Let's Create a Transaction Tax, Doing Something for Others
Firstly, this is not a criticism, merely an observation and explanation and I want more people to take advantage of the transparency on the Steem blockchain to see what really goes on if you scratch beneath the thin surface layer of content!
Ok? So,
If any more proof were needed that this whole blockchain is little more than a game of economics where content, its quality or otherwise actually mattered, take a trip into steemreports.com and check out the delegations section.
For the uninitiated, if you look at someones wallet and see (+xxxxxx) amount under their SP, this means they are receiving a delegation from someone.
Want to know who ?
Yessss, the blockchain is a voyeurs wet dream. Go to Steemreports type in a name, click delegations and it shows you who they recieve a delegation from, whom they delegate to and all sorts of other information
So, someone with a huge SP, whether invested or otherwise, delegates part of this SP to someone else, either through one of the delegation shops or blocktrades or minnowboosters or even purely by the kindness of their hearts. Then what seems to often happen is that this person then uses their delegation to sell votes or use to upvote themselves.
OK confession time. I once did this. Admittedly without fully understanding the system and its effects, but when I first joined, a kind whale dropped me a 500SP delegation without me asking, for me to use to help and encourage new users. I did try to do this but I also, to my shame, upvoted myself and sold votes using it. Not fully understanding the system, I should have done a damn sight better than I did with it but hey, that'll teach me and it was a lesson learned!
So, is this behaviour a problem?
Simply no. Who am I to judge, because it is of very little difference to the way traditional economies work. A few rich people, lend their money for a profit to people who lend it on for a smaller profit until you get down to the bottom where the people use their pittance to try to invest in themselves and better their lives. In many cases, they seriously need bettering.
Hang on though. The thing is, blockchain economics was supposed to be a better economic model wasn't it ? Empowering those who needed a foot up, attempting to help alleviate suffering and poverty.
Yes the rich cried, provide quality content and you shall receive rewards and help from curation trails and heaven knows whatever else.
There's a problem though.
Not everyone is able to produce quality content, some people are a bit thick. It's how it is.
But just because you were born in a poor part of the world and have an IQ lower than your shoe size, does this mean you should be hungry and have a shit life?
NO
This is how Steem can make a difference.....
....but before I tell you, a huge shoutout to all the lovely people on this blockchain who aren't here just to 'Lambo or bust'. I'm talking @surpassinggoogle, @charitybot, @maverickinvictus, that Nigerian bloke who does school stuff, Sir thingyalot, @epicdave building libraries for Syrian refugees...sorry I cant recall all the names and all the people who genuinely care and try to do stuff for others, but just know. You are fucking brilliant.
So...
(Libertarians, Voluntaryists cover your eyes NOW)
What we do is impose a transaction tax on each and every transaction on the blockchain based on a simple percentage and give the proceeds to a group of trusted members. Half this they use for projects, half is used to give every post that merits an agreed criteria, an upvote based upon the rep of the poster. Lower the posters lifetime SP earnings, higher the upvote....needs somd input but thats basically the idea, a kind of basic income from at least making an effort and a pot of cash to give direct aid to worthwhile causes being run by members. No one will notice a few thousandths of an SP off their transaction and with the thousands of daily transactions.......
The bottom line is, the wealthiest SP holders need us bottom feeders to keep producing content to keep the cashflow moving back up to them, hence all the words of 'encouragement' to keep working when the price is low.
I don't (you may have noticed!) subscribe to libertarianism or voluntaryism simply because I know for a fact that its a utopian folly. The human race cannot yet rely on itself to freely provide for its weakest members, and whilst ever there is such a thing as 'greed' in existence, it's an impossible dream. Whilst always championing a cause for more individual rights and freedoms, this must not come at the cost of those unable to choose their given situation being left to rot.
I also know there will always be wealthy people and poor people, thats ok too, but what is definitely not ok is that in 2018, people are dying from hunger, people have no access to clean water or education, basic healthcare or there are homeless sleeping rough in the streets, the freedom and liberty go on the back burner.
The Steem blockchain has a chance to help change that, and if we can't do it voluntarily, then I for one am all for imposing a kind of good deed tax. This will help the community to flourish, encourage new members and grow the price, thus giving everyone a boost from top to bottom.
Finally, to bastardise Ghandi a little.....
A community's greatness is judged on how it treats its weakest members
Some kind of distribution system could be set in stone at the blockchain level, I know anything can be gamed but it would be of great help to those who, as you put it, are currently unable to produce noteworthy content yet are still human beings with basic needs.
I think any sort of tax on transactions might slow down movement at the lower ends too much, and if it's scaling it will just cause people to aggregate wealth or create smaller alt accounts depending on if it's geared towards the high ends or not.
Maybe something that allocates part of the rewards pool towards something that's hooked into a 1 user 1 account UBI system, that way it's done "fairly"? I'm sure many including other UBI coins have tried, but it's decently difficult to implement and there's almost no way to do it without some level of invasion of privacy.
I do agree with the notion that this kind of a thing will be beyond necessary. Also, thanks for the shoutout, but I'm certain I'm not quite "there" yet, lol. I'm just a simple bot.
lol...you care. You stay on the list!
I was just thinking out loud really (and perhaps attempting to goad a few people), Id been tracing back big delegations. You know the richest people on here basically dont post anything! Smoke and mirrors!
Yes, it's kind of depressing to know that the whitepaper actually establishes that they hope that people will gamble away their time and effort to produce content in an attempt to get uncertain payouts, all the while some of the largest delegations don't even sit idle but instead actively siphon out the reward pool via the many mechanisms that allow them to do so as they also hope to see a large increase in the marketcap via the efforts of those who have the least stake.
But uh, at least there is some room at the bottom for everyone else, and there are some larger, medium, and smaller players who care.
I am your supporter.
This post has received a 3.99 % upvote from @boomerang.
You got a 12.34% upvote from @emperorofnaps courtesy of @nathen007!
Want to promote your posts too? Send 0.05+ SBD or STEEM to @emperorofnaps to receive a share of a full upvote every 2.4 hours...Then go relax and take a nap!
You can already do this - by choice. You can set up a group of trusted member who you, and anyone else who chooses, can send a small amount of their transfers too any time they make a transfer. You could even go as far as to make a web app to facilitate this.
However most of the people here don't want additional costs to STEEM or SBD transfers, in fact it's one of the main features of the blockchain. Pretty much every other blockchain, and all of note, have transfer costs.
I'm afraid you're stuck with the libertarian ethos, do you know who the technical founder was or anything about him? Your tax proposal will never fly. If you are critical of utopia you should bear that in mind, as you are inclined to pragmatism.
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