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0 pointsdnautics7y ago0 comments

who's suggesting that property laws are obvious? Property laws exist because property is rivalrous, and the commons are generally abused, for example how the #1 polluter in the US is the US government, how the soviet bloc and china were far worse per capita polluters than the US.

> But this is also true of all laws,

Yes, that's true for all laws. It's funny that no one says it's part of the "social contract" when someone gets choked out and killed by the police for selling bootleg cigarettes on the corner.

I'm also going to point out that the central problem with income tax is that we think it's great because it's "punishes" the wealthy, but the equilibrium state is that due to bracket creep, it winds up screwing over the poor and middle class while the wealthy find escapes. Of note: I remember a year when I paid more in income taxes (as a proportion of my income) having made 30k than Bernie Sanders did.

The general paradigm among the liberal left is that the poor are screwed over by the political power because they are poor. I think it might be worth rethinking that - the poor are and continue to be poor because they don't have political power. The problem is that political power is a zero-sum game, so any solution that gives those in power more power will only make matters worse.

0 comments

nicoburns7y ago

> who's suggesting that property laws are obvious?

Anyone who says they believe in "small government". That small set of rules always happens to include property laws.

> when someone gets choked out and killed by the police

That's also illegal. I would also advocate enforcing the law against law enforcement officers. Stronger than against ordinary citizens if anything.

> we think it's great because it's "punishes" the wealthy

Actually, I think that (even assuming that it were enforced) it does little to no harm to the wealthy. They have sufficient wealth that having less has almost no impact on their well-being.

> The problem is that political power is a zero-sum game, so any solution that gives those in power more power will only make matters worse.

Giving money to the poor gives them political power. Or rather economic power, which is a good substitute, and often what the rich use to gain political power.

Ideally we'd have some kind of basic income which provides this function directly. But other socially funded initiatives such as healthcare and education are also helpful in this regard.

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