QuestionerAs we move into the 21st century, do you see a need to re-envision capitalist premises towards original notions of democracy, justice, and humanitarian concerns?
WarrenThere is, and always has been, that doesn't mean it always should be, but there is a tremendous amount of inequality. What you don't want is an inequality of opportunity. There will be a lot of inequality and ability. A market system, like we have, turns out what people want if they want to watch a heavyweight flight and they want to watch Mike Tyson, they're going to pay him $25 million for getting in the ring for a few minutes. And it produces what people like, and it produces in an abundance, and it's done very well in terms of production. It is much better to be in the bottom 20% in this country now than it was 50 years ago, and it's better to be in the bottom 20% of this country than in any other country. but it still isn't very satisfactory. The market system does not reward, it does not reward teachers, it does not reward, I mean, does not reward all kinds of people who do all kinds of useful thing in any way comparable to how it will reward entertainers or or people who can figure out the value of businesses or athletes or that sort of thing. I don't want to tinker with the market system. I don't think I should be telling people what they should want to do with their lives, but I do think that it's incumbent on the people that do very well under that system to be taxed in a manner that takes reasonable care of anybody that is not well adapted to that system, but that it's a perfectly decent citizen in every other regard. And that is, you know, I don't want to start getting into comparable worth in terms of how I tax pay it. But I do think that somebody like me that happens to just fit this system magnificently, but wouldn't be worth a dam in Bangladesh or someplace, you know, because what I have wouldn't pay off there. Their system would not reward that. I think that we get from society. The society provides me, this society provides me with enormous rewards for what I bring to the game. And it does the same with Mike Tyson and does the same with some guy who's adenoids it right for singing or whatever it may be. And I don't want to tamper with that, but I do think those people, who are getting all kinds of claim checks on the rest of society from that. I think there should be a system that people where people who are not well adapted to that system,
[2:39]
Charliebut that are perfectly decent citizen in every other respect, do not really, you know, fall through the slats on that. I like a certain amount of social intervention that takes some of the inequality out of results in capitalism. in capitalism, but I hate with a passion, rewarding anything that can be easily faked, because I think then people lie and lying works and the lying spreads, I think your whole civilization deteriorates. If I were running the world, the compensation for stress under workman's compensation would be zero, not because there isn't real stress, because there's no way to keep the fakery out if you reward stress at all.