From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Fri Sep 30 2005 - 00:18:44 BST
Arlo, Wim, and all,
I think the "50 yard line" problem of wealth accumulation can be
avoided if we simply agree that wealth accumulation is not inherently
bad, but is immoral only insofar as it negatively affects the well-
being of others. The questions then become not how much is too much
but, rather...
1) What did you do to "get" it?
2) What are you doing with it?
3) What are you willing to do to keep it?
For example, I bet we'd all agree that becoming wealthy by writing a
book like ZMM is morally superior to becoming wealthy by
manufacturing land mines or cigarettes or depriving people of life-
saving drugs.
We could probably agree that someone who funnels his wealth back into
society by working for more progressive taxation policies (and not
evading taxes), is morally superior to someone who keeps every penny
in off-shore bank accounts and pays no taxes at all.
And we should certainly be able to agree that someone who will not
harm innocents in order to maintain or enhance his wealth is morally
superior to someone who has no such reservations.
This seems to me a pragmatic framework for discussion of this issue.
By analyzing such hypothetical scenarios I think we would, in time,
be able to draw some general conclusions about the relative morality
of wealth accumulation under certain circumstances. (I'm not
suggesting moral absolutes here, Matt, so don't hit me with Rorty
just yet :-))
Of course, not all of the scenarios will be so neatly cleaved. But
that's when the discussions will become most interesting, and most
revealing. Or so it seems to me.
Here's one...
Is someone who cracks a bank vault at night morally beneath S&L
owners who stole millions from taxpayers during the 1980's? (FYI, the
few who went to jail received sentences one-fifth that of the average
bank robber.) How about bankers who have become wealthy by knowingly
laundering drug money, or by straight-forward embezzlement?
Best to all,
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
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