He'll not thank me for saying so, but I agree with Sam Bowman's call for a basic income (or, as he calls it, negative income tax). This raises a question: how can a Marxist so warmly agree with a right(ish)-libertarian?
In part, it is because Marxism is a form of libertarianism. But there's two other sources of agreement between us,…Stumbling and Mumbling
Basic income: left & right
Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle
3 comments:
It's hardly surprising that the far left and the far right lock onto the same point of view. They both see the state as a way of enforcing their own individual selfishness without regard for anybody else and certainly not the quid pro quo required in a society.
This extreme liberal self-centred individualism is just as dangerous a concept as right wing libertarianism. Both require the state to enforce a monopoly that the supporters are part of and others are just required to accept that as though the rules were handed down on tablets of stone from some mighty external God.
In reality of course they won't accept that and will agitate to have them removed very quickly - as they already have done *in every case* where such ideas have been tried.
The lack of pragmatism on the left is half the reason it never gets anywhere.
I think the problem has less to do with their own selfishness than their intention of wanting to push that individualism onto others, a sense of anti-cooperation if you will.
hog I wonder if that is a product of both sides believing "we can't afford to accommodate both" in some way...
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