Denmark desperately needs more inequality | Hacker News Reader

Denmark desperately needs more inequality

world.hey.com

12 pointspeterspath6 comments

The reason trickle down economics always fails isn't that the people at the top are all evil and greedy, it's that the pie doesn't actually grow, it's just the government borrowing from the future to fund the opulence of the upper class. Successes are outweighed by low risk failure and zombie firms that can fail over and over again. A welfare state is the opposite, the government is directly investing in the future by maintaining strong community.

America is spiraling towards another great depression with all the money tied up in these inflated EPS numbers. We have "trillion dollar" companies that routinely blow up on the launch pad (to thunderous applause) and get beaten by no-name Chinese labs.

A wealthy business owner argues that a wealth tax in Denmark will discourage the formation of new businesses there, and that new businesses are central to growth and prosperity.

Personally, I’m not convinced by the premise: I don’t think a wealth tax will significantly impact business formation. The author takes it as a given.

Wealth Taxes are an incredibly bad idea. So are Income Taxes. You don't tax productivity, since that disincentivizes productivity. Wealth Taxes punishes people for being successful and building wealth, but wealth is how you get the capital to deploy for new businesses. We want to increase the velocity of capital, so that more people can productively work and innovate. DHH is right again.

You know what, that's a great idea! Surely nothing bad will ever come from increasing wealth disparity by letting wealthy people hoard all the money, right? If we let them hoard all the money, then surely some will spill back down to the poor. A trickle perhaps. Actually that's a good name. Let's call it "trickle down economics". Bam! That's a winner right there! Surely no one else has tried this idea yet, right? I bet we'll only see amazing things from this new economy!

The issue with trickle down economics is that there are: 1. Taxes on labor, lower taxes on wealth. 2. A lack of taxes on land and rent. 3. Strict controls on developing land.

This turns housing into an asset class, punishes productive labor, and incentivizes parking capital in rent seeking operations (land, patents, monopolies).

DHH never ceases to amaze me with how despicable his non-tech views are.

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