Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site whuxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxb!mhuxn!mhuxm!mhuxj!houxm!whuxl!orb From: orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) Newsgroups: net.politics.theory Subject: Re: Redistribution of Wealth & the Economy Message-ID: <480@whuxl.UUCP> Date: Fri, 15-Feb-85 10:33:56 EST Article-I.D.: whuxl.480 Posted: Fri Feb 15 10:33:56 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 16-Feb-85 06:31:16 EST References: <326@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> , <1370@dciem.UUCP> <5045@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: /usr/exptools/lib/netnews/myorg Lines: 32 > About the ``everybody being better off'' proposition: > > I have yet to hear *anybody* say that ``the rich'' would be better > off if you took money away from them. > Laura VCreighton > utzoo!laura It *is* possible that the rich can be better off by redistributing some of their income to those less well-off. This can happen if people no longer have enough money to buy the goods produced by the factories and means of production owned by the rich. This was the case during the Great Depression: the nation was only using about 70% of its industrial capacity because the new mass-production industries could produce more than people could afford to buy. If people were given more money then they would be able to afford more goods, thus enlarging the market for capitalists. Enlarging the market for capitalists means they can utilize more of their existing industrial capacity and even expand it to meet the demands of the enlarged market. In the process they will wind up with more money in a matter of time. The same phenomenon was illustrated with the success of the Marshall Plan. The U.S. provided the allies with money to rebuild- in the process they needed and were able to buy more American goods. This expansion of the European market has turned out to be far more advantageous to the U.S. than the punitive measures adopted by the Allies after WW I when they forced the Axis nations to pay enormous indemnities for the War. These measures were bad for the overall European economy and also fostered the rise of Hitler. "Gotta stand and face it, Life is sooooo complicated!" The Kinks tim sevener whuxl!orb