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Thursday, May 03, 2012

THE ART OF SELFISHNESS

05/04/2012

 THE ART OF SELFISHNESS


According to philosopher Robert Nozick, when the government takes even a dollar from Bill Gates, a billionaire, and gives it to a poor person, it is like forcing Gates to work for the poor person. Is Nozick right to think that redistributive taxation is like forced labor? Should there be no redistributive taxation whatsoever?
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  • Robert James likes this.
    • Sam Goodman yes and what does the amount taken have to do if it is theft or not? If someone pulls a gun on you is it any less theft if they take $10 or $10,000?
      13 hours ago · · 1
    • Peter Dang yes taxation IS slavery. taking $1 from bill gates to give to a poor person is akin to taking $1 from a poor person and giving that to another poor person. the difference is only a matter of degree but the principles are the same
      13 hours ago ·
    • Alan Jimenez taxation is not slavery, and Nozick was no economist. Adam Smith talked about the necessity of taxation, and progressive taxation at that. The free market economist Joseph Schumpeter also talked about the necessity of taxation.
      All this 'no taxation' rhetoric makes no sense because one cannot have a society with private property without a state. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
      13 hours ago · · 4
    • Peter Dang ‎"taxation is not slavery, and Nozick was no economist. "

      One need not be an economist to recognise that theft is wrong. Slavery occurs when a person or group of people extracts 100% of the fruits of someone else's labour. At what point does is it thus not slavery? 99%? 98%?

      "Adam Smith talked about the necessity of taxation, and progressive taxation at that. "

      You are not arguing that taxation is not theft here, only that "theft is necessary so says some 18th century thinker

      "The free market economist Joseph Schumpeter also talked about the necessity of taxation."

      I would assert then that Joseph-whatshisname is no advocate for freemarket capitalism for one who is a freemarket capitalist would believe that markets are better for people than the state

      "All this 'no taxation' rhetoric makes no sense because one cannot have a society with private property without a state. "

      This is where your argument gets really retarded. Law, property and civillisation predates the state. There is no doubt about that. What you are arguing here is that we need a property violating institution to create and defend property rights - an insoluble contradiction
      13 hours ago · · 1
    • Peter Dang Honestly alan all you've done is avoided the crux of this discussion. You asserted that "taxation is not slavery" and left the point at that. Kindly demonstrate that force is not needed to extract taxation so I can prove you wrong
      13 hours ago ·
    • Paul Conway My favourite thing about this quote is that Bill Gates has said countless times that he wants his taxes to be higher.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16714480

      12 hours ago via mobile · · 1
    • Peter Dang then Mr Gates should send a cheque to

      Gifts to the United States
      U.S. Department of the Treasury
      Credit Accounting Branch
      3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
      Hyattsville, MD 20782

      instead of forcing everyone else to submit to his world views
      12 hours ago ·
    • Paul Conway I think the major issue with Libertarians is they think that a person or group of people can be totally free and the idea that a person or people succeed of fail totally on their own merit.

      Had Bill Gates been born 5 years earlier or 5 years later he would not be a Billionaire. Had he been born in another country or State he would not be a Billionaire.

      Gates by chance sat in a class room in America, the only class room in the world to have Internet connection. This was not just one of the defining moments of his life but in world history.

      The class room paid for by the tax payer and a Internet paid for by the tax payer.

      Gates succeeded because he lived in a society which aided him. He knows this.
      12 hours ago via mobile · · 2
    • Peter Dang ‎"I think the major issue with Libertarians is they think that a person or group of people can be totally free and the idea that a person or people succeed of fail totally on their own merit."

      Not exactly. What libertarians believe is that initiating violence is wrong.

      "The class room paid for by the tax payer and a Internet paid for by the tax payer. Gates succeeded because he lived in a society which aided him. He knows this. "

      What you are arguing is invalid. You beliefs have no core principle. You are making an argument from effect. By your logic, I will argue that Einstenian physics is bad and detrimental to society because it led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

      You've also completely missed out on Henry Hazlitt's lessons (i.e. is book Economics in One Lesson). Government by the virtue of their existence cannot create wealth, only divert or distribute it.
      10 hours ago ·
    • Chris Port There is no mathematical correlation between effort or talent and wealth (unless you are claiming that teachers and nurses are idle parasites while Warholian celebrities and incompetent, economy-crashing psychopaths are the backbone of human civilization - in which case you are probably either mad or evil). By the same logic, neither is there any correlation between wealth and fairness. Law and order are coercive by definition. There is no taxation in the jungle. Tax is the price we pay for not living in a Conradian hell. If you acquire a fortune by exploiting a public infrastructure funded by others, and pay half of that fortune to a security firm (the state) to protect the other half, you are doing well. If rich people want to withdraw from society and set up their private little mini-states like James Bond villains, some would welcome this. It would make it easier to kill them and seize their wealth without fear of retribution. Redistribution by tax is generally preferable to redistribution by revolution.
      6 hours ago ·
    • Mohammed N. Razavi ‎1, all money is fake, it has no intrinsic value.
      2. All money starts with government that invents it, rich do not create money or jobs.
      Most economists only try to prove what they Believe, it is a theory not science.
      Most people talking about economics here have no clue what they are talking about.
      Most of what you have in markets today was created by government, computer, the internet, the GPS etc.
      World wide economic boom has been created by, government borrowing and spending, and rich finding ways to take some of that money.
      No one ever says they will not TAKE the money from the poor because the government stole it from the rich.
      I can teach you more but you can look through my blog.
      5 hours ago via mobile ·
Mohammed N. Razavi
‎1, all money is fake, it has no intrinsic value.
2. All money starts with government that invents it, rich do not create money or jobs.
Most economists only try to prove what they Believe, it is a theory not science.
Most people talking about economics here have no clue what they are talking about.
Most of what you have in markets today was created by government, computer, the internet, the GPS etc.
World wide economic boom has been created by, government borrowing and spending, and rich finding ways to take some of that money.
No one ever says they will not TAKE the money from the poor because the government stole it from the rich.
I can teach you more but you can look through my blog.
5 hours ago via mobile ·

LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE

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