The Elite: It's a Big Club and You're Not in it

Journeyman said:
Grand Potentate Grand Potentate - Have you read Thomas Piketty's books - particularly his newish one, "Capital and Ideology"?

news.harvard.edu

Piketty's new book explores how economic inequality is perpetuated

Economist Thomas Piketty discusses his new research into the historical roots of inequality around the world and what can be done to begin redressing it.
news.harvard.edu news.harvard.edu
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Interesting that he regards Sweden in the early and middle 20th century very highly, they were big into eugenics and sterilizing individuals at the time.

This sounds good: ''The idea is to use a progressive tax on wealth in order to finance [a] capital transfer to every young adult at the age of 25. This transfer is in effect, 120,000 euros [about $134,000] per person, [which is] about the level of medium wealth today in France or in the U.S.'' There are similar systems in a number of Persian gulf states.

How will you manage those who miss out on this windfall because they were born a year to late?

And his proposal, being universal, will be transferring Euro 120,000 into the hands of extremely wealthy footballers and the children with large trust funds. Why should they get this money, whilst a 30 year old sub-Saharan immigrant working as a cleaner gets nothing? They surely deserve a slice of the cake.

The trick is to raise the standards of living to the extent where wealth disparity doesn't matter. That's the reality the Marxists and socialists can't grasp.

The old adage remains: Is it better to be a millionaire, or live like one?
 
Rambo said:
debt peonage

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Victor Davis Hanson has some good input on this and a solution i.e. the universities themselves being utter cynical bastards raising tuition costs beyond all inflation, exploiting youth with degrees that lead onto average or below average job opportunities, whilst charging top dollar, should be made to pick-up the tab for non-performing student loans.
 
giphy.webp
 
I would be surprised at Warren Buffett. He has been advocating an increase of taxes on top earners and regularly professes paying his fair share.
 
Fwiffo said:
I would be surprised at Warren Buffett. He has been advocating an increase of taxes on top earners and regularly professes paying his fair share.
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come on fwiffers. you're not really deluded enough to believe that are you?
 
Rambo said:
www.propublica.org

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
www.propublica.org www.propublica.org

Pimpernel Smith Pimpernel Smith Arnathor Arnathor you want a conspiracy, this is where you should focus your attention.
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It's not so much a conspiracy, as it's what the mega rich do. What do think all those philanthropic trusts are for? The rich do it here as well for two things: protect their wealth and to make sure they don't enter the top 500 rich list.
 
^ Money was less portable back then - harder to shift assets internationally and so easier to tax.

That all started to change in the 1960s and then really took off in the 1970s and 1980s. As those with lots of assets (both individuals and companies) can now shift them around very easily, we became involved in a race of "beggar thy neighbour".

I thought that this article was very good, although also very depressing:

www.theguardian.com

The real Goldfinger: the London banker who broke the world

The true story of how the City of London invented offshore banking – and set the rich free
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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