Is Wealth Redistribution A Good Thing?

Quote from oldtime:

Karl Marx was probably the most influential economist of all time (second only to Jesus Christ.)

Might I suggest a book?

The Worldy Philosophers

http://www.amazon.com/Worldly-Philosophers-Economic-Thinkers-Seventh/dp/068486214X
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hard to believe. I guess the book was written in 1953, but I heard about it back in 1972 when there were still newspapers and the only way you knew when a book was available in paperback was to read a review.

Back then Wall Street was hardcore conservative. The only people talking about wealth redistribution were their Viet Nam protesting college kids on the main street looking for a new cause.
 
Quote from oldtime:

well zdreg, that is the thing I don't understand. It's 100% guaranteed that when the government takes money from me they are going to spend it. So how does that hurt the economy? They overpay their workers for unproductive work that neither you or I want or need, and then those workers spend it, and it comes right back to me (minus the government vigorish.)

bad for me, but not sure why it is bad for the world in general.
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it lessens the productivity of the private sector american worker by enforcing needless rules/regulations. of course, you want an inefficient public sector to lessen the damage. if the irs, which is efficient, was much more efficient private business would be non- existent or would be black market.
 
Quote from zdreg:

it lessens the productivity of the private sector american worker by enforcing needless rules/regulations. of course, you want an inefficient public sector to lessen the damage. if the irs, which is efficient, was much more efficient private business would be non- existent or would be black market.
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yeah, I think they went through this whole deal in the Soviet Union, and it didn't work out too well. As a matter of fact the whole thing became a complete failure.

But then again, some poor guy that wasn't born in the right family with a connection to the Czar got to eat (if he stood in line long enough.)
 
Quote from mgabriel01:

The Labor Theory of Value - roundly debunked over the last 100 years
Hard to build a house with a flawed foundation
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well now you are going over my head. What is the "Labor Theory of Value"?

If it has anything to do with, "Nothing could be made without people to make it"

It goes both ways. There would be no reason for anyone to build it if somebody didn't sell it
 
Quote from oldtime:

well now you are going over my head. What is the "Labor Theory of Value"?

If it has anything to do with, "Nothing could be made without people to make it"

It goes both ways. There would be no reason for anyone to build it if somebody didn't sell it
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Read Das Kapital. It's all in there
 
Calls for wealth distribution serve single purpose of wealth transfer from old capital holders to new capital holders using force instead of free market mechanisms.

Wealth is never distributed to those who are told to benefit from this and they become victims on par with the intended target.

Recent history clearly shows it: current Russian oligarchs are former aparatchiks of soviet system (or descendants of them), in China new billionaires are high ranking members of communist party living of slave labor of those who were told to become richer and happier once old system is abolished and wealth transfer is completed.

I have heard that Carl Marx book is a very good read but my suspicion is that it is also very ideologic which is never good for any science including economy.
 
Quote from mgabriel01:

Read Das Kapital. It's all in there
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yeah I read it. He knew what to do with money after I made it, but he never quite figured out how I make it.

It always starts with a factory
It never starts with Henry Ford out back in his garage
 
Quote from vicirek:

Calls for wealth distribution serve single purpose of wealth transfer from old capital holders to new capital holders using force instead of free market mechanisms.

Wealth is never distributed to those who are told to benefit from this and they become victims on par with the intended target.

Recent history clearly shows it: current Russian oligarchs are former aparatchiks of soviet system (or descendants of them), in China new billionaires are high ranking members of communist party living of slave labor of those who were told to become richer and happier once old system is abolished and wealth transfer is completed.

I have heard that Carl Marx book is a very good read but my suspicion is that it is also very ideologic which is never good for any science including economy.
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just once, I would like to see how it really goes long term. We saw what happened in the Soviet Union, it was very hard core wealth redistribution. But the corruption became so rampant that it is impossible to see how it would have gone if it was honest.

and just once, I would like to see how a pure capitalistic country plays out.

I spent some time in Mexico, and even though the revolution is always alive and well, for the most part it is hardcore right wing capitalism. But same thing as in Soviet Union on the other side, corruption is so rampant that capitalism can't even be recognized there anymore.

either way, both sides are capitalistic in that they recognize the government is a product to be be bought and sold and invested in if you want to get ahead.
 
Some would argue that corruption and the drug game is really free market values being played out at street level.

It certainly looks like the 1 party state system is superior to the 2 party muddle we currently have in the West.

Time for radical change when a 1 party system can catch up and soon overtake all the democracies after they have muddled along for 100s of years, in only 50 years. Goodbye Congress you have done your time, now move aside !!
 
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