The funny thing is that, per capita, many european countries has more billionaires than the US. That's saying something about "The American Dream" imo.
What I meant is that the billionaires maybe doesn't need to uphold the status quo?
What I meant is that the billionaires maybe doesn't need to uphold the status quo?
I wouldn't say 'many'. The 'top' countries are places like Iceland, Guernsey, Monaco and Cypress which are skewed due to their tiny populations. The only country which can realistically 'compete' in this metric are Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
That being said, if we're talking "The American Dream" then simply measuring the number of billionaires isn't a useful metric. We should really focus on self made billionaires rather than people who became billionaires due to inheritance. On that metric I believe the US still leads the pack.
Tax havens. The billionaires themselves are usually "citizens of the world" who live in hotels or a series of holiday homes. Countries don't "have" billionaires in any kind of possessive sense any more. Instead they compete in the hope that billionaires will pass through and trickle down some wealth.
Healthcare is a price-inelastic good. Not having some form of pricing controls is a licence to rip the heart out of a population.
[0] https://howmuch.net/articles/billionaires-map
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/social-...
[2] https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/02_econ...
Ok, but comparing billionaires isn't then even a useful metric. Let's compare the number of self-made people who are financially independent. I.e. people who doesn't need to work if they wish not to.
I have no if there exists such data, but I would be a bit surprised if the US were leading on that. But perhaps the US is, I have no idea.
Not really clanking down on the US at all btw, I just think most european countries has a better view on work-life balance, social systems like healthcare and school etc. What I wish for the EU would be to put more focus on starting new companies the way the US does. The US is clearly the leader when it comes to that IMO.
As much as the mental overhead of expecting a sales tax on checkout annoys me, I'll suffer through it so that everyone has a constant reminder that the government is taking its cut.
Knowing what the take is for what you buy in person is such a tiny portion of the bigger picture. And with the county/state/federal variations how closely do you keep track of who is ripping you off and who is using the money well?
A friend of mine has a print of a painting showing soldiers around a large container holding goods and money that citizens were being forced to pay in tribute. The central figure in the painting is a man--I think his family is with him. I don't remember whether the painter shows him actually putting something in the container or not, but he's looking daggers at those guarding the tribute and enforcing its collection. That look reflects how people should think of paying taxes, and things like VAT and tax withholding that lull the host into not realizing just how much he or she is being taken for need to go away.
That's part of it, but you also need to consider whether these are things the taxpayers would have chosen to purchase on their own, at that price. If that were true, however, then there would be no point in making it mandatory; people would purchase these things on their own. Ergo, taxes, if they have any point at all, must only exist to purchase things taxpayers would not choose on their own, at least not at the prices they are forced to pay.
Depriving others of their property is "criminal behavior" even if the thief provides something the thief considers valuable in return. The key point is not whether you received something in exchange, but rather whether you gave your consent.
Apparently the anti-tax element of the Republicans are responsible for taxes in the US being much harder to file than in other countries, because they follow your principle that paying taxes should also inconvenience people in an attempt to make them angry about the whole thing.
Presumably they're not supposed to find out who was responsible for making them angry and wasting their time with pointless busywork.
https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...
Taxes are never about what YOU want to pay; no one is stopping you from "buying civilization" with your own money, if that is what you want. Rather, taxes are all about what you can make OTHER people pay for your "civilization".
All the things that taxes pay for can be purchased by private individuals and organizations working together of their own free will, and not because they are forced to do so. That is true civilization: civilized people cooperating to build a society where civilized, voluntary interaction, not force, is the norm.
Human beings purchasing things from each other with no legal system? With no property rights? Is this system global, and if not then how do you interact with other nations with their own systems. None of this can exist without someone with a big stick to keep people in line.