Money can buy happiness, but not unconditionally

Re:Money can buy happiness, but not unconditionally by sovietmudkipz on Sunday October 28, 2018 @02:48PM (#18322171)

That seems like it would decentivize being rich pretty dramatically. The truth is that many rich people are the main movers of the economy, generating positive value for everyone (versus rent seeking). If you decentivize being rich you decentivize generating value.

Ayn Rand explores a world where the rich value creators go on strike when people and the government “loot” and plumber their wealth, through regulations and restrictions in her economic dystopian book Atlas Shrugged.

I mention this merely to suggest we could be careful about overtaxation ‘because they’re rich and won’t miss it.’ We ought to discuss the boundary where we go too far and steer very clear of that boundary.

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Re:Money can buy happiness, but not unconditionally by matthewmacleod on Sunday October 28, 2018 @03:19PM (#18322426)

If you decentivize being rich you decentivize generating value

There’s no real evidence to support that. Why must gross overcentralisation of capital be the only way to invest in productive activity?

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Re:Money can buy happiness, but not unconditionally by jondubois on Sunday October 28, 2018 @03:42PM (#18322642)

>> Ayn Rand explores a world where the rich value creators go on strike when people and the government “loot” and plumber their wealth

If the rich went on a strike today; within a couple of years, they'd all be replaced by a different batch of newly rich people and the economy would be right back where it was before... Then after maybe a few more years, the economy would be in a better shape than it has ever been.

For every rich person, there are hundreds of even more talented people just waiting for an opportunity to take their place.

There have been many cases in history where all the rich people in a country lost their wealth and then they were replaced by a completely new class of rich people; Germany after WW2, Russia after the collapse of the USSR...

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Re:Money can buy happiness, but not unconditionally by nicoburns on Sunday October 28, 2018 @09:31PM (#18324319)

I don't agree with this at all. I don't think we have a talent shortage. You are correct that this would reduce incentives for the rich (although would it really be by that much - they would still have a huge incentive to maintain a high wealth level than a lower one).

But if the capital were sensibly redistributed (I advocate for spending some on things like univeral healthcare, and then directly sharing the rest out) it would also enable a vast group of people to take entrepreneurial risks that are not in a position to do so now.

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