Some people complain that capitalism>/a> is an "unjust economic system." They say this because they don't have as much money as the rich. They want the government to take from the rich and give some to them. Or they say this even though they are richer than most folks, but they want the power to take from other rich people and decide who gets it.
Kevin Craig does not believe income inequality is inherently unjust.
Imagine that you have fallen through a tear in the space-time
continuum into the future: the 23rd century. You now work in a museum,
doing what only you can do: keeping records and recreating the work you
did when you lived in the 21st century, for the benefit and delight of
historians and anthropologists who really appreciate the insights you
bring from the past. (This scenario assumes that you loved the work you
are doing now, and you're perfectly content doing that same work in the
future.)
- In fact, you're getting paid twice as much as you earned in 2010.
And you're able to use the extra income to buy an extraordinary
range of goods and services that were completely unavailable to you
in the 21st century.
- • You travel from place to place in a transporter beam like on
Star Trek.
- • The labor-saving devices in your kitchen boggle your
imagination.
- • 23rd century health-care will keep you alive an estimated 112
more years, in youthful vigor.
Here's the catch:
You and the others from the 21st century who slipped through the
wrinkle in time are in something of a separate caste. Because human
beings in the 23rd century are so much more highly educated, morally
developed, and psychologically balanced than people of the 21st century,
you are not allowed to vote.
Further, everyone else earns at least 100 times as much as you and
others from the 21st century do. It's like earning $100,000 per year in
a world where everyone else earns $10,000,000 per year.
Because everyone in the 23rd century has their act together, you are
treated with respect, kindness, and genuine affection by everyone else.
Every conversation you have with 23rd century human beings is rewarding
and edifying. You are becoming wiser with each conversation, and you're
building many good habits and admirable character traits the more you
interact with people of the future. As a result, your very generous
employers give you almost weekly raises. You still haven't figured out
what 23rd-century inventions you want to buy with all the extra income
you already receive.
But the "income gap" between the 21st century people like
you and the 23rd century people is huge, and growing every day.
"The rich get richer, and the poor get relatively poorer."
Is this really a problem?
Many left-leaning economists say it is.
This blogger
quotes the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, who say:
During the two
decades before the early 2000's, the average income of this country's
poorest families rose by 18.9%. During that same time the average
income of our richest families rose . . . nay, exploded by 58.5%.
"Paul Krugman is very upset," writes George
Reisman.
In his Monday
New York Times Op-Ed column this week,
he complains that while the real incomes of the great majority of
Americans have essentially stagnated or declined over the last
thirty-five years, "income at the 99th percentile rose 87
percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income
at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent."
Krugman calls it "a rising oligarchy." He also
speaks of "a new Gilded Age," and says, "if the rich
get more, that leaves less for everyone else."
But that just isn't true. Krugman admits that the rich of today are
richer than the rich of the Gilded Age:
We are now living
in a new Gilded Age, as extravagant as the original. Mansions have
made a comeback. Back in 1999 this magazine profiled Thierry Despont,
the ''eminence of excess,'' an architect who specializes in designing
houses for the superrich. His creations typically range from 20,000 to
60,000 square feet; houses at the upper end of his range are not much
smaller than the White House. Needless to say, the armies of servants
are back, too. So are the yachts. Still, even J.P. Morgan didn't
have a Gulfstream.
Yes, the rich are richer, but so are the middle class. And most
dramatically, so are the poor.
Only an intensely envious person would contend that the poor of 200
years ago were better off than the poor of today.
The poor are not getting poorer, they are only getting relatively
poorer.
And the reason why the poor are living better lives today than 200
years ago is precisely because the rich are getting richer.
There are several reasons why the "income gap" is such a
boogeyman among socialists:
Krugman claims
that when the heads of corporations (that are creating all the wealth
that is being enjoyed by the poor and middle classes) become richer, the
political landscape becomes more conservative; there is "a general
shift to the right" he says.
This may explain why the socialist revolution always kills off the
rich, leaving only democrats to be herded by The Party. (I assume that
Krugman assumes that he'll still be around after the revolution as a
Party advisor.)
Liberalism
is Aristocracy
The remedy is:
Libertarian
Democracy
Laissez-faire capitalism is true democracy. Not the majority voting
for the rulers who will initiate force against the minority, but the
masses of consumers making their own voluntary choices in every area of
life.
A truly laissez-faire capitalist
society is one devoid of the initiation of force.
Under true laissez-faire capitalism, corporate CEO's do not use the
government to extort multi-million
dollar severence pay packages from taxpayers by
force when their corporations go belly-up.
People are free to begin a business, hire the employees they want at
the wages they want, sell the products they want at the prices they
want, and consumers are free to reject the price or benefit from the
product. If consumers choose to buy the product, it will be voluntarily,
and it will signify an increase in their standard of living. The poor
will get richer, and those who serve
the poor by creating jobs for them and selling the goods and
services that enrich their lives, will get even richer.