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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (9971)	1/27/2006 12:06:29 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 541370

He wanted to imply that I called for equal inheritence from a very successful businessman and a destitute wage slave. I don't think so. But I'll leave that between you and him. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get a handle on where you're coming from--just what it is about this that so exercises you. Do you have any reaction to my framing/pinging?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (9971)	1/27/2006 2:08:13 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541370

He wanted to imply that I called for equal inheritance from a very successful businessman and a destitute wage slave. I was not focusing on that specific comparison. But now that you mention it, do you think that they should each have an equal inheritance? Also it was a reasonable assumption that you where talking about people like "destitute wage slaves", because wealthy non-business owners have a lot of wealth to pass on, and their wealth is treated the same as the wealth of the business owner. Employee's can be as wealthy or wealthier then business owners. They may have more to pass on than a business owner. For example the VP in charge of a major unit of a large multinational corporation is likely to pass more wealth to his heirs than the owner of a single dry cleaning shop. You talk about the "actual fairness issues". Well fairness, while not an idea I would dismiss is not my core issue here. But I'm willing to talk about it. In doing so I have been trying to bring in specific examples. I don't see how it is unfair that people can pass on their wealth, even if the level of wealth differs. You bring in examples of highly paid workers who don't own a business but if they are highly paid and not spendthrift they are likely to have other forms of wealth besides a business. Maybe a million dollar home, maybe a stock portfolio. Do you think this wealth should be treated differently or the same as the business? Why? By framing the argument in such a way it completely avoided the actual fairness issue and substituted one of equal rewards for unequal performance. That is a strawman argument. A strawman argument is when someone knowingly attacks an idea completely different than what you are proposing. I have done nothing of the sort. My arguments are relevant. If the examples don't illustrate your ideas as well as you would like that is because they are arguments against the ideas. They are counter examples. Tim