tasks, government must be able to transfer material and labor to the task. So far, that means applying the common medium of exchange: money. So we have taxes. Or, as you seem to want to call it, "theft." No matter the name, it seems very clear that we should have it. At least until automation creates an economy of plenty, which is still probably a ways off in the future, and which I am convinced is going to be very painful to transition to.