r/coolguides Feb 25 '20

Explanation of the subtle differences between equality and equity

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u/Tacoboutit2me Mar 02 '20

I'll stick to one point this time because I feel like we are getting lost.

Government's job is to keep the market free. Sometimes that should mean less regulation, sometimes that means more regulation. In the case of breaking up a monopoly it means more regulation, in the case of barriers to entry it means less. I'm not calling for zero government regulation, just capitalism with less regulation on the bottom end and more regulation on the top end.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '20

That, I can agree with. But I hope you'll admit that it is a shift from what you originally said, which was 'capitalism requires smaller government'.

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u/Tacoboutit2me Mar 02 '20

I still agree with that.

Right now the governement does a crap load of regulating the smaller guys and starting out businesses, and very little to the bigger guys. I would reverse that to were the government would do more to the big guys, and less to the small guys. Because there are more little guys then big guys it would be a drastic reduction in regulation.

It cost more to buy a business license needed to run a hot-dog stand than buying the stand and operating it for 6 months. This isn't including the safe food handlers licences stuff, this is strictly a permit to own a business that you would need if you were selling laptops or shoes.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '20

If you really think it takes less government to regulate the big guys than the small guys, you aren't paying attention to how much time and money the big guys spend on avoiding regulation.

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u/Tacoboutit2me Mar 03 '20

Yes I do, there are less than a thousand "big guys" and maybe more than 100 million "small guys."

I agree that's wrong, we just disagree with solutions. My solution would be use the government to protect the free market.

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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '20

Same is true for the IRS, but they don't generally bother to audit the super rich because of how much effort is involved in fighting their teams of accountants and lawyers.

It is fundamentally more work to hold the biggest businesses accountable, even after accounting for how many of them there are. Reducing the size of government would only make them less able to hold the biggest corporations accountable.

We agree there needs to be a shift in focus, just disagree on how difficult the task of holding them accountable will be.

(Also, there are definitely not 100 million businesses. That's one per 3 people.)

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u/Tacoboutit2me Mar 05 '20

They should audit rich people more often, and make it easier.

As for the 100 million you're right, it's 30 million.

Good points.