LG, of course the current tax system is a vehicle for redistribution of wealth, so is welfare capitalism as we know it today as well and any other social system I have ever studied. How much redistribution and in what direction is carried out is the domain of political rather then economic studies (and from the tone of your writing, "moral" questions as well).
It seems that in the last 20 years that distribution is actually going in the direction of further concentration of the wealth into fewer hands, thus, if I read your moral overtones correctly, the system is working as you want it to work. You may chose to be an Ayn Rand "laisser faire" advocate, but it may land us into Watts riots once more.
Welfare capitalism was apparently the way society decided to take capitalism to, from the capitalism of the middle of the last century with its glories which brought about the evolution of socialism and communist experiments. Within the framework of this new capitalism, there are many ways to achieve distribution of wealth (and some would like to call it "equitable", whatever that means). What is clear to me is that without a vibrant consumer society, the reconcentration of wealth that is going on right now, would not occur, so it is only economically right to assure that those consumers can continue consuming.
In any event, this thread was addressing the question of debt and its elimination, and I believe that a little debt has many good features, as long as it is not excessive. Debt is also an excellent way to smooth out some of the inherent cycle ingrained in the capitalistic system, and government should use deficit financing during periods of cyclical through and pay back some of that debt during periods of prosperity. History shows that excessive budget surpluses have led to economic downturns which no one benefit from, thus we should learn from history and avoid such major surpluses by lowering taxation, or if the politicians have better ways (that is what we elect them for) finds smart ways to reinject these surpluses into the economy.
Zeev |
