75-03-B2
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Tax Plan #1[edit]
Transcript[edit]Has capitalism used all of the tools available to it and its worldwide struggle with socialism? some of us don't think so. I'll be right back. Capitalism hasn't used the best tool of all in a struggle against socialism and that's capitalism itself. Roughly ninety four percent of the people in capitalist America make their living from wages or salaries. Only six percent are true capitalists in the sense of deriving their income from ownership of the means of production. Both groups enjoy the highest standard of living the world as ever known, certainly far better than anything socialism has produced for its people. We can win the argument once and for all by simply making more of our people capitalists. More than a hundred years ago, Abe Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, making it possible for our people to own land. This was a revolutionary development. Ownership of land in most of the world had not been possible for the ordinary citizen. Generally land belonged to the king or emperor and through him to the favored aristocracy. The Homestead Act set the pattern for American capitalism. Today 53 million Americans own their own homes. Now we need an industrial homestead act and that isn't impossible, as a matter of fact any number of companies and corporations in America have tried in a variety of ways to spread ownership to their employees. In San Francisco a man named Louis Kelso has evolved a plan which a number of corporations have already implemented. Now when a corporation needs to expand, it finances the expansion either by borrowing or by selling a new stock issue. Under the Kelso plan, an employee trust is formed. A company desiring new capital sells a new stock issue to this employee trust. The trust in turn borrows the money from a bank or lending unit using the stock as collateral. Each individual employee winds up owning stock in the company directly proportionate to his salary or wage level and he has a vested interest in the company's ability to prosper. And to increase earnings over the next ten years there'll probably be five hundred billion dollars worth of new investment for businesses and industrial expansion it can also be five hundred billion dollars worth of corporate ownership by employees. An increasing number of citizens thus would have two sources of income. A paycheck and a share of the profits. Could there be a better answer to the stupidity of Karl Marx than millions of workers individually sharing in the ownership of the means of production? Some years ago an executive of the Ford Motor Company was showing the late Walter Ruther head of the Auto Worker's Union through the Ford assembly plant in Cleveland Ohio. Pointing to the latest in automated machinery he said "Walter you will have a hard time collecting Union dues from those machines." and Walter replied "you'll have a harder time selling them automobiles." The obvious answer neither of them thought of was that owners of machines can buy automobiles. Tomorrow, I'll tell you of another plan one that would give every registered voter in America an active share of ownership in the industry of America. It's possible to have that and the plan I've just described. All it takes is a bill by Congress. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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