I understand it’s impolite to question the motivations of billionaires and others with extraordinary power. Please forgive my insubordination me lord. 
Given the recent discussion about billionaires and wealth taxes, I want to expound on the topic. The key issue we face as humans is centralized power. As is clear by looking around the world, power tends to centralize even in countries with distinct economic and political systems
Centralized power is unaccountable power, and unaccountable power leads to tyranny one way or the other. Two things we need to do.
- Figure out and understand where centralized power exists most prominently.
- Dismantle those structures and replace with decentralized empowerment
- Figure out and understand where centralized power exists most prominently.
- Dismantle those structures and replace with decentralized empowerment
Billionaires and wealth discrepancies play a role in this, but it's just one angle. As a function of tremendous wealth, every billionaire is a potential source of centralized power. They can spend more money without flinching than 99.999% of people will ever see in their lives.
This doesn't mean every billionaire uses their wealth to exercise centralized power, but it means they all potentially CAN. An option nobody else has. So that's important in its own right. Billionaires have the option to shape the economy, politics and society. Can't deny this.
Given that, many people want wealth taxes as a blunt measure to reduce that option. I get it, because taking a billionaire's wealth down by 90% does in fact reduce their option to exercise centralized power. That said, a wealth tax won't solve core problems of centralized power.
To get serious about centralized power we need to look at individual billionaires. Some are clearly more dangerous than others. This is one reason I agree with people like @matthewstoller who focus not merely on wealth, but the systems of control monopolist billionaires control.
@matthewstoller For example, people like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are particular threats. They don't just have potential centralized power, they actively exercise it daily via the large swarths of society/economy they dominate. For Zuckerberg it's communications, for Bezos it's e-commerce.
@matthewstoller This needs to be dealt with because centralized power is always a threat to human freedom. We should systematically look through the 600 billionaires in the U.S. and analyze in detail how they exercise their centralized power potential and then deal with this at the root level.
@matthewstoller In other words, ask of billionaires:
Are they exercising centralized power?
To what extent and who are the worst offenders?
By what mechanisms do they exercise this power?
How do we shatter those mechanisms and decentralize?
This is what I suggest.
Are they exercising centralized power?
To what extent and who are the worst offenders?
By what mechanisms do they exercise this power?
How do we shatter those mechanisms and decentralize?
This is what I suggest.
@matthewstoller But centralized power doesn't stop with billionaires. In fact, I can think of two other players in society that exercise even greater centralized power.
- Heads of intelligence agencies, ie, the national security state (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc).
- Central banks.
- Heads of intelligence agencies, ie, the national security state (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc).
- Central banks.
@matthewstoller Intelligence agencies have the power to destroy lives at will and with zero accountability. See the difference in how a Edward Snowden or Julian Assange are treated, compared to the way a Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell are treated (she's still roaming free).
@matthewstoller Intelligence agencies are more dangerous than billionaires. They're not just tyrannical in theory, they are tyrannical in practice. All day, every day. But let's move on to the most powerful institution the world has ever seen. Central banks, specifically the Federal Reserve.
@matthewstoller If we worry about the power of money to shape the world there's no greater example of centralized, unaccountable power than the U.S. Federal Reserve. Billionaires control billions, but central banks can move/create trillions and in doing so shape everything.
@matthewstoller For more, see the thread I composed earlier this week. No institution has shaped the post-financial crisis world more than central banks. They saved plutocrats, entrenched a system that needed massive radical reform and put us on a path to feudalism.
@matthewstoller To summarize, we need to systematically and thoroughly address centralized power and how it's exercised across our economy/society if we really want to change the paradigm. This means not focusing on soundbites and dealing with symptoms, but by getting at the root of it all.
@matthewstoller Finally, here are a few things worth thinking about in order to transition.
1) Decentralize power.
2) Localize decision-making.
3) Fiercely protect civil liberties.
4) Demand radical transparency for those in positions of power.
5) Stop expecting a political savior, work on you.
1) Decentralize power.
2) Localize decision-making.
3) Fiercely protect civil liberties.
4) Demand radical transparency for those in positions of power.
5) Stop expecting a political savior, work on you.
