MDMD: Dynasties!

[Michael Kenny]

Merit and money
By Thomas Sowell

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- SOME people may have found it an 
inspiring example of social conscience when various super-rich people, such 
as the Rockefellers, came out publicly against repealing the taxes that the 
federal government levies against the property left by people who have died. 
But it is a lot less than inspiring when you look at it in terms of how much 
damage death taxes do to others and how little damage such taxes do to the 
super-rich.

When you have hundreds of millions of dollars -- or tens of billions of 
dollars, in the case of Bill Gates -- you are never going to be able to 
spend it all on your own lifestyle in your own lifetime. So this 
wonderful-sounding defense of estate taxes will cost the super-rich nothing 
in their own lives. Moreover, even if the government were to confiscate 
three-quarters of their wealth upon their death, their heirs would still 
never have to work a day in their lives, because the remainder would still 
be so huge.

It is a very different story for an ordinary farmer or storekeeper or 
someone who owns a little automobile repair shop. What happens to what he 
has worked for and saved over a lifetime can make a huge difference to his 
widow and his orphaned children. By what right should what he has already 
paid taxes on be taxed yet again at a time when his family has just lost its 
breadwinner?

Or do right and wrong no longer matter? Can we just say magic words like 
"social justice" and start confiscating? That has been tried in a number of 
countries -- and its consequences have ranged from counterproductive to 
catastrophic.

Forcing viable businesses out of business because the heirs cannot pay the 
estate taxes without selling off the assets is a loss to the country, as 
well as an unjust burden on the individuals concerned. Moreover, people have 
foresight and one of the reasons they work and sacrifice is to see that 
those who are dependent on them will be taken care of after they are gone. 
Destroying or undermining that incentive is sabotaging a virtue that is as 
important morally and politically as it is economically.

Continued at:

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell030101.asp

>From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: MDMD:  Dynasties!
>Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 15:56:59 -0700
>
>Given the intergenerational character conflicts in M&D and that novel's
>concerns with the origins of the American nation and dream (and the
>eventual betrayal of that dream, as prefigured through the eyes of some of
>the novel's characters) (connections to other Pynchon novels, too, of
>course) some readers may find this article interesting:
>
>July 8, 2002
>
>DYNASTIES!
>
>by Kevin Phillips
>
>
>Maybe it's time for a new set of Fourth of July orations. Only at first
>blush is there silliness to the idea of the United States--the nation of
>the Minutemen, John and Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson--becoming a
>hereditary economic aristocracy. When you think about it, there is evidence
>for serious concern.
>
>More than a decade ago, the United States passed France to have the highest
>inequality ratios of any major Western nation. More and more of the
>country's richest clans have been setting up family offices, captive trust
>companies and other devices to manage and entrench their swelling fortunes.
>The elimination of the inheritance tax being sought by the Bush
>Administration will only make that entrenchment easier.
>
>Politically, we already have a dynasty at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the
>first son ever to take the presidency just eight years after it was held by
>his father, with the same party label. This dynasticism also has its
>economic side: both Bushes, père et fils, having been closely involved with
>the rise of Enron, another first for a presidential family, more on which
>shortly. [...] it seems clear, counting campaign contributions,
>consultancies, joint investments, deals, presidential library and inaugural
>contributions, speech fees and the like, that the Bush family and entourage
>collected some $8 million to $10 million from Enron over the years, which
>is more than changed hands in Harding's Teapot Dome scandal. Depending on
>some still-unclear relationships, it could be as high as $25 million. [...]
>
>
>... continues at
>
>http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020708&s=phillips




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