Re: AltInst: Means of production.

On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Tom Walker wrote:

> John Carter's asset-based tax system is reminiscent of Thomas Paine's
> Agrarian Justice. In several respects, Marx took a step back from Paine
> whose reform proposal was both more radical than Marx's communism and more
> concretely outlined.

Umm. No. It has nothing to do with justice. Justice would be far more
radical, (and would hence be fought against most bitterly).

My proposal is purely a pragmatic way of balance the human need for
greed and ambition and the human need for access to some means of
survival.

On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, "George L. O'Brien" <obiewan@mail.doitnow.com> wrote:

> The problem is that the real assets today are intangible "mindware"
> rather than physical stuff. You can redistribute stuff, but how do
> redistribute knowledge, intelligence, and intellectual skills? If
> you redistribute the value added created by mindware, then how do
> you get them to continue to produce?

The prototypical item would be a computer software company. You own
shares in it. The hard assets are claimed to amount to $N. This
undervalues the "goodwill" and "intangibles". So a finder points this
out and organises an auction and you find a buyer at above 2 * $N. You
loose.

Note that the ownership can be split, ie. If your shareholding in a company
pushes you over the limit, you can redistribute some of your shares
to whoever you choose.

John Carter EMail: ece@dwaf-hri.pwv.gov.za
Telephone : 27-12-808-0374x194 Fax:- 27-12-808-0338
<http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/5947> or <http://iwqs.pwv.gov.za>

There is ever only one enemy - And that is the military.
It matters not on which side they purport to be.

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Received on Wed Jun 24 17:32:32 1998