On Tue, 4 Nov 2008 14:02:02 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

snipped for sanity

Before we get too far off the track here, remember that the subject is
whether you can have a capitalist system with no growth. My assertion is
that you can't. Share prices versus dividends still leaves open the question
of why someone would risk capital by buying equity in a company that isn't
going to grow. Even if one company grows in such a system, it requires that
another one decline. The stock market then becomes a gambling game -- or,
more likely, it dries up -- because it's a zero-sum game overall.


Someone would risk cash for income i.e. dividends. The only justifiable and
sustainable rise in the price of the equities is the rate of inflation, since
those equities represent the value of the company.


I think that John has hit the nail on the head. income from capital gains
should be taxed at similar rates to income from labour.


Mind you, I think that anyone that makes a living from gambling should be
treated with significantly less respect than an honest pimp or drug pusher :-(


Mark Rand (happy Obama day
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