Dear Platt,
Replying to your questions of 27/5 9:49 -0700:
My goal is not equal wealth for everyone in the world, but a level playing
ground for everyone. The children of a banana laborer in Honduras working
for a US transnational corporation should -with the same amount of personal
effort- be able to get just as wealthy as my children. If they are not able
to make such an effort because of some handicap, there should be a safety
net that allows them at least to live in dignity, just as the social
security system in the Netherlands does for my children.
Imagine an utterly lazy, but sane, person that doesn't put more effort in
surviving than strictly necessary and a workaholic (but still sane). The gap
between rich and poor should not be wider than the gap between their effort.
Mind you: I made my remark about a more subtle central command being
possible nowadays than in 1918 Russia or 1949 China against the background
of Roger's statement that 'distributed control is needed as well as central
command'.
I mean for instance:
- differential taxation of more/less socially desirable production-processes
(desirability being judged democratically, of course)
- subsidizing Associations and Foundations with socially desirable goals (as
long as their activities don't distort competition on any market)
- making the minimum/maximum labor conditions that labor unions and
organizations of employers agree on in an industrial sector legally binding
for all employers and employees in that sector (preventing free rider
behavior)
Such policies are supported by all parties that have been part of Dutch
government (always supported by a coalition of several parties, because no
party is ever big enough to have a majority because of Dutch voting
systems), ranging from 'social democrats' on the left to 'liberals' and
'Christian democrats' on the right. ('Liberal' means something different in
the Netherlands than in the USA, even if a right-wing liberal in the
Netherlands may still have a lot of ideas in common with a USA liberal. For
instance the idea that freedom from governmental interference needs to be
balanced with social responsibility.)
I tend to use 'privilege' as meaning 'something you got without having made
a personal effort for it' and 'underprivileged' for those that don't get
what others get whatever their personal effort. The fact that they sometimes
give up in very adverse circumstances, should not be held against them, I
think.
With friendly greetings,
Wim
----- Oorspronkelijk bericht -----
Van: "Platt Holden" <pholden@sc.rr.com>
Aan: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Verzonden: maandag 27 mei 2002 18:49
Onderwerp: Re: MD Is Society Making Progress?
> Hi Wim:
>
> In your post addressed to Roger you wrote:
>
> > The problem is that trade with and
> > investment in the countries that need it most is the least profitable
and
> > the most risky. If we leave it to 'the market' to distribute the
benefits
> > of globalization, this distribution will become more and more skewed.
Aid
> > -much more aid than now- is essential to offset this effect.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "skewed." Is it your goal for everyone in
> the world to have equal wealth? If not, what would be a satisfactory
> "skewing" in your view? In other words, how wide should the gap be
> between the rich and the poor to satisfy your global Utopia?
>
> You also wrote:
>
> >Central command by
> > a modern state can be much more subtle than that of a peripheral or
> > semi-peripheral state like China in 1949 or Russia in 1918.
>
> Would you elucidate on what you mean by a "subtle" central command.
> Is this a euphuism for European style socialism?
>
> Finally, I notice you often use the terms "privileged" and
> "underprivileged." When these terms are bandied about by liberals in the
> U.S. they mean "the lucky rich" and "the unlucky poor." I wonder if they
> have the same meaning in Europe?
>
> Platt
>
>
>
>
>
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