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How do rich people get rich? Scott Adams is as rich as he is because the government will make you pay him money if you distribute his work without paying him. Yes he is funny, yes he is talented, and no that doesn’t mean anything without the government keeping a newspaper from just copying yesterday’s Dilbert from some other paper and telling him to fuck off. He would probably be able to make a fine living doing the equivalent of busquing in print absent the state but he wouldn’t be rich.

It is idiotic for a person who only makes money because of a state enforced ban on the digital and mechanical reproduction of a cartoon to even muse that the people are insufficiently grateful to him for his contribution. Creating a world where people pay IP holders according to rates negotiated is not going to happen absent government, it is not a given, and it is not cheap. Creating a world where people generally think it is wrong to not pay IP holders is not a given and is not cheap.

I foody – http://www.metafilter.com/100065/How-to-Tax-the-Rich#3491666

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