because government spending and waste could never be the problem... fehAn open letter to all politicians
from Richard Parncutt
Politicians can promote social responsibility like this:
First admit that within most countries, the gap between rich and poor is widening, e.g. Austria, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, China, India. Between countries, the gap is narrowing - but many countries are stilll outrageously poor and people are dying of hunger and preventable diseases every second of every day. Poverty also leads to migration, insecurity and dictatorship. Poverty is the single main issue!
Then DO something about it!
Promote tax justice and reduce the rich-poor gap and address the global financial crisis by
increasing progressive taxes (wealth, transaction, luxury consumption, inheritance, environment)
phasing out regressive taxes (e.g. consumption taxes on basic needs)
increasing income/wealth/taxation transparency
pushing forward international agreements to prevent multinationals and the rich from shifting their capital to low-tax countries
Free enterprise is the foundation of prosperity and democracy. Promote small businesses by minimizing associated costs and bureacracy. Promote free competition by minimizing subsidies, tax deductions and other perks, and combatting monopolies.
Expose the amorality of otherwise respectable centre-right parties that consistently block wealth taxes. Lack of funding is the main cause of the world’s main problems - bankrupt national governments, a billion poor, unchecked global warming. But the money is available in abundance: Globalisation is making the rich steadily richer. At the same time, centre-right parties are distorting the truth about taxation, and they are working together with the rich to spread anti-tax propoganda. As the wealth gap grows, this process is increasingly threatening democracy. Centre-right voters are usually well educated, so they cannot pretend not to know these things.
Combat global poverty and involuntary migration by improving international aid - financed primarily by new wealth, transaction and environment taxes (where else should the money come from?). Explain (especially to far-right voters) that this is the only reliable, long-term solution to the “migration problem”, because it is the only solution that addresses the problem’s main cause, the rising wealth gap. And by the way - the main reason for the rising wealth gap is new economic opportunities due to globalisation, combined with the failure of governments to globalise taxation and force the rich to pay reasonable amounts of it.
http://www.uni-graz.at/~parncutt/politics.html
because government spending and waste could never be the problem... feh There is a reason why "Thou shall not covet" is one of the 10 Commandments. No professor, the real cause of wealth problems is envy/jealousy. BTW, professor, there is a "tenure" gap that needs to be reduced.