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You're coming from a very basic theoretical argument. Stealing is wrong. Newsflash, it's a little more complicated.
Answer this hypothetical. There are 100,000 jobs paying the equivalent of today's $100,000 in the US. There are 4 million people in the US. .1% of the population has hundreds of billions of dollars, the rest have nothing. It will be this way until the Earth runs out of resources. What's the ethical course of action?
I'll give you two optional courses of action, or you can make your own.
1. Distribute the wealth and properly disincentivize population growth.
2. Let millions of people starve, kill each other, and possibly kill the .1%
Taking from someone forcibly to give to someone else that didn't earn it IS theft. Nothing complicated about that. And VERY wrong.
Using it as a manipulation to control population or to justify using it as a bribe to stop further crime is nuts.
It's not so much the raw size of the government as it is the policy decisions they make (of course in order for the policy to even matter, there has to be some minimum government size, granted...).
With no basic income, people are allowed, encouraged and paid to work.
With basic income, the lazy will NOT work or volunteer, and eventually the ones that are working and having the fruits of their labor stolen to fund the lazy, will stop working.
With minimum wage, this 'encouragement' amounts to, and is derided as, 'chump change'.
he is clueless . many people live by having their money work for them .
it can be a very stress filled life having money at risk as well as tough sometimes just having the money tied up in a property and not having it to utilize for better opportunity or spend and can be a bummer. .
No money at stake, no skin in the game, nothing at risk, nothing tied up, lots of money to spend, no bummer.
What would be the most efficient means of distributing resources and wealth in a world without work/jobs? Or at least a world where there is not enough work for all?
It's getting to the point where many jobs are as simple as pushing a button. As technology progresses, tasks will be made easier, jobs may be consolidated and lost, and a growing share of the population will not be able to function in our economic system.
Realistically, work will continue to be relevent for a long time. Even if the system is not efficient, "work" gives purpose to millions, and keeps them busy and occupied. That way, the crooks in DC can continue to rob them blind.
There is a great deal of honest work to be done, only no one is looking to hire people to do it. I am speaking of all of the work that is deferred on a regular basis in industry, state and local governments, etc. As an example, I live near DC and if you drive down the GW Parkway, it is in sad shape. The trees are falling down, ivy is strangling the remaining trees, and there is a great deal of ugly underbrush to be cleared. This part of the parkway would keep people busy for a while. Then there is the matter of painting the railroad trestles, and fixing the rotting rail ties. If you look around your own area, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done, but no political will to do it. If the federal/state/local governments and companies would slow down growth and look towards the satisfying of deferred work, it would be beneficial on many levels.
You did not read post #219, did you? I argue that even if theft is wrong, it does not get you to your desired conclusion because there will be theft one way or the other.
I should be the one giving you the "wow" remarks, not the other way around, for failing to recognize that if you define "theft" in as broad a manner as this, then you yourself are a "thief" if you don't pay taxes (unless you go to some uninhabited island).
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