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Authored by: Wol on Wednesday, April 24 2013 @ 02:11 PM EDT |
I don't think a wealth tax is a good idea. Just bias the system such that
capital gains are taxed more heavily than dividends. This will also bias the
system such that company values are aligned much more with profits.
And companies will emphasise sustainable business rather than growth.
It'll also help solve the banking crisis! Now that we're based on fiat money, a
profitable bank can be bankrupted by a move in the stock market destroying the
value of its asset base. In other words, a positive feedback loop ... Retail
banking should be about oiling cash flow, and selling off loan books. Investors
can buy them, or the retail banks can write the loans down into *reserves*,
*not* assets.
Cheers,
Wol[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: artp on Wednesday, April 24 2013 @ 04:40 PM EDT |
If price stability were to come, then the market would
crash. Profits are made when the prices rise and fall. Keep
the prices stable, and the chances for profit for Wall
Street vanish.
We have lost sight of the reason for Wall Street, just as we
have lost sight of the reason for copyright and patents. The
stock market was necessary for companies to raise capital to
fund expansions. Nothing more, nothing less. But, as with
all things, the tool has become an end in itself and thinks
it is the center of all things.
The stock market is a zero sum game. Once the growth of the
industries is accounted for, all other gains are balanced by
losses somewhere else. I was going to say "after the growth
of the market", but that is not true, for the market can
grow without consideration of the health of the industries
that compose it.
Funding expansion for industry does not require derivatives
or junk bonds or shorts or hedges or most of the other tools
of the market. These are just one more way to cheat an
honest man of his rightfully earned wages.
My Dad told me that speculators would be the death of the
economy. He had seen it once before, during the Great
Depression and the farm depression of the 20s, so he knew
what he was talking about.
The stock market should support keeping industry in the
hands of those who can make it work. Too many corporate
moves are based on bleeding profit out regardless of its
impact on future earnings.
Yes, I am a populist. The Midwest and Great Plains were the
bedrock of populism, and the principles still survive here.
Whether we would be better off that current events is
debatable. I have a feeling that the leeches will operate
regardless of the situation, and that like freedom in
general, we must always fight for our economic freedom.
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You commented on the behavior of nature and herds. No hunter
or cattleman stands in front of a charging herd. They stand
at the side and cut out the desired animals or shoot them as
they pass. The more they pass without being completely
spooked, the more you can cut and cull. The whole point is
to keep the herd together so that they can be manipulated at
will.
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Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
sinks ?[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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