Let’s Find a Solution

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Clarissa

December 10, 2017

There is an enormous, tiresome and tedious dishonesty in talking about “handouts to corporations” in an ahistorical way and extracting them out of the context of liquid capital.

Cutting corporate tax rates is an attempt to attract and retain liquid capital for a nation-state. Before capital became fully liquid, the nation-state had other ways of making itself attractive to it. After it liquefied, nobody has come up with any alternative than reducing tax rates. Seeing the reduction in corporate tax rates as an evil conspiracy of the rich and the dishonest politicians is childish. It makes for nice slogans and cute memes but it’s divorced from reality. And you can’t change the reality if you refuse to see it.

An enormous change in the capacity of capital to transcend national borders and make the nation-state redundant occurred starting in the 1970s. It’s an undeniable fact of objective reality that has to be dealt with. I’d love to hear what the progressive forced want to do about it. I’d love to work on a solution together. I’m sure it exists but we need to start looking for it already.

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9 responses to “Let’s Find a Solution”

Z

December 10, 2017

Well if negative effects of capitalism can no longer be mitigated here, either we become super self sufficient (we may be large enough for that, if we lower standard of living somewhat), or the world has to renounce capitalism. I guess. ?

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el

December 10, 2017

Just read about an attempt to attract capital:

The program to keep Jewish money flowing into Israel

// Launched seven years ago under the Birthright organization’s umbrella, the Birthright Israel Excel business leadership program aims to foster Jewish rising stars of American economy and introduce them to the ‘startup nation’ to guarantee future investments in the State of Israel.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5047120,00.html

In other news, after Trump said something vague about Jerusalem, Israeli Arab citizens decided once again to show their real face. I remember you once asking me whether we were at war with all Arabs (not only Gazans), so decided to share:

// Police launch investigation after bus comes under attack by at least one rock-thrower in Wadi Ara near Haifa; ‘Responses to Trump’s declaration will come from the Arab sector too, not just east Jerusalem.’

AND THEN

A near lynch in the heart of the State of Israel
Op-ed: Yedioth Ahronoth photographer recounts attack by violent protestors while covering Wadi Ara demonstration against US recognition of Jerusalem. How could police leave Israeli citizens unprotected opposite an enraged mob, he asks.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5054563,00.html

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1. Dreidel
  
  December 10, 2017
  
  Actually, the Arabs that matter (the Saudis and the rest of the Arab League) seem to be tacitly on Israel’s and Trump’s side, publicly tut-tutting Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, while focusing on Iran as their main enemy and casting the lost Palestinian cause aside.
  
  If there’s a “final peace” in the Middle East anytime soon, it will be on Israel’s terms, with all of Jerusalem and most of the West Bank permanently annexed to Israel, and the “Palestinians” left with what almost 70 years of impotent rage and hopeless resistance under incompetent leadership have left them — absolutely nothing.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    December 10, 2017
    
    And Trump just made happy yet another group among the constituents. While his opponents are reveling in the stories of how he once was in an elevator with a woman and nothing happened. This is looking really good for 2020.
    
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2. Clarissa
  
  December 10, 2017
  
  As for the attempts to lure capital and tie it to nation-states, everybody is falling all over themselves doing it. Everybody. Because it’s what there is.
  
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  1. cliff arroyo
    
    December 11, 2017
    
    But capital in a real physical sense doesn’t even exist in any tangible form anymore, it’s all computer code.
    The first step is realizing that.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      December 11, 2017
      
      Exactly. And that’s why when people go “tax the banksters!”, it’s meaningless because tomorrow “banksters” house their business electronically in Estonia or any other smart country that makes it possible. And who are you going to tax then? This is not Ford with his huge, unwieldy factory. It’s digital money that moves in a split second.
      
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UDR

December 11, 2017

My husband’s job involves reviewing tax documents for many businesses, and he says it’s an absolute joke to think that any except the smallest business pay anywhere near 35%

It’s all legal, but there are so many loopholes that most businesses pay a lower percentage of tax on profits than individuals on income.

So, what about changing the tax system so that it becomes simpler to pay a lower tax rate, say, 25%, but difficult and complicated to pay less that that? To the point where it would be a wash for a large corporation to hire tax attorneys and accountants to get a lower tax rate?

It would probably help a lot if we had actual meaningful healthcare reform as well. If heath care and health insurance were much less expensive, it would benefit both businesses (as they wouldn’t have to pay nearly as much on insurance) and individuals, but at this rate, small businesses owners are going to be completely priced out of the health care market.

Maybe there should be a governmental review of hospital bills by location, and a review of the actual costs involved, and a set limit at which point insurance companies do not have to pay (such as at hospitals that will charge an individual $12 for an aspirin tablet) but also a limit on the amount of times an insurance company can challenge the charges on a particular bill. The bickering back and forth between insurance companies and hospitals has created false price inflation on both sides of the issue, which ultimately falls on individuals and businesses that insure their employees.

I think the politician who can present the issues correctly could get the will of the American people behind them, but I also think that liberal politicians should embrace patriotism, to an extent. A lot of Americans would embrace an appeal to exceptionalism where they would not accept negative comparisons to European countries (“America is a great country, let’s solve this issue together” vs “we’re falling behind! Our educational system is terrible! Europe has already solved this issue!” etc.)

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1. Clarissa
  
  December 11, 2017
  
  I agree that this endless glorification of an entirely invented “perfect Europe” is tiresome. Gosh, it’s been almost 250 years, it’s time to get over the colonial mentality of worshipping the metropolis.
  
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