Thoughts upon Occupying Wall Street and the Like
I will admit at the beginning that I don't like some of the rhetoric associated with "Occupy" Wall Street. I tend not to think occupation is good. That's the language of "force" - not simply protest. I think its foolish to even think about comparing this to the Arab Spring... especially as protesters in Egypt and Syria in the past month have been killed.
However, that being said - I actually have quite a bit of sympathy for the frustration. I'd rather people simply tend to themselves (I'm just not a go protest sort of fellow), but I do get frustrations and anger with banks. I was opposed to the bailouts from the beginning. But here is what I hope people learn and realize. Both parties are in the pocket of big business.... This is why I don't think the solution will ever be "just tax the rich" because ultimately our congress is elected on campaigns funded by the rich and by business interests. Thus, any tax revenue that is collected is going to tend to... help those who got folks elected. I don't like the redistribution of wealth by the government in general... and I don't trust our lobbied folks to actually redistribute if that is their stated goal.
This is also why I don't trust much government regulation -- it will always have loopholes to benefit those who lobby well. Regulation always tends to be harder on the little guy, the new start up, because they don't have the resources or capital to wade through regulation nearly as well as the large corporation. The longer any piece of legislation, the more complicated, the more it is designed to benefit large corporations.
This is why I tend to like simplicity. Let's have a flat tax. Let's drop the systems of tax credits, which is mainly an attempt to get you to change your behavior - and to some business' benefit.
Or let me be concise - I think it is foolish to try to set the government against big business and wall street -- because wall street is the one who pays our congressional bills. And any "tough" bill is going to have enough loop holes so that while the "tough talk" might appease the proles, the politicians will still have their bread buttered.
Is this cynical - I suppose. But oh well. Thus is life.
However, that being said - I actually have quite a bit of sympathy for the frustration. I'd rather people simply tend to themselves (I'm just not a go protest sort of fellow), but I do get frustrations and anger with banks. I was opposed to the bailouts from the beginning. But here is what I hope people learn and realize. Both parties are in the pocket of big business.... This is why I don't think the solution will ever be "just tax the rich" because ultimately our congress is elected on campaigns funded by the rich and by business interests. Thus, any tax revenue that is collected is going to tend to... help those who got folks elected. I don't like the redistribution of wealth by the government in general... and I don't trust our lobbied folks to actually redistribute if that is their stated goal.
This is also why I don't trust much government regulation -- it will always have loopholes to benefit those who lobby well. Regulation always tends to be harder on the little guy, the new start up, because they don't have the resources or capital to wade through regulation nearly as well as the large corporation. The longer any piece of legislation, the more complicated, the more it is designed to benefit large corporations.
This is why I tend to like simplicity. Let's have a flat tax. Let's drop the systems of tax credits, which is mainly an attempt to get you to change your behavior - and to some business' benefit.
Or let me be concise - I think it is foolish to try to set the government against big business and wall street -- because wall street is the one who pays our congressional bills. And any "tough" bill is going to have enough loop holes so that while the "tough talk" might appease the proles, the politicians will still have their bread buttered.
Is this cynical - I suppose. But oh well. Thus is life.