On Wed, 23 May 2001, you wrote: > First, let us on OPE-L thank Paul for his inquiry, which is a > breath of fresh air. > > That said, I would not presume to advise on a political situation > whose particulars I do not know. So I mention one policy tool, > not to recommend it but to offer a line of thought that Paul may > explore as he judges worthwhile. > > The idea is that the state takes pieces of equity/ownership and > gives longterm bonds in return. The interest in effect pensions > off the equity holder. Eventually the bonds mature, but perhaps > death and inheritance taxes deal with that situation. > One problem with this is that it would leave the state with a huge debt burden. It was this policy that was followed by the Labour governments of the 40s and 60s to do their nationalisations. It has the advantage of maintaining the viability of pensions but had the disadvantage of doing very little to reduce inequalities in wealth. I was wondering if the assembled list members could come up with an economic policy that would have a redistributive effect that was shorter tern than the one you suggest. > Some swaps could be mandatory, while other situations might be > voluntary offers when the government wants to put a floor under > share prices. > > The Chinese government used this technique in the early 1950s > with national capitalists, and government publications have > described details. > > Charles Andrews > Web site for my book is at http://www.LaborRepublic.org -- Paul Cockshott, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland 0141 330 3125 mobile:07946 476966 paul@cockshott.com http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/people/personal/wpc/ http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc/reports/index.html
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