it is difficult for us to agree if there is a threshold to which a person who has accumulated wealth must have shifted from 'earning' it to 'taking' it, and whether 'taking' it is analogous to 'stealing' it.
sometimes people believe wealth transfer is a zero sum game, sometimes people believe it never is, and the truth is probably in between
if you believe that a single human can earn a thousand billion dollars, it follows you can believe a million people losing a million dollars is its just inverse
i dont know enough about people or money to make up my mind
i have a roaring vermont castings wood stove running, its -15C outside, and i am fine; i am 14 oak logs away from changing my world view
this system is fragile but we measure it instantaneously
But it has been realized, you got $1B dollars from it.
Like imagine if in the future when you go to the grocery store you never "buy" any items from them. You just "loan" a banana from them secured by a gold coin. They themselves use that loan as collateral to get money to then pay for their operations.
Every example against this is somebody being like "I bought a house for 10k and now its worth $2M; I don't want a large tax bill!". And yeah; you won't get _any_ tax bill because you aren't using the house as collateral on a $2M loan.
I don't know how you meant that, but if you repeatedly make bad decisions regarding the income you do get, then yes, you will be poor and I shouldn't have to foot that bill.
Personal responsibility is important for a civilized society.
When the rich are being impaled by pitchforks I hope they spare thought about how they should have been more personally responsible for keeping society together.
There's a limited number of resources on the earth. There's limited farmland, limited land for property, commercial properties, etc. Then there is limited amount of water, precious minerals in the ground, oil, etc.
If one group of peoples wealth increases a lot faster than everyone else then that means that over time they end up owning a bigger piece of our limited resources. The natural outcome of this is the same thing that happens in every game of monopoly, some people end up owning everything, while other people have to rent everything and have nothing to own of their own.
Imagine being born into a world very everything (land and other resources) are owned by a small group of people and you have no outcome in life where you could ever own anything? Never buy your own house, never start and own your own company. A world where everything is divided at birth between the people that own this world and the people that don't.
it is difficult for us to agree if there is a threshold to which a person who has accumulated wealth must have shifted from 'earning' it to 'taking' it, and whether 'taking' it is analogous to 'stealing' it.
sometimes people believe wealth transfer is a zero sum game, sometimes people believe it never is, and the truth is probably in between
if you believe that a single human can earn a thousand billion dollars, it follows you can believe a million people losing a million dollars is its just inverse
i dont know enough about people or money to make up my mind
i have a roaring vermont castings wood stove running, its -15C outside, and i am fine; i am 14 oak logs away from changing my world view
this system is fragile but we measure it instantaneously
Why wouldn't you just increase the top tax rate instead of a wealth tax?
Plus also stop pretending that borrowing $1B against an asset you bought for $500 isn't a realized gain and tax that too.
Because gains[1] through capital are legally different from income.
There are a lot of opinions [2] about this from the usual sources.
1. Unrealized.
2. One of many examples https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41380031
But it has been realized, you got $1B dollars from it.
Like imagine if in the future when you go to the grocery store you never "buy" any items from them. You just "loan" a banana from them secured by a gold coin. They themselves use that loan as collateral to get money to then pay for their operations.
Every example against this is somebody being like "I bought a house for 10k and now its worth $2M; I don't want a large tax bill!". And yeah; you won't get _any_ tax bill because you aren't using the house as collateral on a $2M loan.
In other words, American voters continue to fall for the "trickle down" con and suffer the consequences.
The rich are out to prove that stupid people deserve to be poor.
> stupid people deserve to poor
I don't know how you meant that, but if you repeatedly make bad decisions regarding the income you do get, then yes, you will be poor and I shouldn't have to foot that bill.
Personal responsibility is important for a civilized society.
When the rich are being impaled by pitchforks I hope they spare thought about how they should have been more personally responsible for keeping society together.
Good news then because taxing the wealthy wouldn't increase what you pay in the slightest.
No reason why my neighbor shouldn’t be able to afford health care for his sick mother.
In other words, no reason why all the wealth needs to be hoarded at the top. It needs to be shared. Otherwise good people are suffering needlessly.
Really very cruel and heartless to just be transferring wealth instead of allowing it to circulate.
exactly how did this wealth increase made anyone poorer?
no non-mad replies because it didn't
There's a limited number of resources on the earth. There's limited farmland, limited land for property, commercial properties, etc. Then there is limited amount of water, precious minerals in the ground, oil, etc.
If one group of peoples wealth increases a lot faster than everyone else then that means that over time they end up owning a bigger piece of our limited resources. The natural outcome of this is the same thing that happens in every game of monopoly, some people end up owning everything, while other people have to rent everything and have nothing to own of their own.
Imagine being born into a world very everything (land and other resources) are owned by a small group of people and you have no outcome in life where you could ever own anything? Never buy your own house, never start and own your own company. A world where everything is divided at birth between the people that own this world and the people that don't.