Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Occupation Forces

Normally when things like Occupy Wall Street and now recently Occupy (Every Damn Place) occur I have a lot to say.  It feels like this is the sort of topic I *should* have a lot of opinions on but somehow neither the protesters nor the establishment has especially acquired my support thus far.  More than anything I think the problem is this:  It is complicated.

I am very much for punitive estate taxes, heavier tax loads for the wealthy and corporations and greater regulation of businesses.  I think the situation here in Canada is drastically better than in the US as our much more restrictive banking regulations meant that Canada had no bank failures and no bank bailouts to deal with. Our tax burdens on the wealthy are greater here and generally although the rich have more ways to get out of paying taxes they also have a higher tax rate and their overall taxation is actually quite similar to the middle class as a percentage of income.  We do, for some bizarre reason, have extremely low corporate taxes because we keep having governments that think that lowering corporate tax rates (despite our tax rates already being rock bottom) is the solution to economic woes.  Here is a hint:  Companies that have higher profits just shuffle those profits to the owners, who may or may not live in Canada.  Companies that are forced to hand that cash to the government instead end up paying for more Canadians to do work in Canada!  

The trouble with the protests is that they aren't a bunch of people advocating for sensible banking regulation, anti monopolistic rules and more sensible taxation.  There are those sorts of folks there of course but there are also buffoons looking for communism, lynchings or the end of capitalism.  Plenty of the people in the Occupy movements have absolutely no idea what they want or what they want makes no sense.  Because of that I have a hard time saying I support them since I support changes that would help the problems they are concerned about but I often don't support what they actually say at all.

Like I said, it is complicated.

Many of those opposed to the Occupy movement are really just looking to the government to be a tool to maintain their privileged position in society and let them pass that privilege on to their children.  In reality a lot of government policy and law is dedicated to doing exactly that but I think that this should not be the government's priority at all.  The priority should be minimizing suffering and maximizing joy throughout the country and that is not served by one person controlling a billion dollars of wealth but rather by 100,000 people controlling 10,000 dollars worth of wealth each.  I am a firm believer in capitalism and I think that our current system of government (a republic, not a democracy) is at least reasonable and needs tinkering, not removal.  I think that monopolies and dynasties are terrible and a major job of government should be preventing them.  

Governments generally don't listen to me though.  They might listen to 10,000 people chanting and demonstrating for change and they might even do the right thing in response.

For all those who lament the state of being poor in North America though, click on this.

6 comments:

  1. In the states, my view is that they are largely protesting the corrupting influence of money on politics and regulation. Political campaigns are mostly funded by massive donations from those who can afford to buy politicians.... that sounds bad but the full reality is far worse. It makes me appreciate what we have in Canada, and frustrated that the current gov't has canned the per-vote funding (a step, I think, in the exact wrong direction)

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  2. I'm not really that appreciative of Canada these days. We elected a neo-con government after a few years of making fun of the US for doing the same. If the economic collapse hadn't happened when it did our banking regulations would have gone the same way theirs did. I mean, i can be appreciative of the better luck that we see to have, but it seems that mostly we just do every stupid thing the US does 5-10 years after they do it (or in the case of the drug war, several decades after).

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  3. I am not convinced that Canada would have followed US regulation trends. My father in law in one of the people in charge of setting those regulations and I talk with him about it now and then - I really think that we were on course to be a (or even the) world leader in these things. Given what he has said I doubt very much that we would have taken such a drastic turn for the stupid.

    I agree that per vote funding is a good thing - it means that parties with popular support but limited appeal to businesses and the rich can get things done.

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  4. It sounds like your belief that Canada would not have followed in the footsteps of the US on banking regulation is based on the idea that our government, who makes the banking regulations, would listen to evidence-based and well-thought-out advice from civil servants with great worldwide reputations.

    I'm not sure what would give you that impression.

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  5. "The trouble with the protests is that they aren't a bunch of people advocating for sensible banking regulation, anti monopolistic rules and more sensible taxation. "
    This is a money quote, also, add, no more bailouts, let capitalism happen.

    "Many of those opposed to the Occupy movement are really just looking to the government to be a tool to maintain their privileged position in society and let them pass that privilege on to their children."
    Yup, but that's how pretty much any government operates.
    Please see this recent article I read
    https://barnegeddon.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/superstitions-are-hard-to-kill-off/

    "I think that monopolies and dynasties are terrible and a major job of government should be preventing them. "
    I think the best government in the world right now is Singapore, I'm sure you disagree, but they took a craphole island and made it a first world country with clout, a good living standard for all and people actually want to move there (other than the heat and humidity, but that is what air conditioners are for).

    Cheers,
    Peter

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  6. I actually think that the government of Singapore did a remarkable job in improving their society. Many of the things I hear and read about Singapore make me think it would be a great place to live. If you look at the political structure it is an oligarchy and not a democracy (republic) but by and large the few men in charge have really made the lives of their citizens better. They do clamp down on free speech and political opposition but they also appear to really have the nation's best interests at heart.

    Is it the best government in the world? I don't think so. Would be world be a better place if all governments were like Singapore? Yes, absolutely. Much of the world is mired in truly awful government (Zimbabwe, say) and much of the world has mediocre government that has changes of power from time to time (the US, say). I think humans would be much better off if we replaced all governments with what Singapore has but I don't think that is the best we can do by any stretch.

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