Letters To My Country

July 10, 2011

anarchistreview:
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read
18goingon80:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
And my retort
1. You cannot rely on anyone’s greed for your own well being
2. When there are strides in efficiency, many regular people are left behind without opportunities for employment
3. A capitalist is only capable of paying for his lifestyle with your labor. Every yacht, jet and mansion he owns is a theft from you.
4. Actually you can. The more money a person has, the less likely they are the spend it. Divisions of wealth from the rich to among the poor actually does create more wealth, since now it is spent and the money multiplier effect comes into action.
5. This is true, every man must work. But the market does not have enough jobs for all the laborers out there. So do we let these people starve? Leave them subject to private charity that may not always come through? Letting the poor die in the streets is the hallmark of the end of an empire as well too.
As a socialist, I believe that a man who cannot find a job is not an economic indicator or a byproduct of the market, he is facing a true tragedy in every form. And if the private sector will not help him avert tragedy, then the state must help him.

1 wealthy man needs 1 house, 1 car, 1 blender, 1 refrigerator, and 1 pair of shoes for each occasion. What he hasn’t already spent on luxury he will save for future use, due to the phenomenon of Declining Marginal Utility.

100 poor men need 100 houses, 100 cars, 100 blenders, 100 refrigerators, and 100 pairs of shoes for each occasion. Since these individuals have more difficulty meeting their needs due to less cash flow, money given to the poor has greater marginal utility than when it simply sits in the hands of the wealthy.

The trick is to find a system of redistribution in which the inherent inefficiencies of redistribution are outweighed by the additional economic activity generated by putting money into the hands of individuals who will generate more Demand-side economic activity.

The original 5 statements are also probably one of the most profound examples of the is/ought fallacy I’ve ever seen. They are over-simplistic to the point that they border on deepities.

(via huberthumphreydeathrally-deacti)

2:00pm | URL: https://tmblr.co/ZMMjnx6ygU2C

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