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Comment by ShorsHammer | Hacker News Reader

I can tell all these things just by casually visiting a mall car park. I get to vote on the CEO's wages for the stocks I hold. Every public company executive in the country is a google search away.

Hell, I could probably locate a large list of rich people to go kidnap/rob/extort within 15 km of you just from online sources from the other side of the planet.

These problems you posit already exist for people with wealth and they (hopefully) take appropriate steps to protect themselves.

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This is true only for those that flash their wealth. I might be worth millions, but if I am driving a 10 year old Toyota, you wouldn’t know. Obviously this doesn’t apply to high profile jobs like the CEOs etc

Many people that flash their wealth aren’t in fact wealthy.

It's also possible to purchase cars that are extraordinarily expensive that the average person walking in the street wouldn't think twice about:

- Renault 5 Turbo: now worth anywhere between £60,000 and £120,000

- Peugeot 205 GTI: £15,000 to £20,000

- Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500: one recently sold for £113,000 (https://www.evo.co.uk/ford/ford-sierra/20210/ford-sierra-cos...)

If you don't flash your wealth but people have a way of knowing it you are still being safe thanks to the fact that there are many more rich people to attack, flashy or not.

Any data broker will happily sell you a list of high net worth individuals for a few dollars, customized any way you like it.

And I will not appear on such a list.

In Mexico, and other countries I'm sure, wealthy people don't drive expensive cars (I suppose those who do, have drivers and bullet-proof cars). I've had friends held up at gunpoint while waiting for traffic to move, even in an old car. It's too easy to call attention to yourself with a nice vehicle.

Well that's a complete lie. I know plenty of people in Maseratis, high end BMW, mercedes, and Audis, amongst others. Only one of them has body guards, and none of them have ever been mugged, kidnapped, etc (or even know someone who has been kidnapped). No one has a driver or bullet proof cars either.

We must know very different people! I'm really glad you haven't had friends who have experienced trauma. It's really, really awful when it happens.

You can tell that somebody has 100k to spend on a car but not that this person has 10 millions.

I don't want to live in a cage. I keep my assets private, to protect my family.

This article is about income tax being public, not assets. Though if you own assets like property or a home that info is public already.

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