This article originally appeared in the Daily Capitalist.
I am constantly reminded how useless are official and semi-official committees, subcommittees, boards, associations, organizations, bureaus, brotherhoods, conferences, dialogues, and congresses. The word bloviate comes to mind. Today that reminder came in the form of a report from the OECD on tax policy and inequality.
The "International Tax Dialogue (ITD) 4th Global Conference on Tax and Inequality" was held in New Delhi, India on December 7 to 9. Perhaps you could have guessed that their conclusion was inherent in their name: that is correct, tax policy can promote equality. Such conclusions are, to be generous, facile.
In our desire to provide transparency and shine the light of reason on such organizations, I will translate the essence of their report so that it is understandable to most readers.
Original text:
In his closing remarks, Rintaro Tamaki, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, said “As I travel around the world, a question that I get repeatedly asked is how can we deal with inequalities? What will be the impact of the crisis? How do we reconcile the fact that the behavior of banks was one of the major causes of crisis yet despite public bailouts, we see them continue to pay millions of dollars in bonuses? How can we show our citizens that the gains and the benefits of globalization are being fairly shared?”
Translation:
As I travel around the world, a question that I get repeatedly asked by politicians is how they can perpetuate inequality by taking money from the rich, fund their constituent bureaucracies, and then redistribute the money to projects run by their cronies. People aren't blind to the fact that the rich are getting richer from bailouts after their politicians' fiscal and monetary policies destroyed their economies. Voters are really pissed off.
Original text:
Deputy Secretary General Tamaki also said, “Politicians need to have good answers to these questions, and they need to have answers quickly, otherwise we risk a back lash against globalization as countries move back towards protectionism,” Mr. Tamaki said. He added: “This conference has shown that smart tax policy can reconcile the need to promote sustainable growth with the need to reduce excessive inequalities, particularly at the top end of the income scale.”
Translation:
These politicians are really afraid of their own people and they don't have much time left to find new scapegoats. They'll do anything to buy off their voters even though they know that such policies will ultimately cause even more economic harm. They need to figure out how much they can steal back from their rich cronies and pray that by the time the money is all spent some miracle will save their necks. Otherwise the mob may find that these people are ... superfluous.
There is a certain fetor emanating from such "dialogues." These people have no clue as to how prosperity and wealth is created, but they know how to steal it.