From: Damien Sullivan (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 07 2003 - 23:08:55 MDT
On Mon, Apr 07, 2003 at 09:48:37PM -0700, Lee Corbin wrote:
> observations, IQ) of brain surgeons, but instead most importantly
> require the perception that if they work hard, and play by the
> rules, then they'll get all that they deserve.
The small percentage of the population which pays the most tax may be getting
their income from rent and its equivalent (I own this, pay me) rather than
from direct work itself. Not to say it's worthless, it's not clear that
somewhat higher tax raters offer much disincentive.
And the people at the bottom can use incentives too, such as the belief that
their hard work will make them better off. But someone on minimum wage
doesn't need taxes to keep them from barely breaking even
> tax rules above, we place our entire world on a lower exponential
> growth pattern, with severe consequences (in the long run) for
"In the long run we are all dead." Possibly not true if a Singularity
actually happens, but people are concerned with having fair and decent lives
in the short run. Even if more people believed the Singularity was a
possiblity it can't be called a certainty, and thus isn't worth a "max the
growth rate, damn the consequences" attitude.
-xx- Damien X-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Apr 07 2003 - 23:15:56 MDT