We must consider investment in addition to consumption.
In order for our money to do the most good, we should make sure everyone has the basic necessities, and then we should invest what is left, in order to build up more resources for the future.
What is socialism? These days it's a meaningless word, unless you define it carefully for the present discussion.
Does socialism mean making sure everyone has the basic necessities? Maybe that's it. Does socialism mean raising taxes on rich people and corporations in order to make sure everyone else gets the basic necessities? Yeah, maybe that's it too. Maybe that's all socialism means.
Oh sure, if we raise taxes too high, that will tend to dampen the investment fervor. So we shouldn't raise taxes too high.
And sure, the government might be inefficient in the way it provides basic necessities for poor people. So we should work hard to improve the efficiency.
What we shouldn't do is stop trying.
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Oh, I know - maybe socialism means the government raises taxes on rich people and corporations in order for the government itself to invest in publicly owned enterprises.
Few people in the West believe in that sort of thing anymore, right? Let's call that communism instead of socialism.
2 comments:
We must consider investment in addition to consumption.
In order for our money to do the most good, we should make sure everyone has the basic necessities, and then we should invest what is left, in order to build up more resources for the future.
What is socialism? These days it's a meaningless word, unless you define it carefully for the present discussion.
Does socialism mean making sure everyone has the basic necessities? Maybe that's it. Does socialism mean raising taxes on rich people and corporations in order to make sure everyone else gets the basic necessities? Yeah, maybe that's it too. Maybe that's all socialism means.
Oh sure, if we raise taxes too high, that will tend to dampen the investment fervor. So we shouldn't raise taxes too high.
And sure, the government might be inefficient in the way it provides basic necessities for poor people. So we should work hard to improve the efficiency.
What we shouldn't do is stop trying.
----
Oh, I know - maybe socialism means the government raises taxes on rich people and corporations in order for the government itself to invest in publicly owned enterprises.
Few people in the West believe in that sort of thing anymore, right? Let's call that communism instead of socialism.
In order for our money to do the most good, should it go to those who have the least?
Socialist idea?
Would our money do the most good if we gave all of it to penniless drug addicts?
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