Would a 60% income tax on the richest 5000 Americans dedicated to pay off public debt help roll back encroaching networked plutocracy and eliminate the nearly trillion dollar a year interest payment on public debt that goes to the rich holding the debt?
Aristotle commented 2500 years ago that democracies evolve into tyranny because of the general publlic neglect of common areas (including politics). Socrates and Plato were supporters of oligarchy and against democracy. The philosophy of government is a perennial philosophical issue. For example, some actually conflate socialism with tax rates in democracy, and that should be disambiguated. There are numerous other problems of a philosophical nature regarding government and political economy that should be clarified for citizens.
Democracy requires defense against oligarchy and plutocracy as well as communism and fascism. Aristotle in The Politics noted that democracies transition, because of public neglect of public affairs, into tyranny. Nothing has really changed in the past 2500 years. The rich of course always have a surfeit of unphilosophical lap-dog suck-ups hoping for promotion. If the Democrats are butt-kissers enough they may run Mayor Buttigeige, the Oxford creature, for President in 2020 to petify the populace.
There are several books written on corporatism including The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul (a Canadian philosopher). The revolutionaries in France in 1789 had no trouble recognizing the concentration of wealth.
https://www.amazon.com/Unconscious.../dp/0684871084
Would the rich take their money and run? That is an interesting technical issue. making the United States more nationalistic rather than economically global might make it more difficult to relocate capital to Communist China and other countries where the rich invest. yet they are welcome to go and take their booty with them. South America has perhaps 30 of the top 50 cities in homicide rate so in some respects that might not be a desirable relocation sight. Africa might look good to the rich, yet it would probably be Asia and Europe where the Waltons, Gates, Bezos et al would look. If they were gone with there wealth I a confident that the U.S. has a few million entrepreneurs of high intellect that could replace them. The U.S. economy has a lot of social media billionaires that have really superfluous topics. I grew up before pc's existed so I look at the kind of capital that is valuable somewhat differently. Windows or navigator (extinct)- there are always alternative to fill the economic niches in the tangled bank of enterprise.
People that haven't much understanding of political theory associate every sort of responsible management suggestion for democracy as leftist.. I actually was an Army reservist during the cold war era when it ended, and find the smear quite offensive. I also spent the better part of my life from adulthood reading philosophy and history. Far too many Americans, especially youth, are post-cold war era babies without any historical awareness of government before communism and the century of leftist upsurge. That blindness renders them entirely incompetent about being responsible for the maintenance of a healthy democratic society, including taxation. They quit thinking at a point most suitable for doing nothing to defend democracy and help concentrate wealth and networked power as if plutocracy was healthy. I remember visiting Berlin in 1987 and throwing a handful of glittering coins along the a street at night watching them glitter under the streetlights. The next year the International Monetary Fund met there, and a couple of years later the Soviet forces withdrew from East Germany. As an older student and reservist I found the entire situation of a divided Germany and war with the Soviets somewhat unnecessary. As glad as I was when the Cold War ended, I have been disappointed by the irrational exuberance that has led to 21 trillion dollars of public debt created by republicans and Democrats, and the concentration of wealth that is like a black hole drawing in all capital into itself. When the U.S. Government issues those zero interest loans to banks and the banks with the free federal dollars can electronically mint 5x more dollars for each dollar loaned by the Federal Government that creates free money out of nothing; real dollars are repaid on loans the bank makes with its free money. The U.S. Government has been giving free trillions of dollars to Wall Street since 2008, and even when the interest rate is nominal it is still a vast sum of free money to the already rich. That is a corrupt plutocratic insider, wicked situation that should change. It is not any sort of economic justice or equality, and definitely not democracy.
Aristotle commented 2500 years ago that democracies evolve into tyranny because of the general publlic neglect of common areas (including politics). Socrates and Plato were supporters of oligarchy and against democracy. The philosophy of government is a perennial philosophical issue. For example, some actually conflate socialism with tax rates in democracy, and that should be disambiguated. There are numerous other problems of a philosophical nature regarding government and political economy that should be clarified for citizens.
Democracy requires defense against oligarchy and plutocracy as well as communism and fascism. Aristotle in The Politics noted that democracies transition, because of public neglect of public affairs, into tyranny. Nothing has really changed in the past 2500 years. The rich of course always have a surfeit of unphilosophical lap-dog suck-ups hoping for promotion. If the Democrats are butt-kissers enough they may run Mayor Buttigeige, the Oxford creature, for President in 2020 to petify the populace.
There are several books written on corporatism including The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul (a Canadian philosopher). The revolutionaries in France in 1789 had no trouble recognizing the concentration of wealth.
https://www.amazon.com/Unconscious.../dp/0684871084
Would the rich take their money and run? That is an interesting technical issue. making the United States more nationalistic rather than economically global might make it more difficult to relocate capital to Communist China and other countries where the rich invest. yet they are welcome to go and take their booty with them. South America has perhaps 30 of the top 50 cities in homicide rate so in some respects that might not be a desirable relocation sight. Africa might look good to the rich, yet it would probably be Asia and Europe where the Waltons, Gates, Bezos et al would look. If they were gone with there wealth I a confident that the U.S. has a few million entrepreneurs of high intellect that could replace them. The U.S. economy has a lot of social media billionaires that have really superfluous topics. I grew up before pc's existed so I look at the kind of capital that is valuable somewhat differently. Windows or navigator (extinct)- there are always alternative to fill the economic niches in the tangled bank of enterprise.
People that haven't much understanding of political theory associate every sort of responsible management suggestion for democracy as leftist.. I actually was an Army reservist during the cold war era when it ended, and find the smear quite offensive. I also spent the better part of my life from adulthood reading philosophy and history. Far too many Americans, especially youth, are post-cold war era babies without any historical awareness of government before communism and the century of leftist upsurge. That blindness renders them entirely incompetent about being responsible for the maintenance of a healthy democratic society, including taxation. They quit thinking at a point most suitable for doing nothing to defend democracy and help concentrate wealth and networked power as if plutocracy was healthy. I remember visiting Berlin in 1987 and throwing a handful of glittering coins along the a street at night watching them glitter under the streetlights. The next year the International Monetary Fund met there, and a couple of years later the Soviet forces withdrew from East Germany. As an older student and reservist I found the entire situation of a divided Germany and war with the Soviets somewhat unnecessary. As glad as I was when the Cold War ended, I have been disappointed by the irrational exuberance that has led to 21 trillion dollars of public debt created by republicans and Democrats, and the concentration of wealth that is like a black hole drawing in all capital into itself. When the U.S. Government issues those zero interest loans to banks and the banks with the free federal dollars can electronically mint 5x more dollars for each dollar loaned by the Federal Government that creates free money out of nothing; real dollars are repaid on loans the bank makes with its free money. The U.S. Government has been giving free trillions of dollars to Wall Street since 2008, and even when the interest rate is nominal it is still a vast sum of free money to the already rich. That is a corrupt plutocratic insider, wicked situation that should change. It is not any sort of economic justice or equality, and definitely not democracy.
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