An excellent definition of real money, IMO. I might just insert "a token USED for the exchange of wealth."
Whether or not the current government controlled money is that is another question. It seems that government's fiat money is a means for transferring the wealth of the productive people to the unproductive elites by way of government regulators.
Today's money is backed by debt. Even if the local Food Lion stopped accepting US dollars, I would continue to value US dollars because I have a mortgage on my house denominated in US dollars.
They CAN'T! The mortgage contract is in greenbacks. This would hold even without legal tender laws.
Bonks could stop lending in greenbacks in the future, but for existing loans, the banks must take greenbacks. (If the government "prints" too many greenbacks, then borrowers could cancel the loans by paying them off. That's when things get interesting...)
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.
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.
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.
The medical issue a mix of factors. The Cost Disease is only a portion. I hammer the point, however, because lefties point to European welfare states claiming socialism is more efficient. And the difference in tax systems IS one of the reasons.
Another reason is service. My childhood memories of going to the doctor included long waits and lots of people in the waiting room. Later memories are generally much better in that regard. Maybe this was because or a doctor shortage in rural areas. (An excuse to call for socialized medicine back in the 70s.) Also note that the standard procedure in maternity wards was to put all the babies in a single room away from their mothers. This has changed in many hospitals -- for the better, but more expensive.
There's a great article on market-ticker on possible healthcare reforms. Not all if it is reasonable, but much is.
But the KEY takeaway is that GROWTH will not solve the problem. Reforms might. (Indeed, some of those annoying regulations consist of trying to computerize medicine. It is much easier to write a description of services rendered or treatments needed than it is to fit everything into an ontology understood by a universal billing system or whatnot. I was a full-on libertarian for close to half my life because I hate forms. My situation rarely fits the categories cleanly.
But they can also be damn useful! I'd rather have a higher water bill than reams of government regulations on how much flow a shower head can have etc. In some areas of life, I'll modify my behavior in order to avoid an excise tax. in other areas, I prefer to pay the tax.
I'll pay the tax to have a car with decent seating and a big enough trunk. I'd happily pay a tax on Internet domain names in return for screwing domain hoarders and spam bloggers. I'm cool with taxes on recreational drugs. They do cause harm but drug wars cause more harm. Give the government a bribe for freedom in return.
And I much prefer a carbon tax to CAFE, Energy Star, carbon audits, carbon exchanges, and a zillion other regulations and lawsuit traps. Let the market figure out how to dodge the tax and when the tax is worth paying. (See previous article in this series.)
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.
I meant outsourced to a foreign supplier. I thought the context made that clear, but thank you for pointing out the ambiguity.
I'm all in for privatization or vouchers!
And I want more people paying for their healthcare out of pocket vs. through government or insurance. Let insurance companies and welfare agencies use prices from a true market.
Fair enough, I see how your logic flows. But in my life as a corporate peon, outsourcing just meant sub-contracting, not necessarily foreign. I view anything but home-schooling as outsourced, for example.
There is a footnote. Or read Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising." The first half is useful albeit weird. The second half is LSD inspired newage.
I've been thinking about Wilson a lot lately because many of his very wacky ideas are relevant today. Though he was a double plus bad person by Christian standards, he's was a bit of a prophet: his Celine's Laws are very apropos today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine%27s_laws
And Wilson was very big into the importance of Imprinting. Today, the Evil Left is imprinting our children while claiming that they are merely discovering our children's true identity. A few decades ago the very left wing scientific consensus in psychology was that personality is completely malleable and that only intelligence is fixed. There were even experiments proving that grooming could fix sexuality. I want liberasl to read Wilson to realize the dark forces that they are summoning.
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?
It would kind of help if the government allowed defense contractors to make a higher profit when they do things right and feel more of the pinch when they get it wrong. Under the current system, the government is both investor and customer.
I don't see how a tax change could fix the system. The problem for new defense companies is capital. (The government does have SBIR programs for new small defense companies.)
File under: money is not wealth, but a token for the exchange of wealth.
An excellent definition of real money, IMO. I might just insert "a token USED for the exchange of wealth."
Whether or not the current government controlled money is that is another question. It seems that government's fiat money is a means for transferring the wealth of the productive people to the unproductive elites by way of government regulators.
Heh, today's money is a means of debt exchange. Literally anti-wealth.
Today's money is backed by debt. Even if the local Food Lion stopped accepting US dollars, I would continue to value US dollars because I have a mortgage on my house denominated in US dollars.
If the mortgage holder stops accepting greenbacks, then things get interesting.
They CAN'T! The mortgage contract is in greenbacks. This would hold even without legal tender laws.
Bonks could stop lending in greenbacks in the future, but for existing loans, the banks must take greenbacks. (If the government "prints" too many greenbacks, then borrowers could cancel the loans by paying them off. That's when things get interesting...)
> I'd rather pay the tax for less efficient government.
Well, an actual good argument for government DIE mandates.
:-)
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.
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.
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.
The medical issue a mix of factors. The Cost Disease is only a portion. I hammer the point, however, because lefties point to European welfare states claiming socialism is more efficient. And the difference in tax systems IS one of the reasons.
Another reason is service. My childhood memories of going to the doctor included long waits and lots of people in the waiting room. Later memories are generally much better in that regard. Maybe this was because or a doctor shortage in rural areas. (An excuse to call for socialized medicine back in the 70s.) Also note that the standard procedure in maternity wards was to put all the babies in a single room away from their mothers. This has changed in many hospitals -- for the better, but more expensive.
There's a great article on market-ticker on possible healthcare reforms. Not all if it is reasonable, but much is.
But the KEY takeaway is that GROWTH will not solve the problem. Reforms might. (Indeed, some of those annoying regulations consist of trying to computerize medicine. It is much easier to write a description of services rendered or treatments needed than it is to fit everything into an ontology understood by a universal billing system or whatnot. I was a full-on libertarian for close to half my life because I hate forms. My situation rarely fits the categories cleanly.
And yes, excises make me nervous as well.
But they can also be damn useful! I'd rather have a higher water bill than reams of government regulations on how much flow a shower head can have etc. In some areas of life, I'll modify my behavior in order to avoid an excise tax. in other areas, I prefer to pay the tax.
I'll pay the tax to have a car with decent seating and a big enough trunk. I'd happily pay a tax on Internet domain names in return for screwing domain hoarders and spam bloggers. I'm cool with taxes on recreational drugs. They do cause harm but drug wars cause more harm. Give the government a bribe for freedom in return.
And I much prefer a carbon tax to CAFE, Energy Star, carbon audits, carbon exchanges, and a zillion other regulations and lawsuit traps. Let the market figure out how to dodge the tax and when the tax is worth paying. (See previous article in this series.)
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.
I meant outsourced to a foreign supplier. I thought the context made that clear, but thank you for pointing out the ambiguity.
I'm all in for privatization or vouchers!
And I want more people paying for their healthcare out of pocket vs. through government or insurance. Let insurance companies and welfare agencies use prices from a true market.
Fair enough, I see how your logic flows. But in my life as a corporate peon, outsourcing just meant sub-contracting, not necessarily foreign. I view anything but home-schooling as outsourced, for example.
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?
There is a footnote. Or read Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising." The first half is useful albeit weird. The second half is LSD inspired newage.
I've been thinking about Wilson a lot lately because many of his very wacky ideas are relevant today. Though he was a double plus bad person by Christian standards, he's was a bit of a prophet: his Celine's Laws are very apropos today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine%27s_laws
And Wilson was very big into the importance of Imprinting. Today, the Evil Left is imprinting our children while claiming that they are merely discovering our children's true identity. A few decades ago the very left wing scientific consensus in psychology was that personality is completely malleable and that only intelligence is fixed. There were even experiments proving that grooming could fix sexuality. I want liberasl to read Wilson to realize the dark forces that they are summoning.
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?
Oh boy! Important subject!
It would kind of help if the government allowed defense contractors to make a higher profit when they do things right and feel more of the pinch when they get it wrong. Under the current system, the government is both investor and customer.
I don't see how a tax change could fix the system. The problem for new defense companies is capital. (The government does have SBIR programs for new small defense companies.)