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To add to that, there was an interesting article in the FT, showing that the UK is essentially a poor country with some very rich elites. If you look at the sta

To add to that, there was an interesting article in the FT, showing that the UK is essentially a poor country with some very rich elites. If you look at the standard of living for say a "median income family" it is considerably lower than many countries on the continent. And perhaps, the rich too are running out of steam and being outpaces by their peers on the continent. Basically, inequality in action...

Nextgrid 3y ago
I think that the value of being "rich" is derived from being able to use that money to get other people to do things you can't or don't want to do yourself. This requires a functioning society, infrastructure, and a healthy low & middle class where those people can still afford a decent living to be able and motivated to work, provide services to the rich and consume what the rich' businesses sell (which in turns helps you be rich and remain so). This is where I see the UK failing more and more - critical infrastructure is falling apart as people outright "check out" from the grind or leave the country for greener pastures - why would you bother working for the "rich" if you'll end up no better off? Thus service quality decreases, "nobody wants to work anymore", every business is short-staffed and failing since patronage is falling due to lack of disposable income. When this starts affecting critical infrastructure such as transportation, healthcare or law enforcement, it becomes a death spiral that's really hard to reverse. Being "rich" in such a country is an increasingly precarious situation, especially when so much of that "richness" is inherited wealth owned by a generation that is itself aging rapidly and in dire need of good healthcare.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  According to figures from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38437011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38437011 on a per-capita basis the only polity that is predicted to beat the UK for losing High Net Worth Individuals is — Hong Kong. Although the reason HNWI's might wish to leave HK is obvious even to the casual observewr, reasons why the UK went from net importer to net exporter of HNWI's in 2017 may be murkier?

Nextgrid 3y ago

I think that the value of being "rich" is derived from being able to use that money to get other people to do things you can't or don't want to do yourself. This requires a functioning society, infrastructure, and a healthy low & middle class where those people can still afford a decent living to be able and motivated to work, provide services to the rich and consume what the rich' businesses sell (which in turns helps you be rich and remain so). This is where I see the UK failing more and more - critical infrastructure is falling apart as people outright "check out" from the grind or leave the country for greener pastures - why would you bother working for the "rich" if you'll end up no better off? Thus service quality decreases, "nobody wants to work anymore", every business is short-staffed and failing since patronage is falling due to lack of disposable income. When this starts affecting critical infrastructure such as transportation, healthcare or law enforcement, it becomes a death spiral that's really hard to reverse. Being "rich" in such a country is an increasingly precarious situation, especially when so much of that "richness" is inherited wealth owned by a generation that is itself aging rapidly and in dire need of good healthcare.

082349872349872 3y ago
According to figures from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38437011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38437011 on a per-capita basis the only polity that is predicted to beat the UK for losing High Net Worth Individuals is — Hong Kong. Although the reason HNWI's might wish to leave HK is obvious even to the casual observewr, reasons why the UK went from net importer to net exporter of HNWI's in 2017 may be murkier?