When it comes to regulation of financial markets, learned articles are legion. Lawyers even write about the collapse of the legal-economic Lakatosian 'paradigm' (not a favoured term of Imre Lakatos). We have conveniently forgotten that much of our politics was a practical debate about financial regulation and stopping the very things that have happened without killing off genuine capital creation (houses to live in, products of real use and so on). As Orn has said, tax rates were once very high and there was some requirement to 'earn income' or see that capital was deployed to an end at least morally superior to letting fat cats get fatter. Fat cats are cunning (as any cat owner knows) and even survived rather well in "Communist" Sino-Soviet regimes (though not the real cats as the Chinese eat them).
Things can change for the better. There have been some more sad killings in Northern Ireland of late. The reactions against this are a long way from the idiot past - a sea change. We could muster a similar change in economic attitude and perhaps understand what demons prevent the good life. Me? I'll be the strange figure parking up an RV substantially not close enough to Gruff''s for the bristling weaponry lent to me by Craig and Chris to cause him concern - that's me digging the hole for my bunker now mate. On 11 Mar, 06:03, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > "I thought you US > Americans adhered to the idea of government of the people, by the > people, for the people. Why are you (and Craig) then so wary of it?" > > Not so much anarchist as libertarian I think. Or to put it in a way > that infuriates and amuses my liberal friends; I'm a compassionate > Libertarian. I like to have control of my money. I distrust people > who are convinced they know better then me how best to spend my money. > I guess I'm weird that way. If we wanted to be truly democratic, > we'd let people decide where their tax money went rather then just > confiscate it and then split it up to whatever special interests gave > the politicians the most money. That's why we're wary. > > Taxation without representation is what got this country started. > Much the same is happening now. The producers are being beggared to > play nanny to the non-producers with plenty of sticky fingers along > the way. It was a little gratifying to see Obama's chosen picks be > exposed as the tax cheats and evaders they are. Now the whole world > understands why Democrats want to raise taxes. Because they find a > way not to pay them! I don't have that luxury. I don't have the time > or money to research loopholes or set up fake charities to keep my > hard earned cash. I just pay my taxes and live on what I'm allowed to > keep. I'm what I'm sure the average politician thinks of as a sucker. > One of Harry Reid's smelly tourists stinking up his office space when > I visited the Capitol last summer. > > People tend to look after themselves and their families first. I > don't want people starving and dying in the street but I don't think I > should be expected to help people stay in homes worth 3 times mine. I > bought the house I could afford and I'm being punished for it. Day > after day I see the government growing and growing when it needs > desperately to be whittled down. I don't believe our founding fathers > thought government should take care of you. I think they thought the > government should protect you and provide an environment for you to > succeed. I have no problem with scholarships for students that have > proved their worth in the public school system. I even support > vouchers for the poorest kids to help them attend schools they > couldn't otherwise afford. In D.C. right now politicians are trying > to keep poor kids out of the private schools their kids and grand kids > attend. Smells like class warfare to me. > > I like big business because it's easy to see what their goals are. > They want to make money. I support that, that's why I invest. These > foolish attempts to steal from them won't work. They will find ways > to avoid some taxes and make up for it by raising prices. Dividend > taxes are criminal. The only thing they will accomplish is a lower > rate of return on investment. So people will be less likely to invest > and companies will be less likely to grow. Thus less money will be > made and spent and the economy will shrink even more. It's akin to > cutting off your nose to spite your face. > > "We're from the government and we're here to help you." Scariest > words in the English language. Time to grab your valuables and climb > out the back window. Take a look at the stipulations on the federal > money from the "stimulus" bill. It removes the states autonomy to > decide how the money should be spent and in a lot of cases requires > the states to continue programs after the money is gone. Some states > may refuse money rather then lock themselves into responsibilities > they want no part of. > > dj --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
