I will admit to not reading the entire thread here but I would like to add a few things. To the OP, I would agree that the distribution of wealth is a big issue as is the falling place of small business. There are a few reasons that I would peg this on. First, top wage earners are taxed, NOT the wealthy. While this looks the same at first that is not entirely true. There is a difference between accumulated wealth and income/gains taxes. That said, I am unsure of a way to effect the transfer of wealth back to the middle class that does not involve some sort of confiscatory 'redistribution of wealth' strategy. That concept does not work and I cannot support such a move. Wealth cannot be redistributed by the government effectively and leads to grater issues than already faced.
As to the loss of small business, that has two major sources. I know I will be attacked by the liberals here for this but regulation plays a MAJOR role in this respect. The grater the regulation the grater the cost of operation. There is a balancing act that many business accomplish between bureaucracy and purchasing power. Purchasing power allows larger business to accumulate their goods at reduced prices and that should in theory give them an advantage against their smaller counterparts in price. However, there is an offsetting process in bureaucracy that helps mitigate this fact. The larger a business grows the grater bureaucracy it must maintain and that is far from cheap. Should a business grow to large to fast, the bureaucracy will collapse the business under its weight. Unfortunately, regulation curves the cost of small businesses up also and this effect is mitigated by the size and scope of a large corporation. In this manner, regulation is quite harmful. The new bank bill is a good example as the new requirement in it are likely to decrease small bank lending because the process is more expensive. Personally, I believe that the government should require that all products it purchases are American products and that foreign goods are taxed appropriately for competition not to mention all the regulation reform that is needed. That would tip the balance back in favor of the small business.
The other point I would like to make is that corporations taking over for small business is also a natural thing to occur at this time due to technology. Back in the day a company would actually have to send you mail in order to advertise and getting you goods was expensive and cumbersome. With computers and the internet, everything was reduced in size and you could purchase across the world instantly. This has allowed BB to succeed in supplanting a small business because, even when there is no Wal-Mart whatsoever, you are able to order from large businesses anywhere in the world. That reduces the size of bureaucratic oversight and other mitigating expenses. In the 50's, there was a lot of work associated with country wide sales let alone international sales. Today, a single person working out of their mothers basement can distribute to a clientele from here to china without any issues. That creates much of the problems we have today in the unequal distribution of wealth as we have not caught up to the change in technology. I honestly am unsure of how to combat these things in a free system though and never forget, our system MUST remain free.
As to the loss of small business, that has two major sources. I know I will be attacked by the liberals here for this but regulation plays a MAJOR role in this respect. The grater the regulation the grater the cost of operation. There is a balancing act that many business accomplish between bureaucracy and purchasing power. Purchasing power allows larger business to accumulate their goods at reduced prices and that should in theory give them an advantage against their smaller counterparts in price. However, there is an offsetting process in bureaucracy that helps mitigate this fact. The larger a business grows the grater bureaucracy it must maintain and that is far from cheap. Should a business grow to large to fast, the bureaucracy will collapse the business under its weight. Unfortunately, regulation curves the cost of small businesses up also and this effect is mitigated by the size and scope of a large corporation. In this manner, regulation is quite harmful. The new bank bill is a good example as the new requirement in it are likely to decrease small bank lending because the process is more expensive. Personally, I believe that the government should require that all products it purchases are American products and that foreign goods are taxed appropriately for competition not to mention all the regulation reform that is needed. That would tip the balance back in favor of the small business.
The other point I would like to make is that corporations taking over for small business is also a natural thing to occur at this time due to technology. Back in the day a company would actually have to send you mail in order to advertise and getting you goods was expensive and cumbersome. With computers and the internet, everything was reduced in size and you could purchase across the world instantly. This has allowed BB to succeed in supplanting a small business because, even when there is no Wal-Mart whatsoever, you are able to order from large businesses anywhere in the world. That reduces the size of bureaucratic oversight and other mitigating expenses. In the 50's, there was a lot of work associated with country wide sales let alone international sales. Today, a single person working out of their mothers basement can distribute to a clientele from here to china without any issues. That creates much of the problems we have today in the unequal distribution of wealth as we have not caught up to the change in technology. I honestly am unsure of how to combat these things in a free system though and never forget, our system MUST remain free.
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