HOWMARXISMWORKS.COM

I've always enjoyed HowStuffWorks.com. But in today's Raleigh News & Observer, founder Marshall Brain recommends that corporate dividends be banned, because, as he says, the "corporate dividend system redistributes a massive amount of wealth from consumers and employees to these wealthy shareholders, and it costs each of us a tremendous amount of money every year." And he's right. But what he really is proposing is the abolition of private property. After all, dividends are distributions of a company's private property to the owners of the company and they represent liquidated profits from the company. So, Mr. Brain is actually recommending the abolition of private property and the criminalization of corporate profit.

He even recommends that moneys that would be distributed as profits be distributed among the taxpayers because "the excess cash comes because corporations charge too much. Doesn't it make sense to send the money back to the consumers it came from?"

This is so breathtaking in its Marxist bluntness, so audacious and revolutionary a recommendation, I have to wonder if this is merely a Modest Proposal. If not, I note that HowStuffWorks is supported by advertising, that Circuit City advertises on the site and the money that Circuit City pays HowStuffWorks comes from overcharging its customers. I bought something recently at Circuit City, so I think that it's only fair for Marshall Brain to cut me a check for part of what he got in ad revenue from Circuit City.