[lbo-talk] Re: Sawicky's Math (was Re: Obama on poverty:straightDLC=

Dmytri Kleiner dk at telekommunisten.net
Thu Apr 3 10:12:54 PDT 2008


On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:24:50 -0400, sawicky at verizon.net wrote:
> Tax structure is not important for redistribution, in my view.
> Much more redistribution happens on the expenditure
> side, so for tax systems bigger is generally better.

As mentioned, my argument has to do with any nominal net wage increase.


> Of course it's logically possible for tax subsidies to have
> no important impact on inflation, including localized inflation,
> since the subsidy could be small compared to the associated
> economy.

This means the impact is proportional, not zero.


> There has not been much in the way of progressive tax legislation
> for some time. The EITC is for those who are not likely to
> save much, with or without the EITC.

If they are not saving, where is the money going? Rent?

Since they are are not saving, are workers, in the end, consuming a larger _percentage share_ of the national product, or not?


>From what I understand they are not, thus what good is a larger
nominal net wage if the level of relative consumption and savings remains unchanged, or even decreases?


> Even so, it is possible for
> wage subsidies (like the EITC) or minimum wage legislation or
> collective bargaining to raise wages without doing much for
> capital formation, insofar as workers choose not to save more.

The point is the _workers_ are not forming capital, in other words, no basis for class mobility.

Is not saving more simply a choice?

Cheers.

-- Dmytri Kleiner editing text files since 1981

http://www.telekommunisten.net



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