Deputy Rabkin will introduce a bill giving the tax agency free access to business databanks;
most Terrestrial delegates agree that falsifications and evasions are unacceptable;
however, Deputy Fia, sister of the Selenarch Brandir, claiming to represent "...the free folk..." (p. 388), calls such access a "...rape of privacy..." (ibid.);
she threatens to lead the Lunarians out of the legislature and to form a rump parliament.
Questions And Comments
Is possession of a bank account an entirely private matter?
Has Fia generated the entire contents of her account by her own unaided efforts?
Money is not a substance like air or water but a convention.
It is acquired by interactions with others and has value only insofar as it enables its possessor to influence the actions of others: the bigger the account, the greater the influence.
A money economy is a pyramid with a large base and a small apex.
A billionaire has (i) power over the actions of others and (ii) personal qualities, good, bad or indifferent, that do not warrant such power.
Fia's "freedom" is not each person's freedom of action but the freedom of a few to continue controlling the lives of the many.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't entirely agree with your characterization of Fia's actions and I'm more inclined than not to sympathize with her.
While I agree "money" is a convention based on "credit" or materials like gold which has been acquired in greater or smaller amounts, the ownership of that "credit" should be as free from gov't interference as possible and definitely should NOT be freely accessible at any time by any state. Rather, gov'ts should be forced to go thru strict procedures proving and demonstrating that it has just cause to access anyone's "credit" like that.
Sean
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