20 Comments
Mar 12Liked by Fabius Minarchus

File under: money is not wealth, but a token for the exchange of wealth.

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> I'd rather pay the tax for less efficient government.

Well, an actual good argument for government DIE mandates.

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Mar 12Liked by Fabius Minarchus

Yes, Hamilton's plan for the Federal government was tariffs and excises. You have excellent insight into the issue and how inflation is uneven, making crap from China cheap while healthcare and legal services are expensive.

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Mar 12Liked by Fabius Minarchus

I have had a feeling that people complaining about taxes is pointless and annoying, that we should instead rally around good taxes that will render bad taxes moot.

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A lot of stuff here for me to think about. I do have a couple comments.

The insane cost of healthcare is driven more by piles of regulations than by taxes, I suspect. Doesn't change much though, it's still the government increasing the cost and then paying those self-imposed costs.

Next, excise taxes and tariffs make me a little nervous, because there are many possibilities to implement staggeringly stupid policies(see the tariff known as the "chicken tax", which has been around for over half a century, but brings no revenue because the high tariff is a de facto ban). Of course, it's hard to get any worse than what we have now. I am definitely intrigued by the implications of these methods.

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Education can't or shouldn't be outsourced? When the only way to get phonics to your kids is to go around the government? After the Covid debacle you think medicine is a gov't responsibility?

The only way to get back to a trustable government is to get them to do a lot less, weights and measure standards, roads. police and defence. All else seems to be just a way to avoid doing those four. Then again, with recent FBI capers, even policing might need to be removed from Federal remit.

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So, I'm left wondering what "Circuit 3 dominant1 semi-Vulcan" is. Did you just make it up for this post, or are there some underlying definitions?

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On the topic of industry and government I wonder if there might be a role for tax incentives in areas of defense to startup and or replace some of the existing defense contractors like Boeing? In addition akin to Hamilton's tax breaks for infant industries, might it make sense to promote a sort of limited planning to help coordinate and create new growth industries, kind of like MITI in Japan?

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