Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary
From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Whither Are We Drifting
Message-ID: <2872@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Jul-84 17:19:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2872
Posted: Mon Jul  9 17:19:18 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Jul-84 03:40:42 EDT
References: denelcor.490
Lines: 39

<>
>From: neal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer) Wed Jun 27 22:58:02 1984
>	Who said anything about "wealthy"?  There is no tax (at least at
>the federal level) on _wealth_, the tax is on _income_ -- _earned_income_
at that.
>				Neal Weidenhofer

Actually, the tax is on income, period.  Capital gains (assets held
more than a certain time period and then sold) are taxed at a lower
rate.  The tax on earned income is limited to a maximum rate,
something Johnny Carson and I are grateful for.

Neal also auggests that American productivity problems are related to
our tax rate and our welfare system, i.e. that people have little
reason to produce if it will be taxed away from them, and no one
absolutely HAS to work thanks to the welfare system.  Considering
the recent outburst of entrepreneurism (that started about 6 years
ago, so you can't completely credit the Reagan tax cut), this seems
unlikely.  Moreover, our productivity is not better than, say,
Sweden, which has a more "progressive" tax structure (meaning that
it cranks up rates on the high end more than we do, not that it is
necessarily better) and a bigger "welfare" system.  I suspect our
productivity problems are more complex than this and relate to
poor levels of capital outlay and shortsighted management.  I might
also ask how suddenly employing a bunch of these indolent welfare
bums we seem to be imagining is going to help us improve productivity.

And then there's robotics.

There's a fair chance that automation may really automate a good
fraction of the work force out of jobs; then what do we do?  Let 'em
starve?  Give up automation?  What if we really DO need far fewer
workers than there are adults, and well-trained workers at that?
I see it now:  Robots versus Libertarians...

D Gary Grady
Duke University Computation Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-4146
USENET:  {decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary