{"id":9916,"date":"2014-05-27T02:01:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T06:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goldstocksforex.com\/?p=9916"},"modified":"2014-05-27T02:01:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-27T06:01:27","slug":"3-reasons-to-be-suspicious-of-the-inequality-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/27\/3-reasons-to-be-suspicious-of-the-inequality-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons to be suspicious of the inequality debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

My concerns with the inequality debate are twofold:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The poor are seldom rescued from poverty by redistribution. Raising taxes on the rich to bolster welfare payments increases dependence of the latter on government. While this may be a sound political strategy to garner votes, dependence on handouts robs people of their self-respect and foments other social issues. The welfare system should focus more on assisting the disadvantaged to become independent: teaching skills, improving access to higher education, and providing support for those striving to achieve autonomy.<\/li>\n
  2. Progressive taxes on the rich foster resentment at the unequal treatment and encourage tax evasion\/avoidance. Raising income taxes also acts as a disincentive to produce further income. Any tax acts as a disincentive, but income taxes are particularly inefficient as the following chart from the Henry Review<\/a> shows. Taxes collected from raising income tax rates often fall short of expectations, with higher taxes acting as a handbrake on economic growth. Past attempts at taxes on wealth, on the other hand, have proved largely impractical.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Marginal<\/p>\n

    Marginal welfare loss is the loss in consumer welfare per dollar of revenue raised for a small increase in each tax (the extent of compensation required to restore consumer satisfaction reflects the distorting effect of the tax on the economy). Taxes at the top of the graph are the most inefficient in terms of outcomes, while those at the bottom achieve the greatest net benefit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I should explain that my attitude to welfare is shaped by my own experience. My mother was widowed when I was four and faced the daunting prospect of raising children on her own. She went back to work and, because of her circumstances, was offered a partial interest rate subsidy (on a mortgage) by the local municipality. This enabled her to build a modest home and raise four children, who (apart from myself) grew up to make a useful contribution to society. Without assistance, I shudder to think how we would have fared. But I appreciate that the help offered was to restore our independence, rather than foster ongoing dependency and a sense of entitlement.<\/p>\n

    When I hear President Obama talk of the top 1%’s share of “our income” or their share of “our nation’s wealth” I do a double-take. It is not “our” income or wealth, but “theirs”. We have not earned it and have no claim to the income or assets of others other than that they pay their fair share of taxes. And shifting a disproportionate share of taxes onto them is just as misguided and immoral, in my opinion, as exploiting the less fortunate. For an economy to succeed you need a healthy partnership between the haves<\/em> and have-nots<\/em>, where both will benefit from prosperity. Not like the present tug-of-war, with abuses and mistrust on both sides. Raising taxes would drive a further wedge between the two sides rather than restore trust and cooperation. We need to seek a win-win<\/em> outcome, rather than an outcome where all of us will lose.<\/p>\n

    In my opinion the inequality debate and higher taxes are a red herring, designed to distract the public from the real issue: globalization and the insidious partnership between large corporations and their Asian suppliers. Globalization opened up new export markets for corporations while lowering input costs through access to cheap labor. On its own, globalization is manageable, but politicians turn a blind eye to currency manipulation by Asian exporters like China. By saying much but doing little, they allow a continual drain of jobs to offshore markets. Many corporations silently welcome a weak RMB because it lowers the cost of imports while enabling others to make offshore investments and acquisitions cheaply with the strong Dollar.<\/p>\n

    Corporate profits as a percentage of GNP have soared…<\/p>\n

    \"Corporate <\/p>\n

    …while manufacturing workers suffer from a shrinking job market and lower wages.<\/p>\n

    \"Employee<\/p>\n

    If you want to fix inequality, don’t raise taxes. Instead, reduce progressive tax rates while closing many of the loopholes to create a level playing field. But, most importantly, end currency manipulation to ensure that the Dollar trades at a fair, market-clearing rate<\/a>. That should help regain international competitiveness, go some way to revive a struggling manufacturing sector…<\/p>\n

    \"Employee<\/p>\n

    … and restore jobs lost over the last two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My concerns with the inequality debate are twofold: The poor are seldom rescued from poverty by redistribution. Raising taxes on the rich to bolster welfare payments increases dependence of the latter on government. While this may be a sound political strategy to garner votes, dependence on handouts robs people of their self-respect and foments other … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “3 Reasons to be suspicious of the inequality debate”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1800,1806,1826,2222,3332,3337,3339,3651,3659],"class_list":["post-9916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-taxes-inequality","tag-income-tax","tag-independence","tag-inequality","tag-marginal-welfare-loss","tag-tax-avoidance","tag-tax-evasion","tag-tax-increases","tag-wealth-tax","tag-welfare-dependence"],"yoast_head":"\n3 Reasons to be suspicious of the inequality debate - the patient investor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Reasons to be suspicious of the inequality debate - the patient investor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My concerns with the inequality debate are twofold: The poor are seldom rescued from poverty by redistribution. 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Summers","author":"ColinTwiggs","date":"May 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Larry Summers exposes the flaw in Thomas Piketty\u2019s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty argues that inequality is rising because the rate of return on capital is higher than the economy's growth rate. Does not the rising share of profits in national income in most industrial countries over the last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia & NZ"","block_context":{"text":"Australia & NZ","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/countries-regions\/australia-nz-countries-regions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marginal welfare loss from a small increase in selected Australian taxes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13720,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/19\/the-inequality-puzzle-lawrence-h-summers-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9916,"position":1},"title":"The Inequality Puzzle | Lawrence H. Summers","author":"ColinTwiggs","date":"May 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Larry Summers exposes the flaw in Thomas Piketty\u2019s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty argues that inequality is rising because the rate of return on capital is higher than the economy's growth rate. Does not the rising share of profits in national income in most industrial countries over the last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Market Insights"","block_context":{"text":"Market Insights","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/market-insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marginal welfare loss from a small increase in selected Australian taxes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2014\/henry-tax-welfare-losses.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5693,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/07\/income-inequality-cause-of-our-predicament-or-a-convenient-scapegoat\/","url_meta":{"origin":9916,"position":2},"title":"Income inequality: Cause of our predicament or a convenient scapegoat?","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"October 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader reminded me of this 2011 Vanity Fair article, where Joseph Stiglitz argues that growing income inequality will harm future US economic growth. \"What matters, [some people] argue, is not how the pie is divided but the size of the pie. That argument is fundamentally wrong........ First, growing inequality\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10064,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2014\/06\/22\/the-inequality-debate-thomas-piketty-and-ryan-bourne-iea\/","url_meta":{"origin":9916,"position":3},"title":"The inequality debate | Thomas Piketty and Ryan Bourne IEA","author":"ColinTwiggs","date":"June 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The inequality debate: Thomas Piketty and Ryan Bourne, of the Institute of Economic Affairs. http:\/\/vimeo.com\/98715433 One mistake Piketty makes: he uses a marginal tax rate of 80% in the US in the 1920s and 1930s on incomes over $1 million to justify higher taxes on incomes over $1 million today.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Taxes & Inequality"","block_context":{"text":"Taxes & Inequality","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/taxes-inequality\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6202,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/16\/us-poverty-rates\/","url_meta":{"origin":9916,"position":4},"title":"US: Poverty rates","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"November 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"From the US Department of Health & Human Services: I suspect that most US voters are concerned about poverty (don't believe everything you are told during an election) but where they differ is on how to address the issue. The view from the left is to raise taxes on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5550,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/22\/more-than-67-million-americans-dependent-on-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":9916,"position":5},"title":"More than 67 million Americans dependent on government","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"September 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting charts from The Heritage Foundation: The 2012 Index of Dependence on Government By William Beach and Patrick Tyrrell - February 8, 2012 The percentage of US citizens who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, has climbed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}