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Old 01-03-2012, 11:41 AM
 
30,873 posts, read 36,804,277 times
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This is the best editorial on class warfare that I've read.

This paragraph sums it up best:

A proper class war would require Democrats and Republicans to admit that the distinguishing characteristic of the enemy is not the level of income or wealth; rather, it is whether that income or wealth was earned. The true heroes in our economy are the producers and earners; they can be found all the way up and down the income ladder, and class warfare should defend and reward them instead of targeting them. Conversely, the proper targets are the class that includes cheaters, predators, pirates, and parasites—who can also be found at all income levels.

The Class Warfare We Need — The American Magazine

Thoughts? Comments?
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:06 PM
 
20,591 posts, read 19,254,430 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
This is the best editorial on class warfare that I've read.

This paragraph sums it up best:

A proper class war would require Democrats and Republicans to admit that the distinguishing characteristic of the enemy is not the level of income or wealth; rather, it is whether that income or wealth was earned. The true heroes in our economy are the producers and earners; they can be found all the way up and down the income ladder, and class warfare should defend and reward them instead of targeting them. Conversely, the proper targets are the class that includes cheaters, predators, pirates, and parasites—who can also be found at all income levels.

The Class Warfare We Need — The American Magazine

Thoughts? Comments?


That concept was well known through out history. There are producers and there are rent seekers.

§5. Before leaving the subject of Equality of Taxation, I must remark that there are cases in which exceptions may be made to it, consistently with that equal justice which is the groundwork of the rule. Suppose that there is a kind of income which constantly tends to increase, without any exertion or sacrifice on the part of the owners: those owners constituting a class in the community, whom the natural course of things progressively enriches, consistently with complete passiveness on their own part. In such a case it would be no violation of the principles on which private property is grounded, if the state should appropriate this increase of wealth, or part of it, as it arises. This would not properly be taking anything from anybody; it would merely be applying an accession of wealth, created by circumstances, to the benefit of society, instead of allowing it to become an unearned appendage to the riches of a particular class.


Now this is actually the case with rent. The ordinary progress of a society which increases in wealth, is at all times tending to augment the incomes of landlords; to give them both a greater amount and a greater proportion of the wealth of the community, independently of any trouble or outlay incurred by themselves. They grow richer, as it were in their sleep, without working, risking, or economizing.
Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book V, Chapter II | Library of Economics and Liberty


A rent seeker always wants to hide behind a capitalist, and they have been very successful at doing so.
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:14 PM
 
3,457 posts, read 3,613,012 times
Reputation: 1544
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
This is the best editorial on class warfare that I've read.

This paragraph sums it up best:

A proper class war would require Democrats and Republicans to admit that the distinguishing characteristic of the enemy is not the level of income or wealth; rather, it is whether that income or wealth was earned. The true heroes in our economy are the producers and earners; they can be found all the way up and down the income ladder, and class warfare should defend and reward them instead of targeting them. Conversely, the proper targets are the class that includes cheaters, predators, pirates, and parasites—who can also be found at all income levels.

The Class Warfare We Need — The American Magazine

Thoughts? Comments?

i didn't read the article, but i agree very strongly with your summary.

Continually pointing this out would help clarify the debate, since the goal of so many people is to deliberately distort it.
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Tampa Florida
22,229 posts, read 17,800,857 times
Reputation: 4585
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
This is the best editorial on class warfare that I've read.

This paragraph sums it up best:

A proper class war would require Democrats and Republicans to admit that the distinguishing characteristic of the enemy is not the level of income or wealth; rather, it is whether that income or wealth was earned. The true heroes in our economy are the producers and earners; they can be found all the way up and down the income ladder, and class warfare should defend and reward them instead of targeting them. Conversely, the proper targets are the class that includes cheaters, predators, pirates, and parasites—who can also be found at all income levels.

The Class Warfare We Need — The American Magazine

Thoughts? Comments?
Wouldn't it be good if that were the way the war is waged?
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:33 PM
 
30,873 posts, read 36,804,277 times
Reputation: 34446
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwynedd1 View Post
That concept was well known through out history. There are producers and there are rent seekers.
§5. Before leaving the subject of Equality of Taxation, I must remark that there are cases in which exceptions may be made to it, consistently with that equal justice which is the groundwork of the rule. Suppose that there is a kind of income which constantly tends to increase, without any exertion or sacrifice on the part of the owners: those owners constituting a class in the community, whom the natural course of things progressively enriches, consistently with complete passiveness on their own part. In such a case it would be no violation of the principles on which private property is grounded, if the state should appropriate this increase of wealth, or part of it, as it arises. This would not properly be taking anything from anybody; it would merely be applying an accession of wealth, created by circumstances, to the benefit of society, instead of allowing it to become an unearned appendage to the riches of a particular class.


Now this is actually the case with rent. The ordinary progress of a society which increases in wealth, is at all times tending to augment the incomes of landlords; to give them both a greater amount and a greater proportion of the wealth of the community, independently of any trouble or outlay incurred by themselves. They grow richer, as it were in their sleep, without working, risking, or economizing.
Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book V, Chapter II | Library of Economics and Liberty


A rent seeker always wants to hide behind a capitalist, and they have been very successful at doing so.
Your example only pointed out examples of folks living off rents/compound interest. But it didn't point out other kinds of rent seekers, such as civil servants with overly generous pension (I'm one of these), welfare recipients, social security recipients who take more in benefits than they've paid in (which is most people), politically connected businesses, etc. He gives examples if you read the whole link.
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:34 PM
 
30,873 posts, read 36,804,277 times
Reputation: 34446
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Originally Posted by Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus View Post
i didn't read the article, but i agree very strongly with your summary.

Continually pointing this out would help clarify the debate, since the goal of so many people is to deliberately distort it.
Actually, it's not my summary, but the summary of the guy who wrote the piece, Steve Conover.
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Old 01-03-2012, 04:37 PM
 
30,873 posts, read 36,804,277 times
Reputation: 34446
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus View Post
i didn't read the article, but i agree very strongly with your summary.

Continually pointing this out would help clarify the debate, since the goal of so many people is to deliberately distort it.
Agreed. I plan on pointing this out in future debates, now that it's clear in my own mind.
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