And Andrew Sullivan is leaving NY Mag

[Mik]

The hallmark of the left these past four years has been overplaying its hand. This fits right in.

[Mik]

@jon-nyc said in And Andrew Sullivan is leaving NY Mag:

I support more redistribution of wealth for entirely conservative reasons. Mainly to preserve political support for the capitalist system, which I truly believe is the least bad way of organizing society

How would you do that?

[Horace]

I would agree in principle based on the tendency for technology to concentrate wealth, and that technology is a product of the market system. When someone invents something that concentrates wealth all to themselves, you'd want your society to forcibly redistribute that. Or people will get angry and start rioting.

[jon-nyc]

Mik, I don’t have a specific program in mind, probably it would take the form of a more generous safety net, universal healthcare of some sort or another supported by progressive taxation. I’m open to the idea of UBI but I take Peterson’s objections pretty seriously.

[Mik]

My thoughts on universal healthcare are evolving, mostly because I see no serious activity in making it more transparent and market-based. I'm not a fan of UBI. Not at all. I am in favor of a more targeted and robust safety net but it needs to be temporary.

[jon-nyc]

But my real point above is that I changed my ‘natural’ position on it for pragmatic reasons. I’ve done the same for immigration.

I used to dismiss concerns about inequality, thinking the focus should be on reducing poverty, not worrying about rich vs poor gaps. But people aren’t wired to ignore that. That’s just a fact. So I decided we need to worry more about it for the sake of political stability.

Same with immigration. I am by nature an expansionist (though hardly an open borders guy). But too much immigration in too short a time causes political instability so I’ve compromised there too.

[Mik]

I think we are pretty similar in that respect. I'm all for immigration, but not open borders. I think it is unfortunate that financial jealousy leads us where we are, but there is a serious risk in ignoring it.

[Jolly]

You don't need universal care. You need a two-tiered health system.

[jon-nyc]

I’m not understanding your point but you can have a hybrid public-private system that is universal. Like the UK.

[Doctor Phibes]

@jon-nyc said in And Andrew Sullivan is leaving NY Mag:

Like the UK.

I hear lots of terrible things about the UK's system, mostly from Americans and the Daily Mail, however my own personal experience of it has been quite positive.

[jon-nyc]

Well, I wasn’t suggesting a clone of the NHS so much as a private system in parallel with a public one.

[Loki]

My only opposition to universal care is that people think it is going to look like the insurance they have now. Those with insurance won’t love it, they will end up spending more between their taxes and the cost of private.

[Doctor Phibes]

I seem to think that when I lived in Canada, the money I paid for Ontario Health was a fraction of what I'm now paying for private - and I don't even know the full cost here as my employer picks up a big chunk of it.

[jon-nyc]

Well to be fair you didn’t know the full cost there either because the government picked up most of it.