Tax and a Class Warfare Game
From: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/class-war-games/
As a Sociologist, the study of Marxist thought is of great interest and relevance. Karl Marx, one of the most well known thinkers of the field, believed that what made up our society was the struggle among the classes. It is interesting that we see now, in the state of our current economic affairs as a capitalist country, some semblance of class struggle that Marx would have argued inevitable. “Class warfare,” as we know it, is deeply rooted in Marx’s conflict theory and can be explained in many ways by game theory.
In her article “Class War Games,” Nancy Folbre brings our attention to the competition that arises between the classes in our economy. In many ways, the economy is fueled by the pursuit of self-interest on the part of the individuals. This pursuit of self-interest motivates not only a strong sense of competition, but also causes a clear division between the “strong” and the “weak.” If we think of the current condition of the economy in game-theoretic terms, we would see that we could predict the way in which future decisions about the division between classes will be handled. The main problem arises because some approximate one percent of the US population holds about thirty-eight percent of the country’s wealth. The term “class warfare,” has been brought back, Folbre says, since the Republican efforts to denounce tax increases on the wealthiest portion of society have been in the public eye. The whole taxing issue is a war-type game that relies heavily upon strategic decisions and calculations of factors such as political loyalty and uncertainty about the economic future.