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Comment by swlkr | Hacker News Reader

I know this wasn't intended but I thought it was interesting that he doesn't think of the 1% as Americans.

The 1% are above any state. They will align with any state that gives them favorable tax loopholes. If America clamps down they will just leave. Look at Eduardo Saverin for example.

> The 1% are above any state. They will align with any state that gives them favorable tax loopholes. If America clamps down they will just leave. Look at Eduardo Saverin for example.

The ability for an individual to choose their favored tax jurisdiction is an artifact of law, and laws can be changed. If America decides to clamp down on the 1%, it can also create laws to disincentivize leaving for tax reasons, like Saverin did.

Technicality: You're not referring to the 1%, but something like the .01% or even .001%. The difference between 1% and .01% income is staggering.

I think you mean .01%. The 1% maybe have 1-10million of savings.

And likely invest in assets that can't be moved to foreign soil.

They aren't, generally.

Given the condition of the lowest of our nation, "traitors" isn't an unreasonable way to describe the 1%, and no one in the 1% has ever seen a firing squad or the electric chair. Not even lethal injection. If they aren't subject to the same rules as Americans, are they really Americans? If they have a higher amount of wealth than sovereign countries, can they be considered anything but sovereign?

1% of the US population is something like 3 million people; let's say about 2 million adults. Do you really think that there are 2 million adults in the US who have "a higher amount of wealth than sovereign countries" and that the US should go and execute 2-3 million of its citizens?

Why stop at 1% and not 5% or 10%?

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