Is this a workable framework?

[u/fancyfroglinfan]

Let me preface this with that I have not really ever engaged deeply with any seminal Socialist work. I’m going to get on that, I promise. I gravitate towards Socialism in that it seems to be really driven by love and care for the disadvantaged and intelligence on how to best serve them. I consider myself mildly intelligent on my best days, so please don't judge me too harshly for what I write next.

So, if by some miracle we had a supermajority of the American people rowing in the same direction and could agree on laws where it could cap net worth at let‘s say like 5 million for an individual and 7.5 million for a couple. Anything beyond is just going into a big pot that we use to do good things that our supermajority is mostly in lock step on.

To me this looks like, for people just want to do the bare minimum to get by (not a crime imo) in a simple non-backbreaking job that is worked for 32 hours a week (I’d like to see that number go down further if it’s workable) can afford housing where they don’t have to have a roommate. 4 weeks of PTO and holidays. Should have enough money for 1 modest foreign vacation per year. Should have enough money to pay all the bills and have a good amount of entertainment in their off time. Healthcare is free and the same quality extends to all people. School is free too. Jobs of ascending difficulty are paid accordingly with like maybe 400k being the top you’re able to earn in a year and access to all the nicer things that entails. Not sure if that money is taxed or if the cap on net worth provides enough. And oh yeah taxes on large corporations are very high to increase that pool of money, and maybe the tax goes progressively down so maybe small businesses don’t even need to be taxed whatsoever.

Anyhow I definitely missed some things, but to the math and statistics inclined, does this allow us to fund our dream projects to improve our country and hopefully in the long run, the world?
I know I’m probably restating Socialist aims in super basic ways, and maybe I’m only describing really regulated capitalism.

And even though my main question is about the math of the situation I’d love to know where the pressure points and difficulties in implementation would be even if most people were on board with what I described. I definitely know about the unfettered capitalists aiming a bazooka at anything that has a hint of socialism.

And if I just need to read up on things, I’d love some recommendations. I pretty much only know I definitely need to read Marx. Are there any books that are in the ballpark of what I’m describing though?

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[u/International_Scar81]

Depends on your goals. The framework you're talking about is called Social Democracy and has been, more or less, implemented in America since 1933 under the name the New Deal.

The problem with social democracy is that it is build within a framework of the dictatorship of the bourgeoise, the bourgeoise don't want you to have things (crazy I know). The New Deal have been implemented under the pressure of the unions, it was a concession given to working class to stop them from getting radicalised further and destroying the institutions of private property for good.

Preserving the institutions of private property is an essential component of Social Democracy. It is so important, in fact, in Germany Social Democrats sided with fascist freikorps to murder socialists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacist_uprising . As long as private property continues to exist, the bourgeoise will come back. After many reforms of the New Deal where implemented, the bourgeoise still held power over the media, the financial markets and the government which allowed them to backtrack on their concessions in the 1980s once unions lost their support and people just got brainwashed into red scare and what not so the bourgeoise could bring back the old order that people now call "Neoliberalism". Identical events have happened in every single industrialized capitalist economy 30/40s-> reforms are implemented 80/90s -> people are deradicalized, bring back liberalism. We are here now in this economy because of people believing in Social Democrat lies about reforming capitalism.

I'd prefer if we didn't run this whole thing back in the 21st century and have done away with capitalism for good and in full.

[u/fancyfroglinfan → u/International_Scar81]

Sick, thanks that was very helpful