Friday, May 23, 2008




Q. -- I want to go back to the statement you made about the two economies in America. You've got the very rich, you've got a nation that's increasingly very rich and very poor. What is the long-term consequence of that? Is our increasing poverty going to negate economic growth or permanent stability?

A. -- I would hope the long-term effect of it would be a much sharper recognition of the fact. The two answers are each indispensable. One is something that could well be afforded, a basic income for all people, enough to keep all people out of poverty. We talk a great deal about freedom. Nothing so denies a person freedom as a total absence of money. This is one of the most repressive things that there is. And I am an advocate, and I've long been an advocate, of a basic income, which, as I say, we can well afford, and I would, needless to say, like to see it coupled with the associated public services, namely education, health care, and housing. Going along with that, we should have continued and strong use of the progressive income tax. Nothing so measures progress as a few screams of anguish from the very rich. One of the great developments of the last 100 years came from a Republican president, President Taft, namely the progressive income tax. I would like to see you all advocate, in your country or in the United States, the enormous effect of the progressive income tax on individual enterprise. Nothing stirs people to effort so much as the need to protect their after-tax income. Make that point editorially, constantly, consistently.

... the only hope of amerika ...
... to stay out of the fall ...
... is exorcising the greed ...


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