Comment by kevincox
1 day ago
The problem isn't that we are gaining more knowledge and better technology. The problem is that we are allowing the rich to use the technology to subjugate the majority.
If AI improves human productivity so much that millions of people no longer need to work that should be an incredible thing. But the flawed structure of our society punishes those people rather than freeing them to persue endeavors that interest then.
Only solution I can think of is higher taxes for the rich used to provide universal income. I'm not sure how the realities of that would play out, though.
Anything based on a free market just ends up in.. this.
I fully agree. Tax wealth, not work. Then it is far easier to lift yourself from poverty, but harder to hold on to vast amounts of wealth.
After WW2, when tax on the wealthy was far greater, sometimes 95% of their income (in the UK at least), it was the period when the largest number of ordinary people were raised from poverty to middle class status, yet the number of rich people also increased greatly. When that stopped, wages stagnated, and now we have a cost of living crisis. Connect the dots, lol...
Many people think that the market is either 100% free, or 100% controlled, but a free market that operates within defined limits that will stop the greatest excesses of the rich ruining things for everyone else is the sweet spot we should be aiming for.
I'm strongly in favour of this. I think income tax should approach 100%. So your second billion you still make more. But not twice as much. The exact decay function is up to date. But I really don't think your post-tax take home should scale linearly with your income once you hit the max bracket.
We can also remove all of the loopholes that result in the biggest companies paying basically no taxes. I also think it may make sense to have a dramatically different tax structure for businesses than effectively income tax.
As I say above, here in the UK we used to have the top rate of tax at 95% of your earnings, and it was the period of fastest growth for poor and middle class people (Boomers at the time)
Unfortunately, the rich are the ones most capable of buying democracy, and the current set of politicians seem to very much welcome the money...