Charles writes:

> ...What rationale do you have to force the successful to tax themselves for
> those who are unsuccessful?

How about the Golden Rule?

--Greg

Just came back from Hungary (with a side-trip to Transylvania, which I leave
to another occasion) and I have no doubt the media war is over. Radio takes
back the 129 that were fired, and TV is now firmly under the control of one
pre-existing "family". Nobody cares about ideology, the whole fight is about
money/positions. As one somewhat cynical but very well informed insider told
me: the upshot is that the politicians learned they can't play rough with
the journalists (Mester's name was used as an example).

Cleared up a few minor points that have been debated long on this list: the
journalist accused of alcoholism/making a mess in Australia was Zelei, who
is known as politically neutral (neither MSZP/SZDSZ nor MDF/MIEP) and as a
journalist he is best known for promoting Edward Teller's ideas in Hungary.
Just as a curiousity, Zelei wrote books together with another journalist
named Gazso1, and at least one of these books (I haven't read the others)
concludes with an extensive quotation from a newspaper article by guess who?
our very own Joe Pannon! So it seems there is a bit of private feud between
these guys, maybe a once warm professional relationship gone sour, or just
the opposite, Joe couldn't recall Zelei's name because he wanted to cover up
for an old pal, it doesn't really matter one way or another. Whether Zelei
is an alcoholic is still unclear (but he is the one who has been singled out
by this accusation by the Tom Kennedy crowd) but it is clear he isn't/wasn't
a party hack.

As for the resignation/suspension of service issue, as I learned,
resignation (lemonda1s) comes only with 2 months severance pay while request
for termination (felfu2ggeszte1si ke1relem) comes with 24 months severance
pay (the actual figures might be different, but there is a very significant
difference between the two). Guess which one the media presidents did. On
the other side, SZDSZ is committed *not* to question the severance pay of
Csu1cs/Na1hlik/Pa1lfy G. etc.

Finally, written journalism. Now that it no longer makes any difference,
Magyar Nemzet seems to be firmly aligned to MDF. So they got the paper they
always wanted... Magyar Hirlap is now said to have SZDSZ sympathies, but of
course both are dwarfed by Ne1pszabadsa1g. There are two new weeklies, U1j
Demokrata (right-wing, but possibly not as bad as its predecessors, cheapo
paper, B&W) and Respublika (politically neutral, shiny paper, color) and
some of the traditionally libaral monthlies (in particular, Valo1sa1g) have
shifted to the right.  Besze1lo3 is on its last legs: Peto3 said they won't
give them SZDSZ money or state/government money, for if they did, SZDSZ would
be indistinguishable from MDF. Apparently, all weeklies (including Magyar
Narancs) are losing money, except for HVG.

Andra1s Kornai

Audrey Wright writes:
>Now, what I saw regarding Gypsies was very similar to what
>I see regarding ethnic minority groups in this country.
Perhaps at the level of everyday abuse/prejudices/racism it is.  But at the
political/societal level the situation is quite different.  In the US, there
is a black justice on the Supreme Court (maybe not the guy you'd want there,
but still) there are black senators, congressmen, governors, mayors of big
cities, state senators/congressmen, etc. etc. Their number in such positions
is not proportional to that of blacks in general, but it is not zero either.
At this point there might be a few token gypsies in Hungary's Parliament,
but that's about it -- there are no gypsies in the judiciary or in the
executive.  Even more importantly, the US has a significant black middle
class, and there is nothing unusual in seeing a black doctor, lawyer,
journalist, or university professor. I doubt there is one gypsy in Hungary
with a degree in law or medicine!

Andra1s Kornai

Charles,

you say in your message from Sun, 25 Sep 1994 18:27:03 CDT that Western Europea
n
welfare states are not being dismantled.

Well then,
how do you explain that people now have to pay in quite a few countries for
 education
- regardless of their financial situation - when they did not have to before ?
How do you interpret the fact that people have to take on jobs in most
countries, regardless of the qualifications they may be able to offer for the
 job
market, whereas before they could refuse to do so until they found a job
corresponding appropriately to their needs.
How do you interpret the fact that in most countries nowadays you get less
unemployment benefits than before - and often for a shorter time period.
What do you say about pensions not raised in line with inflation rates.
What do you think about the widening of the bandwith between richest and poores
t
10 percent of the population in all Western European countries, with the partia
l
 exception of
Germany and one Scandinavian country - Germany before reunification, that is.

In Western Europe nobody doubts that the welfare state is being reduced, or
streamlined, as some prefer. There are, however, only few people who would not
agree with the thrust of your argument which seems to be that there were
problems with the classic welfare system of the 60/70s. Since the national
 economies of
Western Europe experienced serious economic problems only since the 80s, nobody
cared much about these inefficiencies, as I would call them, until the economie
s
went downhill.

So, most Western Europeans will agree with you that the welfare state has to be
reformed. The question only is, do you think the changes one can see right now
are good as they are. Judging them by their effects, I don't. Do you ?

Peter

Charles inquired:

>--Are you talking about a tax on wealth (i.e., tax on the current worth
>of property, stocks, bonds, etc.) or a higher marginal rate on income?
>The main problem with a wealth tax is that it can't generate enough tax
>income without being confiscatory.

I wish I knew exactly what *they* are talking about. It is certainly not
property tax because Hungarians already pay property tax on their real estate
holdings and, as far as I know, their cars. It is not income tax because they
already pay income tax. HVG calls it "vagyonado1" or "vagyonde1zsma"
interchangeably. (Ado1 is the ordinary word for tax; de1zsma is tithe.
Orszagh's large dictionary calls "vagyonde1zsma" "capital/fiscal levy; tax on
capital" but this would not be the first time that the dictionary is wrong.)
My feeling is that it would include all your money in the bank as well as in
stocks and bonds. Perhaps even the value of your Persian rugs and
19th-century marble clock would be included. And, I guess, you would have to
assess the value of your library, in addition to your TV set and microwave.
In plain language, everything you own. In the spring of 1993 the
Constitutional Court considered the demand for such information
unconstitutional. Apparently such tax was in use in England for a short while
after the Second World War. Apparently, Hungary also tried it about the same
time. According to the article I read, most economists consider it a bad
idea: it would cost more to collect it than it would yield. This "wealth tax"
would be designed to unearth the hidden incomes. According to some estimates,
this hidden economy accounts for one-third of the GDP. Even *Nepszabadsag,*
close to the MSZP, was negative about it. If you read between the lines, the
economic expert of the newspaper made it clear that its introduction would be
stupid (szama1rsa1g). Eva Balogh

Does anyone know of a firm in North America which produces traditional Hungaria
n
Folk Costumes made to order?

B

Does anyone know of a firm in North America which produces traditional Hungaria
n
Folk Costumes made to order?

B