Comments on: J.D. Tuccille: “52 Percent of Americans Want Government To ‘Redistribute’ Wealth”

By: jim Hodge

jim Hodge — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:25:52 +0000

I agree and would argue that Freedom is often times less than free. It hard work. Jimhodgeallied.com

By: Al Bundy

Al Bundy — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:02:14 +0000

I think at least some of the libertarians saying "it's really corporatism" are arguing in good faith. I for one would call the Defense Department contract corporatism or perhaps crony-capitalism rather than "pure" capitalism.

The question of whether the entrepreneurs yearn to rescue capitalism from corporatism or not seems irrelevant. I don't care here about their intentions, ideology, propensity for rent-seeking, etc.. I care about whether there's a system in place for them to take advantage of or if their operating in a truly free market.

The difference looks largely semantic to me. Some say "It's really capitalism (as opposed to the freed market) we are against." Others say "It's really corporatism (as opposed to capitalism) we are against." But what both are actually getting at is functionally equivalent.

By: Hidden Author

Hidden Author — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:46:48 +0000

So why don't more people call on the government to withdraw its unjust intervention in favor of cronies instead of demanding more taxation of the rich? Could it be that many people especially on the Left do not care if a rich person got that way by being a government crony? If so, then could envy be the right motivation rather than outrage at injustice?

By: n8chz

n8chz — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:30:31 +0000

A heavy dose of conflation, also. Consider the following two juxtaposed data:

"Gallup poll showing that just 33 percent of respondents considered wealth distribution in the US to be “fair,” while 59 percent considered it “unfair.”"

"52 percent of those responding favored taxing the rich to redistribute wealth"

While the 52% of respondents who favor taxing the rich to redistribute wealth may be unfortunate, from a narrowly framed NAP perspective, the 59% who consider the status quo allocation unfair may or may not be the same people, and at any rate, while the call for redistribution through taxation may be illibertarian or worse, the mere attitude that it is unfair is surely a victimless "crime." Surely non-statists invoke the state neither to attack nor to defend holders of wealth.

"Did Tuccille consider that increased calls for redistribution might be a sign that more people are becoming aware that the state capitalist system is rigged?"

Maybe. Rightists, including "tea party" types as well as "libertarians," have adopted slogans along the lines of "It's really *corporatism* (as opposed to capitalism) that you (we) are against." What they haven't sold me, in particular, is the idea that somewhere there are these entrepreneurs without or with relatively few political connections who yearn to rescue capitalism from corporatism. From my perspective entrepreneurial capitalism is simply corporatism on a smaller scale. I'm guessing most of them, given the opportunity, would not turn down, say, a Defense Department contract, on principle. Probably the ethical obligation to be self interested (IMHO the root of the problem) would override the ethical obligation not to be a party to violence.

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