4 ms·

> It's anti-meritocratic for someone to invest their money intelligently in the stock market? I like how you threw in the word "intelligently" like this invest

> It's anti-meritocratic for someone to invest their money intelligently in the stock market? I like how you threw in the word "intelligently" like this investments was planned and thought out from the beginning ;) Thresholds are are not that hard to decide: It is about taxation that takes macro-economic behaviour and targets into account. We have a political party that wants to reduce capital gains tax in Denmark (currently 27%/42%). However, analysis shows that this would benefit only the wealthiest 2% so the consensus is that this is a bad idea from a macro economic perspective. The value of money is relative. Your 1 million dollars are worthless if everyone else has 10 million dollars. The second people act upon and realise that, we can start to build good economic systems.

zaptheimpaler 3y ago
If you really don’t believe that it’s possible to invest intelligently, better than others that’s just wrong. There are many people who have done that. Like there are 10000s of investments and over any long period of time, some will so far far better than others. Some of those will be public companies or otherwise be investments that are open to all people.
- madsbuch 3y ago
  I do believe that. But your choices has diminishing effects over long term. And also, in a meritocracy the "profit" needs to be congruent to the merits. I think there is a broad consensus that talent won't make you a billionarie in the stock market, otherwise we had seen many more people become billionaires in the stock market. If you really believe that that the person in question got billionaire on the stock market by their merits that’s just wrong.
lobocinza 3y ago
Macro-economy shows that EU is doing wrong as US companies outperform EU companies. Wealth/power concentration isn't due to capitalism but due to human nature and society scale. Even if success greatest factor is luck it still requires merit. By punishing success you're punishing people that put money into savings, that attempt to innovate and improve human society, that invest in promising areas. In the long term society will be stagnant. And I doubt that in the short term society will be more equal because forced distribution of wealth historically increases inequality.
- wokkel 3y ago
  Maybe companies, but they are not what should matter. As far as know the amount of poor people in the usa is also way higher than in Europe. If we take that into account i'd say that Europe is doing just fine.
  - jganetsk 3y ago
    > As far as know the amount of poor people in the usa is also way higher than in Europe. If we take that into account i'd say that Europe is doing just fine. Citation needed. No, Europe is not doing just fine. https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer-than https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer...
    - madsbuch 3y ago
      this is a strawman. you can't eat gdp per capita for dinner. yes, US people produce more waetlh for rich people. but they don't take home that wealth. try to find some statistics around spending power https://x.com/dima_heyqq/status/1758508340953448525?s=48&t=HFpDVya9Og6vdtYVsrbSrg https://x.com/dima_heyqq/status/1758508340953448525?s=48&t=H...
      - fiestaman 3y ago
        From your link: Singapore – 7922 $ / month Qatar 5628 UAE – 5585 Kuwait – 5250 Switzerland – 5232 Denmark – 4894 Germany – 4667 Austria – 4484 Saudi Arabia – 4419 South Korea – 4076 USA – 4066 Canada - 4026 Sweden – 3666 France – 3556 Hong Kong – 3219 Spain – 3148 UK – 3127 Finland – 2827 Israel – 2770 Poland – 2753 Portugal – 2220 Russia – 2159 China – 1823 (urban non-private) 1053 (urban private) Thailand – 1769 Indonesia – 1051
      - jganetsk 3y ago
        That's all included in the article, which admittedly is behind a paywall. He goes into great detail, including purchasing power parity, means vs medians, etc. And the conclusion is the US generates more wealth for the middle class than Europe does.

zaptheimpaler 3y ago

If you really don’t believe that it’s possible to invest intelligently, better than others that’s just wrong. There are many people who have done that. Like there are 10000s of investments and over any long period of time, some will so far far better than others. Some of those will be public companies or otherwise be investments that are open to all people.

madsbuch 3y ago
I do believe that. But your choices has diminishing effects over long term. And also, in a meritocracy the "profit" needs to be congruent to the merits. I think there is a broad consensus that talent won't make you a billionarie in the stock market, otherwise we had seen many more people become billionaires in the stock market. If you really believe that that the person in question got billionaire on the stock market by their merits that’s just wrong.

lobocinza 3y ago

Macro-economy shows that EU is doing wrong as US companies outperform EU companies. Wealth/power concentration isn't due to capitalism but due to human nature and society scale. Even if success greatest factor is luck it still requires merit. By punishing success you're punishing people that put money into savings, that attempt to innovate and improve human society, that invest in promising areas. In the long term society will be stagnant. And I doubt that in the short term society will be more equal because forced distribution of wealth historically increases inequality.

wokkel 3y ago
Maybe companies, but they are not what should matter. As far as know the amount of poor people in the usa is also way higher than in Europe. If we take that into account i'd say that Europe is doing just fine.
- jganetsk 3y ago
  > As far as know the amount of poor people in the usa is also way higher than in Europe. If we take that into account i'd say that Europe is doing just fine. Citation needed. No, Europe is not doing just fine. https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer-than https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/americans-are-generally-richer...
  - madsbuch 3y ago
    this is a strawman. you can't eat gdp per capita for dinner. yes, US people produce more waetlh for rich people. but they don't take home that wealth. try to find some statistics around spending power https://x.com/dima_heyqq/status/1758508340953448525?s=48&t=HFpDVya9Og6vdtYVsrbSrg https://x.com/dima_heyqq/status/1758508340953448525?s=48&t=H...
    - fiestaman 3y ago
      From your link: Singapore – 7922 $ / month Qatar 5628 UAE – 5585 Kuwait – 5250 Switzerland – 5232 Denmark – 4894 Germany – 4667 Austria – 4484 Saudi Arabia – 4419 South Korea – 4076 USA – 4066 Canada - 4026 Sweden – 3666 France – 3556 Hong Kong – 3219 Spain – 3148 UK – 3127 Finland – 2827 Israel – 2770 Poland – 2753 Portugal – 2220 Russia – 2159 China – 1823 (urban non-private) 1053 (urban private) Thailand – 1769 Indonesia – 1051
    - jganetsk 3y ago
      That's all included in the article, which admittedly is behind a paywall. He goes into great detail, including purchasing power parity, means vs medians, etc. And the conclusion is the US generates more wealth for the middle class than Europe does.