Truly, nothing says an ideal society quite like gutting the social safety net, then instituting a far more muscular police force and prison industry. Truly a wonder that some don't embrace this vision of capitalism, must be that they simply don't understand the economy.
Restitution of monies fraudulently obtained by companies providing noneffective pandemic equipment. It should be paid directly to the NHS budget and those responsible jailed.
I believe that government should have a small role in society. Essentially; protecting the public, keeping people safe, keeping law and order. Providing shared services which we can all agree on. Helping the disabled and the most vulnerable in society for sure. The rest I think should be left to the free market. The problem is the government thinks it should be involved in absolutely everything, and many people also believe that Daddy government should save them. It’s possible for the government to provide these basic services whilst simultaneously cutting costs if it was organised correctly IMO. Unfortunately a symptom of the nation state is that it constantly expands and sweeps up more and more power as people vote to spend the printed money on themselves
Look, you are wedded to your worldview and I am pretty wedded to mine, but does the idea that people need, in your words, to be saved, but you are not willing to do it not bother you? Daddy government is some kind of satirical term from you, but if only governments acted more like fathers / mothers. A father / mother should support and nurture. It should be there for us when we fall but should give us enough independence to find our own place in society. A father / mother government should have our backs. I don't want a cold, unfeeling government. We've had one for more than a decade and everything is worse for it. Name one thing that has improved? Governments should be there to save us from inequity. They should save us from poverty. They should save us from unfair starts and doomed futures. All your worldview does is lock in the status quo. The world's economy is built on the impoverishment of the masses at the benefit of a tiny majority. Wouldn't it be nice to have a government that said, you, the people, come first?
Name one population dense nation with significantly lower tax and a better quality of life for ordinary people?
I fundamentally disagree with everything you’ve said. Private property rights, capitalism & free speech are the bedrock of everything good in the world. I agree that this bastardised neo-liberal corporate capitalism that we have today is entirely broken. But imo you are blaming the system of capitalism for the corruption from the elite, which isn’t the case. I don’t believe governments should be there to act as a parent figure. I believe they should be there to act more like a referee. Aka “here are the rules of the game guys: go and play”. The worlds economy absolutely isn’t built on the impoverishment of others. It is built on amazing, innovative creative ideas that save people money and time. It’s almost miraculous that billions of humans can work in harmony. Of course there is inequality and wealth disparity, but ALL of the evidence where socialism & communism has tried has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that all these systems do is make inequality and human suffering 100x worse
Mate, this is the most naive nonsense I have ever read! "The worlds economy absolutely isn’t built on the impoverishment of others." This is exactly how economics works. As businesses grow - particularly multinationals - they take advantage of weak economies to create products to sell in poorer ones. The classic example of this is the slave triangle - which works as a perfect analogy for the abuse of lots of people to enrich a few. It might be the stealing of people, the stealing of time or the stealing of resources, but big business is veneer over the pirate industry. Has that changed? Not a lot. Now instead of actually physically stealing everything they abuse corruption and take the resources and man power of people at abusively small rates. And what about within the "big" economies? Well, the rich own everything. The land, the houses, the businesses, and then we, the ants, swarm over them, making them money at minimum wage. The more people the easier it is to take advantage of us. The FEWER RULES INTRODUCED BY GOVERNMENT the less any of that ever changes. Your whole ethos is about sucking the balls of the rich man. I will wait for you to stop choking on rich man's balls and then you can respond.
Singapore Hong kong Monaco Luxembourg Malta Dubai Qatar I want to say that I don’t disagree with taxation completely. I think it’s totally fair that people should give back to the country they reside in What I disagree with is the current need to raise taxes. As I said, I don’t believe we have an income problem; I believe we have a spending and organisation problem. What you guys are suggesting is like giving your gambling addict relative more and more money.
You live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, where you can start a business tomorrow and become one of these rich men that you hate. You could be investing, growing, giving to charity, helping all these people you claim to want to protect. Capitalism has afforded you a life that kings could only dream of just a few decades ago. Yet you are here decrying it as evil. Just insane
Because there is enough wealth here for everyone to live well. Because so much of our wealth comes from the inequity of global politics. Because sitting in self-satisfied self-delusion is not really an option. I only have the life I have because we have a semi-socialist, semi-democratic society that taxes and redistributes wealth. I am not enriched by the greed of corporations.
Like I said, this post shows a massive lack of understanding of how the economy and society works. It’s essentially a depressing world view and I feel a bit sorry for you if you sincerely believe this. I hate greedy corporations as much as you. I hate wealth inequality as much as you. But the capitalist system isn’t the direct cause of these evils. You will always get ridiculous wealth & power inequality in any system that we devise. It’s the nature of any hierarchical structure. Your life has flourished because of inventors & entrepreneurs creating solutions that allow you to live the way you do. Capitalism allows humans to specialise and direct their efforts toward production and a greater goal. Markets allow those incentives to align and work together to produce better outcomes. The problems you are talking about are caused by the central banks & printing of money, not capitalism itself. Governments printing fiat currency has allowed them to direct capital against the free market and bend it to their own aims. This is why I feel strongly that more capitalism and less government intervention is the answer. Not less capitalism and relying on the daddy state
Ok, take your pity for my fragile mind out of the equation and let's debate like grown ups for once. I will take your points and address them but then you have to actually respond like for like with no misdirection or "this is too much effort" responses. 1. I hate greedy corporations as much as you. I hate wealth inequality as much as you. But the capitalist system isn’t the direct cause of these evils. Nobody has claimed that the capitalist system is the direct cause of inequity. Find me one place where I said it was the direct cause and I will back down. Capitalism is just a system. It is the best system we have right now but it is just a system. The debate here is about the interference of governments. So we are talking system control. Please acknowledge that I am discussing system control. I very much dislike unfettered capitalism because a system without control is anarchy. Anarchy is a concept that always leads to the dominance of the powerful over the vulnerable. This is as true for money as it is for a playground. Goverments are there to control the system of capitalism. You agree? 2. You will always get ridiculous wealth & power inequality in any system that we devise. It’s the nature of any hierarchical structure. Absolutely. So ideology should raise us above nature, right? Nature is all violence and take what I want. Society is the ideological urge to create something better than that. We cannot and should not stop people getting rich. But we should ensure that people's wealth is taxed in such a way as to lessen the suffering of those who have not. From a capitalist viewpoint this recycling of money is necessary as a closed system always dies. Correct? If money only ever travels up, it can't come back down to go up again. Thatcher called this the drip-down model of society. Ideologically that states that if a few get very rich then enough will profit from that that we all feel richer. I fundamentally disagree with this principle. To me, wealth is always sucked away from the masses and towards the few. That is why I believe regulation and taxation are important. Because society is greater than the individual. Let's be clear. I haven't asked for an anarchist restructuring. I am asking for fair wealth redistribution through taxes that enable those at the bottom to fully access the wealth you think they can get through hard work. Explain to me how unfettered, low-tax economies will balance society to create vibrant capitalist systems and not dead closed systems? 3. Your life has flourished because of inventors & entrepreneurs creating solutions that allow you to live the way you do. Capitalism allows humans to specialise and direct their efforts toward production and a greater goal. Markets allow those incentives to align and work together to produce better outcomes. Markets have to be structured, regulated and challenged, right? You have said many times that the NHS doesn't work because it is a closed loop where there is no incentive to progress. Ultimately wealth creates stagnation and growth creates invention. Only when the very rich are challenged by the market and by individuals with the resources to create alternatives will things change for the better. Therefore, taxing "super-wealth" highly incentivises a strong market. Take Amazon. Here is a super-monopoly which sucks wealth out of countries and out of the people in those countries through economic loopholes and market dominance. You would agree we need to strongly regulate to present that, correct? 4. The problems you are talking about are caused by the central banks & printing of money, not capitalism itself. Governments printing fiat currency has allowed them to direct capital against the free market and bend it to their own aims. This is a misdirect. Governments print money only in times of economic stress created by global markets. These global markets are often poorly regulated. They have never ever added money because they taxed people. So, remembering this is a debate around taxation, it is poorly controlled economic markets and capitalist systems that lead to the printing of money. A fairly taxed society where people are adequately provided for by adequate taxation is far less likely to need to print more money as an emergency measure. If you are smart you will point, at this moment, to the financial hardships of communist countries. This would be a fair point. I am not aiming to create the UK as USSR II. What I want is a strong social contract that puts the needs of the public ahead of the needs of business and promises that taxation is unavoidable by the rich and valued by the rest of society. I want people to stop lying about who is impacted by taxation. I showed you earlier that someone on minimum wage will pay about £60 per month in tax. Yet their rent may be as much £1000. This is unfettered, unsocially-acceptable capitalism and a lack of proper government intervention in action. 5. This is why I feel strongly that more capitalism and less government intervention is the answer. Not less capitalism and relying on the daddy state Not one problem you mention is down to over-active governments. None of the issues you have are about printing money. They are the inevitable consequence of unfetttered capitalism in a free market economy that has no social contract. A world where investors care about the bottom line and the bottom line is profit leads always to the suffering of those who have not.
I see the Daily Express, that bastion of Tory spin, has described my MP Caroline Noakes as a Tory Wet because she talks sense.
