Brilliant. Love your writing Andy. And absolutely, let’s get taxing! Did I read somewhere that we could all be housed and fed within 30% of the actual labour?
Great insight Andy. I think people, especially those who don’t have enough, have had enough.
I recently caught the words from the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech of Martin Luther King Jr :” You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. There comes a time.”
When significant duress - insert your fave one here, is seen to be commonly shared, then we're capable of mustering en masse. If it's not, there's another mustering en masse, pitchforks on the horizon, no matter how many colourfully described security detail (brill characterisation Andy) are lurking behind the keypads.
Nice one bro, it's on all of us to straighten out the narratives about ownership and it's many agents of scalping, both humanity and the planet's natural resource.
Weird isn't it? I think there are only a few people wired that way, and of those few who are, most of them will be changed in the process of acquiring wealth. It's odd how many seriously wealthy people genuinely still don't believe they have "enough". Of course there is philanthropy, but it's often too narrowly targeted and not joined up to change the game, and most philanthropists are not truly ready to change that game anyway.
Is Batman using the wealth to fight bad guys, though?....or is he rather a bit self-absorbed by choosing to punch the bad guys himself when his multi-billion dollar wealth can address a lot of core social infrastructure so there will be less crime in Gotham in the first place? I happen to have posted about that today here: https://entangledcuriosities.substack.com/p/self-erasure-with-a-shiny-cv
Great comment! And your post is well worth the read. Love the quote: "This guy inherits obscene amounts of wealth and uses it… not to fix the social systems that create crime, but to dress up and punch people in alleys." That could be philanthropy, or indeed any seemingly well-meaning action by the wealthy,
Myth 1. Rich pay the most tax - by amount not proportionally. Myth 2 They will flee - what about their properties and businesses and where will they go? Myth 3. Its too complex - not if done correctly as in other places. Myth 4. We have the highest taxes in history - no only for working people taxed on wages who also pay GST/VAT. Rich pay much less than workers. Myth 5. Inequality is because people dont work hard enough - no a birth lottery, inheritance creates inequality, using wealth to create more is an advantage, a fair tax system creates more equality. Myth 6. Wealth taxes would be bad for the economy and business - no Scandanavian countries are prosperous. Investing in share buybacks and dividends, real estate etc. diverts financial resources away from the ‘real’ economy is bad. Myth 7: Billionaires create jobs - not that many, jobs, many are automated and unions discouraged. Factories will always need labour. Many thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters, and scientists cannot be hired when the super rich do not pay their fair share in taxes. Myth 8: Raising taxes on the rich is a far left idea. No, 70% of Americans for example support this idea and they dont vote for communism.
Trickle down economics is a cruel joke but you still hear it all the time.
Brilliant. Love your writing Andy. And absolutely, let’s get taxing! Did I read somewhere that we could all be housed and fed within 30% of the actual labour?
interesting statistic - will check it out :-)
Great insight Andy. I think people, especially those who don’t have enough, have had enough.
I recently caught the words from the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech of Martin Luther King Jr :” You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. There comes a time.”
When significant duress - insert your fave one here, is seen to be commonly shared, then we're capable of mustering en masse. If it's not, there's another mustering en masse, pitchforks on the horizon, no matter how many colourfully described security detail (brill characterisation Andy) are lurking behind the keypads.
Nice one bro, it's on all of us to straighten out the narratives about ownership and it's many agents of scalping, both humanity and the planet's natural resource.
Once, you have all (or a huge amount) of the money why wouldn't you do a Batman and use it to fight bad guys....?
Weird isn't it? I think there are only a few people wired that way, and of those few who are, most of them will be changed in the process of acquiring wealth. It's odd how many seriously wealthy people genuinely still don't believe they have "enough". Of course there is philanthropy, but it's often too narrowly targeted and not joined up to change the game, and most philanthropists are not truly ready to change that game anyway.
Is Batman using the wealth to fight bad guys, though?....or is he rather a bit self-absorbed by choosing to punch the bad guys himself when his multi-billion dollar wealth can address a lot of core social infrastructure so there will be less crime in Gotham in the first place? I happen to have posted about that today here: https://entangledcuriosities.substack.com/p/self-erasure-with-a-shiny-cv
Great comment! And your post is well worth the read. Love the quote: "This guy inherits obscene amounts of wealth and uses it… not to fix the social systems that create crime, but to dress up and punch people in alleys." That could be philanthropy, or indeed any seemingly well-meaning action by the wealthy,
in a nutshell...
The bad guy being the government? communists? labour unions? poverty? inequality? ignorance?
Myth 1. Rich pay the most tax - by amount not proportionally. Myth 2 They will flee - what about their properties and businesses and where will they go? Myth 3. Its too complex - not if done correctly as in other places. Myth 4. We have the highest taxes in history - no only for working people taxed on wages who also pay GST/VAT. Rich pay much less than workers. Myth 5. Inequality is because people dont work hard enough - no a birth lottery, inheritance creates inequality, using wealth to create more is an advantage, a fair tax system creates more equality. Myth 6. Wealth taxes would be bad for the economy and business - no Scandanavian countries are prosperous. Investing in share buybacks and dividends, real estate etc. diverts financial resources away from the ‘real’ economy is bad. Myth 7: Billionaires create jobs - not that many, jobs, many are automated and unions discouraged. Factories will always need labour. Many thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters, and scientists cannot be hired when the super rich do not pay their fair share in taxes. Myth 8: Raising taxes on the rich is a far left idea. No, 70% of Americans for example support this idea and they dont vote for communism.
Trickle down economics is a cruel joke but you still hear it all the time.