4 ms·

You mean in Norway? Yes, it works great. 70% of the country's non-housing wealth is in public ownership.

pjc50 8y ago
I don't think Norway got rich by seizure, rather by oil?
ChrisLomont 8y ago
They have a massive state oil fund of size about 3x GDP. If the US had such a fund, it would be worth 60T, about double the value of all US housing stock. Not every country has that luxury. And Norway didn't get there by seizing rich people companies to make them pay taxes. The problem with picking one place your idea (sort-of) worked is you may miss the overall trend. Try picking all places the rich have had their companies seized and see how it plays out overall.
- fulafel 8y ago
  There was a recent comic strip where a robot uprising used swords and spears due to using historical data for training.. sometimes using historical averages is not valid.
  - ChrisLomont 8y ago
    >sometimes using historical averages is not valid. True, but more often historical behavior is the correct prediction looking forward. The future is not likely random in all behavior. So your claim is only true when it's demonstrated that the historical averages are no longer valid ... There are countries right now failing after seizing wealth from their citizens (Kim in NK, Marcos in Phillipines, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Chavez in Venezuela, Pot in Cambodia, among others). France recently tried it for a season, and enough rich and wealth left the country that they reversed it almost immediately. Are there any that have recently prospered as a result of seizing the wealth of their rich?
    - fulafel 8y ago
      There are prosperous high tax countries such as the Nordics who are arguably doing a lite version of this.
    - dagw 8y ago
      There are countries right now failing after seizing wealth from their citizens All of those countries failed for different reasons and never solely because of "seizing wealth from their citizens", although that was always a component.

I don't think Norway got rich by seizure, rather by oil?

They have a massive state oil fund of size about 3x GDP. If the US had such a fund, it would be worth 60T, about double the value of all US housing stock. Not every country has that luxury. And Norway didn't get there by seizing rich people companies to make them pay taxes. The problem with picking one place your idea (sort-of) worked is you may miss the overall trend. Try picking all places the rich have had their companies seized and see how it plays out overall.

fulafel 8y ago
There was a recent comic strip where a robot uprising used swords and spears due to using historical data for training.. sometimes using historical averages is not valid.
- ChrisLomont 8y ago
  >sometimes using historical averages is not valid. True, but more often historical behavior is the correct prediction looking forward. The future is not likely random in all behavior. So your claim is only true when it's demonstrated that the historical averages are no longer valid ... There are countries right now failing after seizing wealth from their citizens (Kim in NK, Marcos in Phillipines, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Chavez in Venezuela, Pot in Cambodia, among others). France recently tried it for a season, and enough rich and wealth left the country that they reversed it almost immediately. Are there any that have recently prospered as a result of seizing the wealth of their rich?
  - fulafel 8y ago
    There are prosperous high tax countries such as the Nordics who are arguably doing a lite version of this.
  - dagw 8y ago
    There are countries right now failing after seizing wealth from their citizens All of those countries failed for different reasons and never solely because of "seizing wealth from their citizens", although that was always a component.