I agree with your sentiment but ask how questions such as "how much is enough" can be answered? I could imagine an arrangement analogous to "floating currency rates" where you define a band within which the market price can fluctuate. Progressive taxation coupled with social safety net can have this effect if taken to its combined extreme. But how realistic is that sort of thing in today's monetized society?
On a tangent, I find it curious how we all seem to have been brainwashed somehow into taking certain assumptions _automatically_ for valid that then frame the entire discussion.
I mean, where does the connection between "what you gave to society" and your financial profit come from? It's not at all clear to me, on second thought, that they are connected so closely. Also, what exactly does it mean to "give to society" when your (more neutrally formulated) net effect on your environment is determined not just by "effort" but also by randomness and by the very environment you interact with? Finally, it's not clear to me that everything can be quantified (in the special sense of putting a competitive market value on it). The concept of value is, I suspect, a strict superset of "monetary value", and it's important we understand (as a society) better what are the special conditions under which a mapping to "money space" makes sense.
Big, hairy questions, sure, but to give a concrete example for the last one: Since when does it make sense that the "performance" of museums or orchestras is measured in how much tickets they sell? (Incidentally, see how far today's terminology is off?) Yes, I can't pull a better answer out of my hat right now but I _am_ quite sure this question itself is framed in the wrong way because we already presuppose the applicability of concepts like "competitive exchange" and "valuation".
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer in competitive markets, private property and responsibility, and entrepreneurship. The thing is, I feel more and more that this type of thinking can only be applied to a subset of political issues, it is not a universal acid. And I just got reminded of how deep these issues are because even in your post, which goes generally in the same direction I am currently thinking, I can see certain ideas "embedded" already.
On a tangent, I find it curious how we all seem to have been brainwashed somehow into taking certain assumptions _automatically_ for valid that then frame the entire discussion.
I mean, where does the connection between "what you gave to society" and your financial profit come from? It's not at all clear to me, on second thought, that they are connected so closely. Also, what exactly does it mean to "give to society" when your (more neutrally formulated) net effect on your environment is determined not just by "effort" but also by randomness and by the very environment you interact with? Finally, it's not clear to me that everything can be quantified (in the special sense of putting a competitive market value on it). The concept of value is, I suspect, a strict superset of "monetary value", and it's important we understand (as a society) better what are the special conditions under which a mapping to "money space" makes sense.
Big, hairy questions, sure, but to give a concrete example for the last one: Since when does it make sense that the "performance" of museums or orchestras is measured in how much tickets they sell? (Incidentally, see how far today's terminology is off?) Yes, I can't pull a better answer out of my hat right now but I _am_ quite sure this question itself is framed in the wrong way because we already presuppose the applicability of concepts like "competitive exchange" and "valuation".
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer in competitive markets, private property and responsibility, and entrepreneurship. The thing is, I feel more and more that this type of thinking can only be applied to a subset of political issues, it is not a universal acid. And I just got reminded of how deep these issues are because even in your post, which goes generally in the same direction I am currently thinking, I can see certain ideas "embedded" already.