Subject: Redistribution
To: ownership@cog.kent.edu
I was reading The Capitalist Manifesto last week and I came upon some interesting passages in the last two chapters about using redistributional income taxes to hasten the Capitalist Revolution. It seemed clear in my reading that Kelso and Adler believed that redistributional income taxes could be of assistance in bringing about the revolution and that tax reform to rely less on personal and corporate income taxes would come after the Capitalist system was well established, although these tools would still exist to break capital monopolies (as well as inheritance taxes).
My question to the Kelsonians is this: is there a writing where his opinion on these matters changed? When I look at the CESJ literature on Social Security Reform it appears to me that they seek an end to both progressive income taxes. Is this a Kelsonian position or is it unique to CESJ?
In my reading of the Manifesto, I also see that the question of large families is mostly ignored (although it appears that CESJ gets around this by starting capital homestead accounts at birth rather than during the career, which is what Kelso and Adler proposed in the Manifesto. It seemed that Kelso and Adler would not have made these accounts universal when they wrote their manifesto, at least initially, but would have started with those professional men (they do not mention women) who are able to make their investments wisely.
I am wondering if there is any treatment available which addresses the evolution of their theory from its past to its current form (which seems very different in some respects).
I am also interested in when Value Based Management was developed, and who developed it. It is actually somewhat in line with my own management theories, although I am a bit more of a leveler inside the firm (since I would have managers bid for their positions in open auction and have workers vote to break ties).