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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Bartlett who wrote (3923)	3/5/1999 9:59:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81142

Mark, I was kind of inspired to discuss the "rigging" of the US economy due an commentary in the Washington Times by Walter Williams (a libertarian) the other day. He made some interesting points that gov't exists to redistribute wealth in a manner that is inequitable to how that wealth was created, and in fact that ability is the sole reason that gov't exists. Those who own a home receive a tax break that non-home owners do not receive. Certain corporations are bailed out or subsidized when they make a self-destructive financial error or bad investment (eg: LTCM), whereas the rest of dont' receive that benefit. Or the example of farmers who are paid by gov't not to produce a certain crop or livestock while not granting the same financial incentive to us non-farmers who also don't produce those crops or livestock. While on one hand the libertarian side of me takes great issue with the politicization of distributing the nation's economic wealth, The other side recognizes that there must be some redistribution (or rigging), in order to maintain a semblance of "inclusion" for everyone, regardless of whether they "deserve" to partake of that redistribution or not. Walter Williams makes a good point in that article (which I can't find a link for) that while most of us claim that we stand for equality and non-discrimination for everyone, not many of us would be willing to have the law treat everyone the same when it came down to carving up the economic pie. In essence, gov't by its very nature, rigs the economy through selective and unequal distribution of productivity. So we shouldn't be surprised to see rigging of the stock market going on either. Regards, Ron