(This is just a stub post to collect multiple links.)
Tax the Rich? is the headline, but it’s the recurring issue of how nation states can remain meaningful, when individuals and commercial entities can become bigger, wealthier and more powerful than nation states, and can avoid regulation and taxation by seeking exceptions in weaker states, without strong federal / international commitment. I’m suggesting beyond a certain level of wealth the marginal tax rate should be agreed to be 100% – achieving it is a whole ‘nother set of questions – and how rich is too rich, etc. (How free-democratic nation states, and their supra-national arrangements, operate is the natural end game of Systems / Cybernetic / Governance thinking.)
Note that this has nothing to do with limiting freedoms to earn etc, or the general unfairness of grotesque wealth disparities between individuals (though that ought to be an issue) – just a basic pragmatic orderly society question. How can we govern ourselves if … ?
The prompt for capturing this stub today is the emerging consequence of the US (and other) national debts hitting multi-Trillion record highs, and economic commentators warning of potential disastrous consequences. The feature that many are pointing out is that gilt / government bond rates are creeping up to unprecedented levels too. A major lever of government regulation of national finances has been that government treasuries were the lender of last resort – with the steadiest / safest (lowest rate) source of investment funding. What’s changed? Some of the tech-bros can now compete for that lending business. (Check – have I got that summary the right way round? – either way the point is individual entities are becoming “bigger” than nation states in these markets that regulate interest and inflation rates especially in times of national / international financial and banking crises. “Scary” as an actual Bank of England ex-chairman said this morning, ditto Andrew Neil watching the gilts markets yesterday and the debts this morning US 40Tn / UK 3Tn.)
Previously:
Borders vs Business – from last year.
General search on Tax the Rich
To be continued, somewhere …
(And – reminder – need to read Mark Carney’s “Values”?)
=====
Ian,
Take a look at the global justice project. https://globaljusticeproject.wid.world
Thanks Lee.
So many of these initiatives, it’s not one I’d seen.
I like the scope of chapters 3 and 4 – I’ll take a closer look. Thanks
(I’m now reading Carney’s “Values”.)