A question for liberals: why do you focus on money and not production? (small business, calculate)
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A common selling point for you people is that you want to spread the wealth/money so that more people can have more. Ok, but you do realize that it's the actual production of good and services that creates the real wealth correct? Money itself is worthless, it's just a method of making the trading of goods easier. The actual production of goods is what makes us rich. As technology grows more advanced the production and distribution of goods and services becomes more advanced which lowers prices and raises the overall wealth of society. This is the reason for why we are living better than earlier generations of humans.
However, I almost never hear people who are in favor of left-leaning economical views actually mention or discuss this. They are always focusing on the actual money/wealth itself, as if it is somehow the true valuables. It's not. If you want to make people better off, then you need to find a way to make the production of goods and services more advanced. That is the ONLY way standards of living can become higher. As as always been the case in history.
Let's say you have your way and that starting today the rich pay a 90% tax and everyone else way less, that the minimum wage is way higher, and that welfare/social programs are used to give people more of the rich peoples money.
Now what? How will this make the economy stronger? How has doing this contributed to increased production and distribution of goods and services? What is the economic magic behind your wealth distribution ideas???
Its not that the rich need to be as poor as everyone else, it's just that as long as someone even gets a profit of 1%, then someone will do that job. So that causes people to go for another 1% and so on and upwards. For myself, I don't mind if someone is higher than me on the money ladder, but like all ladders, it can only go so high without tipping over. The higher it goes, the better the base has to be to hold it.
And yes like you said, money just makes transactions easier, but without any transactions on the lower end, the ladder collapses. Look at it from an ecosystem stand point. The algae helps feed the the ecosystem because it feeds the fish, and they feed the larger ones and upwards. Take out the bottom, and the ecosystem changes. It may not cause the entire pond to collapse but a new bottom needs to be formed.
Think of globalization as stocking a lake. Instead of maintaining one with the local stock. It costs more to keep re-stocking the lake each year than it would to take care of it (but less effort). The companies are don't want to take care of it, IE dumping into the lake, and move when the lake gets too toxic even for the imported fish. So yeah, I would rather not see the US become so toxic that everyone lives in misery.
Sure I don't mind the rich being rich, but I want them to take care of their own backyard as well. And since they won't, I expect the government to take a helping hand and that includes "forcing" them. And that's done with taxes and then using the taxes for the cleanup. Though there's a large leak in that process with the taxes. I'd rather see the leak plugged before increasing taxes since the tax amount might be enough without the leak but we won't know until the leak is gone. I can't say I'm liberal because I want to increase taxes, but I'm not conservative because I also don't want to lower them either. I would rather have the tax money pay for roads and healthcare and schools, and that means I lean liberal more than conservative, even taking out the tax issue. If the companies say okay, we will fund the schools in the neighborhood that we occupy, and open hospitals for the community, and keep it safe and clean, and in return we want to pay 0% taxes, then yes, I would be happy to let them do it. And then all the govt needs to do is protect the boarders, and fund it with income/sales tax, then great. But, what company does that?
and yes, I mentioned companies, I could care less how each much individual CEO makes as long as they make sure their company pays their share of taxes (enough to cover their footprint in the community). But they are keeping their share the same and gathering the tax money from everyone else in company. That's okay as long as it doesn't spill into the community and make it run down. But it does when they take too much away from the people living there.
America is paper rich. There is little wealth in the production of goods because America's number 1 trade partner is a communist state that has no need for profits. They cut right to the chase and just aim to accumulate USD. As they accumulated USD, they used it to poach US industrial capacity at firesale prices, so they could continue to grow their production base and undercut US industries of all kinds. In exchange, they flood the market with cheap goods. We'll see who comes out ahead in the end.
At this point, US can't even compete. It's game over. We don't have the necessary supply chains, workforce, or productive capacity. The Chinese are now innovating and moving into many other competing industries. They will continue to challenge US industries of all sorts, and with probable success. Profits in US are number one goal. In China, the goal always was developing a rock solid foundation for their economy. Then, develop a skilled workforce capable of competing on the global scale. This is a formula for raising the standard of living. We'll see if they can seal the deal.
Liberals like to talk about wealth as an ends to a mean. Other nations have a different take on wealth. It is not tabulated by looking at quarterly gains. It's is calculated in the mass of a nation's productive capacity/capability, and the ability of it's workforce to meet global demands, so they can continue accumulating foreign wealth.
One look at America's infrastructure should be enough to highlight America's failed course. The next round will be either protectionism, or the systematic breakdown of countless small businesses who are not insulated.
The US is actually rich for now, but it's been in decline for 40 years and the future isn't bright. It's all gone to a very few, while the rest of the country has deteriorated. A high living standard requires cutting edge investment and infrastructure. Instead we've let that go, and accumulated debt to keep the economy juiced.
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At this point, US can't even compete. It's game over. We don't have the necessary supply chains, workforce, or productive capacity.
This did not happen by accident. Follow the money. It wasn't a liberal agenda or a conservative one that caused this. Rather it's what happens when greed and power get their way with both the government and the popular media.
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The next round will be either protectionism, or the systematic breakdown of countless small businesses who are not insulated.
The US$ value has been kept boosted by both the Fed and the government throughout this period. Our perpetual trade deficit was manufactured. Let the US$ value drop to the point where we can acheive trade parity, and investment will return... and we can slowly begin to claw our way out of this hole.
A common selling point for you people is that you want to spread the wealth/money so that more people can have more.
No it's not. A common selling point for liberals is to spread the wealth/money around to people who will vote for them and strengthen their power base. Liberals screaming for redistribution of wealth are either looking to spread it around to build a voter base, or looking to be on the receiving end themselves.
People who aren't broke also need the government - to keep the have-notes from fomenting revolution and seizing the property of the have's.
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