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Moostache

(11,107 posts)
3. I am all for the concept of the jubilee...and sabbaticals.
Mon Jul 13, 2020, 02:08 PM
Jul 2020

The world would be a better place and society served better by implementing these ideals.

First - trans-generational wealth is an objective evil. Inherited wealth and power do not serve the public good or the health of the nation-state in any conceivable way. Upon death, an estate over $10M should be taxed at a 95% marginal rate and increase every $10M to a maximum of 99.9%, with NO EXCEPTIONS or carve outs or deductions.

The first $10M of an estate should pass to the heirs upon the death of the last living member of any couple or the death of the estate holder. Beyond that though, the money should be paid into taxes that would be required to go directly into community renewal uses - roads, bridges, schools, infrastructure projects and scholarship funds. The estate holders should have some say over where the funds are primarily distributed, but no power to reduce the tax or decline to pay it for any reasons.

Second - the idea that debt should be handed out to people indiscriminately and with the intent of creating wage slaves should likewise become illegal. Companies extending credit to borrowers beyond the ability to repay in a legitimate manner or at a non-usury rate of interest SHOULD be punished for what they do, not lauded. Creating a permanently indebted underclass is a great contributor to the societal inequities seen all over the developed world.

A forced forgiveness of the unsecured debts of millions would immediately revive a consumer-driven economy's ability to circulate capital. The current bastardized capitalism system is simply not able to do anything more than function as a top line wealth concentrator - with the accumulation of more and more to ewer and fewer people. As the wealth gap grows, the country fades...

Finally, the option of a 7th year of rest and rejuvenation, on the heels of 6 of working, is partially reflected in our 40 hour work weeks - and expectations; but its not really the same as how valuable a year's pursuit of things outside of a normal career arc would be if broadly applied to all.

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