I see, so it's essentially a problem with the efficiency of the actual "downstream" distribution. If I understand you correctly, "death taxes" in theory should reduce inequality, for obvious reasons, but, in practice, they have the opposite effect?
I agree with much of this... I would also add that you not only want the game to be as fair as possible (hence I would support the idea of an inheritance tax or, even better, the giving pledge), but also make sure that people perceive the game to be fair. This latter aspect, in particular, has been an incredible American success and it would be a shame to lose it.
All taxes are an accounting transaction. Where the tax comes from has little effect on the end result. WHERE the tax ends up has a much larger effect. On a more granular level, you and I both know that the "real" wealthy pay ZERO in estate taxes as their wealth is locked up in trusts. So the small amount of money that actually comes from estate taxes is from that small sliver of individuals who made more then the exemption but not quite enough to justify setting up a trust. Martin, it's a miniscule amount. But big picture, the more pressing issue is where tax dollars end up. And I guess based on our personal ideology, one can "believe" where they think it's going. But we really don't need that step. Just as with markets, we can observe the price for the signaling effect. We can "observe" who truly is benefiting by identifying the winners and losers. That would take the impartiality out of of it and keep it strictly quantitative.
Hell, I deserved to be a jew Frankly nothing wrong in what you describe, except of course if the same guys preach the other way that they act. Not sure your stats are right either, just taking your word for it. A lot can be said about jewish communitarism, and communitarism in general btw, interesting if a bit off topic.
Volpunter, you are illustrating my point perfectly. Of course it is hard to get ahead. It always will be. Yes, there are plenty of embedded rules that make it difficult. However, things that are hard are just hard--they are not impossible...though I can see how they might seem impossible if you spend your day complaining about everything that is stacked against you instead of trying to figure out what to do about it on a personal level. There are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who can testify to the fact that you do not have to be born with money or know anyone important to succeed. Did any of those people find themselves in a situation where they were working hard but not getting anywhere? Of course, but they responded by saying to themselves, "Oh, I have to figure this out," not "The rich have set the system against me." While the latter may be true, at this time it is still possible, despite the system, for a physically able, reasonably intelligent person to make it.
hoho, hold back the horse good friend. You badly twist my words here. I never made such statements. I said clearly that "media, documentaries, scholarly articles hardly ever investigate the roots of anti-semitism while you can find libraries stuffed with literature about the Holocaust". Further, I never mentioned public perceptions, I mentioned detailed publicly available statistics (which you can easily find in public domain and which to your special interest have been compiled by highly independent bodies without any political motivation or racial bias), which clearly state many of the those who find themselves in the 1% bracket along with their public history of giving and donations. You must have come across David Tepper I guess, one of the notable outliers, who donated quite a sum to his (and my) alma mater to have his name imprinted for all eternity. Some like horses statutes and others engraved nameplates. To each his own. Not sure it really tangents what I tried to get to, which is to help the truly needy rather than enabling a school with a big enough endowment fund (well not that big according to the weekly emails I receive from the alumni department) to build just another building (my take on this is if a school that claims to teach outstanding management courses seems to have a hard time to stand on its own feet after charging perhaps the US's most expensive tuition to each and every student then something must be wrong). Martinghoul, I am happy to provide you with statistical studies if you climb down from your high horse and more importantly stop twisting my words. I have no interest to debate with someone who tries to win points by twisting the truth.
may I add that as a matter of fact your career as German journalist and TV personality is generally over should you ever dare to put the term "Jew" or "Jewish" in your mouth as non Jew. You are also "made untenable" by interested parties if you participate in any debate relating to Israel or Jews unless you are a Jew.. I am talking about the year 2014 not 2/3 a century ago. Also, still as of today the possession, the reading of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is constitutionally prohibited. So much to bestowing the public with freedom. Guess who shoots the bullets, guess who ousts said journalists?
What is the difference between income and wealth nowadays? None. You are worth 8 billion on paper yet cannot even afford a sports car. Are you wealthy or generate great income? And why would it make a difference. Is it less unfair or more unfair if you earned 1 billion per year for 8 years managing an internet startup that has under its belt ONE game and other than that zero track record of success or reading trends, vs. having a pay day 8 years hence. My question is much more why one generates 35% income taxes off 8 billion USD while the other hardly counts for a drop in the bucket. Further, what is fairer, the CEO who presided the accumulation of toxic assets on their balance sheets for decades, who was saved by the US government, and soon after pockets a cool 100 million in deferred "special awards"? I think those are the issues the public gets sick and tired about. And it gets sick and tired to see obvious schmucks and know-nothings drive around in Ferraris and 20k watches on the wrist who can hardly read the time, who siphoned their quick riches off grey channels they cannot account for and would not dare to ever want to account for. Those are the people who are cruising through our cities these days, people homegrown as well as welcomed with open arms straight from Russia, the Ukraine, and Co. Welcome to the new world order. Welcome to your home country where people can buy their visa status (yes I am talking about the US) rather than earn it. Inequality existed since the start of human kind but it is being pushed to the extremes, it is stretched and each rubber band if stretched to the extremes will give in at some point.
fully agree with you, but you are talking about people who were born 30-40 years ago. I am talking about getting the opportunities and the chances TODAY that you got 10, 20, 30 years ago. Good luck with that. And talking about it does not mean I have my head stuck anywhere. I think we reached a point where income and wealth inequality (and I equate one with the other because they both have the exact identical effect except for tax purposes, unfortunately I have to say) has reached a level that can hardly be tolerated anymore. It breaks a society apart, it endangers to shatter everything that was built to provide at least ample opportunities to everyone. If you do your math and stats, it DEFINITELY pays, probabilistically speaking, to become a drug dealer and career criminal if you grew up with nothing and in a disadvantaged neighborhood. You would be stupid to ever want to try to make an honest living would you have the desire to strike it rich. What are the probabilities? On the other hand, I find the chances to at least make a bundle through illegal ways in such particular situation to be a lot higher. To be fair, this is a back-off-the envelope estimate but I do think my hunch is in the ball park. As long as that is the case something is damn wrong in our society.