7 ms·

Moneyland is a good book on this topic. Rich people (top 1%) don’t live or earn money “anywhere” anymore. There’s so much ease to global movement of capital the

by sprafa 7y ago

Moneyland is a good book on this topic. Rich people (top 1%) don’t live or earn money “anywhere” anymore. There’s so much ease to global movement of capital they just move it around so they pay - no taxes - have no accounts with their name on it - launder all their money legally (if need be) - buy up property and invest without any interest in any country in particular. It’s a depressing read.

kingkawn 7y ago
Just a temporary state of affairs that will soon be resolved in a global tidal wave of resentment and desperation, not to worry
- blueboo 7y ago
  A resentment and desperation to be indefinitely contained by the technology we're all building. gj folks!
- einhverfr 7y ago
  That tidal wave has many faces. Corbyn, Trump, Sturgeon, Brexit, AfD, Bernie, AOC, Syriza, and more. It is global, and radical, and across both the right and left.
- havetocharge 7y ago
  Will it though? It's a comforting thought, but is there more to it than wishful thinking? There's a shroud of secrecy around this money, so how will all this resentment will be targeted, exactly?
  - sequoia 7y ago
    > so how will all this resentment will be targeted, exactly? If you're a Jew who knows his or her history, you probably know the answer to this question already. Jews frequently get scapegoated by populists (and others) when people are targeting "stateless money changers" regardless of the fact that most of the key players mentioned here are English, Russian, and Chinese.
anovikov 7y ago
Vast majority of top 1% don't even have much capital to speak of. They are just workers making somewhere in the mid-6 figures - doctors, lawyers, small mom-and-pop business owners, best coders, etc. And they pay the majority of taxes, actually. Bottom half of Americans pay nothing and top 1% pays 35-40% of all taxes. You are not fair to those educated, strong, hardworking people.
- nicoburns 7y ago
  IMO people earning 6 figures should still be paying more taxes than they are (I earn less than that, and I'm pretty sure I should be taxed more than I am), but they're not the people that are really the problems. It's the multi-millionaires and billionaires that are hogging a disproportionate share of the worlds resources.
  - anovikov 7y ago
    This is just the inifinite scalability of success in the digital world, right? How can we complain if we are all actively working on the same thing?
    - nicoburns 7y ago
      Right. And our economic model needs to change to account for that scalability, because the natural constraint which previously made the system work(ish) has gone.
      - anovikov 7y ago
        I would say we must adjust our political model rather than economical. Let go of 'everyone votes' democracy, to give more representation to these people in the top 1% and less to the bottom 50% who don't contribute, just take from the public. Otherwise the government will turn into charade, it already does, see Trump. How can we expect people who don't pay takes, to vote responsibly? They don't put their money on the table. Do it, or Chinese will do it for us.
- 7y ago
plicense 7y ago
Even more depressing when I see co-workers, friends and family actually do that and I'm trying to climb the ladder by working hard and paying the last penny of tax I owe.
odiroot 7y ago
And as usual, at least in developed nations, the middle class is footing the bill for this top 1%.
patrickk 7y ago
If this is a topic of interest, I can recommend this independently created documentary 'The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire'. It's the story of how Britain's elite created a financial web spanning the globe, replacing the old empire with a new financial one, running from the Commonwealth countries back to London. That's why so many overseas British territories are associated with money laundering and tax evasion. Free to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8
rb808 7y ago
The top 1% of the world is 80m people, I think the book is rather about the top few thousand families.
- ppseafield 7y ago
  The article also mentions the folks who are made wealthy by working for those few thousand families. > A class of enablers has arisen to help Moneylanders perform parts two and three of what Bullough describes as their eternal cycle: “steal-hide-spend”. London overflows with lawyers, bankers, accountants, estate agents, public relations advisers, luxury-goods sellers, restaurateurs and art dealers who make their living servicing criminals. They see themselves as neutral, highly skilled professionals who (mostly, anyway) work within the law.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

by sprafa 7y ago

kingkawn 7y ago

Just a temporary state of affairs that will soon be resolved in a global tidal wave of resentment and desperation, not to worry

blueboo 7y ago
A resentment and desperation to be indefinitely contained by the technology we're all building. gj folks!
einhverfr 7y ago
That tidal wave has many faces. Corbyn, Trump, Sturgeon, Brexit, AfD, Bernie, AOC, Syriza, and more. It is global, and radical, and across both the right and left.
havetocharge 7y ago
Will it though? It's a comforting thought, but is there more to it than wishful thinking? There's a shroud of secrecy around this money, so how will all this resentment will be targeted, exactly?
- sequoia 7y ago
  > so how will all this resentment will be targeted, exactly? If you're a Jew who knows his or her history, you probably know the answer to this question already. Jews frequently get scapegoated by populists (and others) when people are targeting "stateless money changers" regardless of the fact that most of the key players mentioned here are English, Russian, and Chinese.

anovikov 7y ago

Vast majority of top 1% don't even have much capital to speak of. They are just workers making somewhere in the mid-6 figures - doctors, lawyers, small mom-and-pop business owners, best coders, etc. And they pay the majority of taxes, actually. Bottom half of Americans pay nothing and top 1% pays 35-40% of all taxes. You are not fair to those educated, strong, hardworking people.

nicoburns 7y ago
IMO people earning 6 figures should still be paying more taxes than they are (I earn less than that, and I'm pretty sure I should be taxed more than I am), but they're not the people that are really the problems. It's the multi-millionaires and billionaires that are hogging a disproportionate share of the worlds resources.
- anovikov 7y ago
  This is just the inifinite scalability of success in the digital world, right? How can we complain if we are all actively working on the same thing?
  - nicoburns 7y ago
    Right. And our economic model needs to change to account for that scalability, because the natural constraint which previously made the system work(ish) has gone.
    - anovikov 7y ago
      I would say we must adjust our political model rather than economical. Let go of 'everyone votes' democracy, to give more representation to these people in the top 1% and less to the bottom 50% who don't contribute, just take from the public. Otherwise the government will turn into charade, it already does, see Trump. How can we expect people who don't pay takes, to vote responsibly? They don't put their money on the table. Do it, or Chinese will do it for us.
7y ago

plicense 7y ago

Even more depressing when I see co-workers, friends and family actually do that and I'm trying to climb the ladder by working hard and paying the last penny of tax I owe.

odiroot 7y ago

And as usual, at least in developed nations, the middle class is footing the bill for this top 1%.

patrickk 7y ago

If this is a topic of interest, I can recommend this independently created documentary 'The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire'. It's the story of how Britain's elite created a financial web spanning the globe, replacing the old empire with a new financial one, running from the Commonwealth countries back to London. That's why so many overseas British territories are associated with money laundering and tax evasion. Free to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8

rb808 7y ago

The top 1% of the world is 80m people, I think the book is rather about the top few thousand families.

ppseafield 7y ago
The article also mentions the folks who are made wealthy by working for those few thousand families. > A class of enablers has arisen to help Moneylanders perform parts two and three of what Bullough describes as their eternal cycle: “steal-hide-spend”. London overflows with lawyers, bankers, accountants, estate agents, public relations advisers, luxury-goods sellers, restaurateurs and art dealers who make their living servicing criminals. They see themselves as neutral, highly skilled professionals who (mostly, anyway) work within the law.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]