a commentary on taxes

[Francesca R]

Capital is just a way of paying for the labor of those starving villagers. THe land and their labor are a source of wealth.

Retreat noted (at least you were quick about it). What about the tools, or maybe even machines? How about the anti-malaria bed nets that stop the workers being decimated? Or the ARV medical supplies that do likewise? Does water and shelter help?

It does no good to throw capital at the village unless they are able to do somethiong with it.

It does substantially more good than keeping it yourself while bolstering your position with an outrageous lie like: "No good to you sunshine, doesn't create wealth, sorry".

So, I am supposed to be glad that my job gets moved to Guinea when Nike builds a shoe factory on what used to be a peanut field.

Got it.

Yeah pretty much. If you were to have genuine reasons for being a dinosaur who couldn't possibly do anything else ever, maybe your society would be benevolent enough to support you. But maybe not if it's the US.

 

[leftysergeant]

The capital to equip the villagers to produce more has to be produced elsewhere, by human labor.

Capital is the creation of labor, and is used to redistribute, rather than create wealth.

 

[Francesca R]

Not all capital is produced by human labour; some of it is resource endowment. You already mentioned land yourself. Labour can augment its value, and capital can augment labour's value. Of course capital creates wealth (income for consumption or saving)--that's pretty close to the definition of capital.

And yes, the capital has to be sourced from elsewhere in the context of a society lacking its own and with insufficient income to acquire it. That's why to "throw capital at [the village]" very likely does do good.