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The Socialist Counter-revolution Begins: France's Richest Man Seeks Belgian Citizenship
A few months ago when the new French socialist president gave details of his particular version of the "fairness doctrine" and said he would tax millionaires at 75%, we said that "we are rotating our secular long thesis away from Belgian caterers and into tax offshoring advisors, now that nobody in the 1% will pay any taxes ever again." While there was an element of hyperbole in the above statement, the implication was clear: France's richest will actively seek tax havens which don't seek to extract three quarters of their earnings, in the process depriving France (and other countries who adopt comparable surtaxes on the rich) of critical tax revenues. It took three months for this to be confirmed, and with a bang at that. The WSJ reports that Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, and the richest man in France, has decided to forego hollow Buffetian rhetoric that paying extra tax is one's sworn duty, and has sought Belgian citizenship.
From the WSJ:
Bernard Arnault, France's richest man and chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is seeking Belgian citizenship, a move that comes as President François Hollande prepares to press ahead with a controversial tax on the country's wealthiest citizens.
Georges Dallemagne, president of Belgium's naturalization commission, said Mr. Arnault's case was filed at the end of August and will be "treated like others." Mr. Dallemagne said the process would take until "early next year, at best."
Though the LVMH titan denies his move is fiscally motivated, the timing of Mr. Arnault's request is sure to intensify the debate about whether Mr. Hollande's tax policies are sparking an exodus of the country's rich.
As a reminder, it took Monsieur Hollande four months to reneg on his promise to never bailout evil banks, when just last week he bailed out the second largest French home loan specialist, in the process pledging tens of billions in taxpayer funds. Precisely what he said he would not do. We expect Hollande will also reneg on his populist promises of exorbitant taxation of the wealthy once the Arnault backlash spreads among the remainder of the French "1%", who just happen to pay the bulk of French taxes.
On the other hand, perhaps it won't, and just like the US, France will become increasingly reliant on debt to fund its ever increasing budget deficits. As we showed before, this is the breakdown of how the US funds its $4 trillion (and growing) cash needs. What is obvious is that with time more and more of the funding need will be met through debt issuance, and thus, debt monetization.
Paradoxically, and a continuation of our article from yesterday on the mechanics of QE, the US will need to raise its debt issuance, and thus accelerate its fiscal profligacy in order to allow Bernanke to monetize more debt, so that more brand new money can enter stocks (recall that the Russell 2000 has been the Fed's only mandate for years) via the Fed's LSAP channel, without impairing the liquidity of the now very much limited long end of the Treasury (and MBS) market.
Finally, it wouldn't be the New Normal if this latest development in the socialist backlash was not accompanied by a hollow statement signifying nothing:
LVMH confirmed Mr. Arnault's request in a statement, but stressed the billionaire would remain a taxpayer in France.
For one more week? One more month? In other news, subprime is contained. And speaking of amusing, and very much hollow, rhetoric, we wonder if Mr. Whitney Tilson, who may or may not be a millionaire any longer, still endorses this April 11 point of view:
A millionaire for higher taxes
Whitney Tilson is a hedge fund manager and a member of Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength.
I am part of the 1 percent of the 1 percent. By that I mean that I am fortunate to be a wealthy American and I say, “It’s okay to raise my taxes.”
This morning I was at the White House supporting President Obama in his call for Congress to pass the “Buffett rule.” This legislation — inspired in part by Warren Buffett’s exasperation upon learning that his assistant paid a greater percentage of her income in federal taxes than he did — would require anyone whose income exceeds $1 million a year to pay a minimum 30 percent in taxes. It would hit me hard. I haven’t finished my taxes for 2011, but in 2010, my federal tax rate was 21.4 percent; if the Buffett rule had been in effect, my federal tax bill would have been 40 percent higher. Some years, my taxes would probably be more than 50 percent higher.
Why am I okay with this? The answer has to do with simple math and basic fairness.
This country is running enormous and unsustainable budget deficits that will bankrupt us all if they are not narrowed — and there is no way to do that without both cutting spending and raising revenue. (Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge is pie-in-the-sky fantasy and dangerous demagoguery.) Everyone is going to have to make sacrifices as part of a comprehensive budget deal along the lines of Simpson-Bowles, with tens of millions of people getting smaller entitlement benefits, for example, and tens of millions of people paying higher taxes.
It’s not class warfare to say that people like me — who aren’t suffering at all in these tough economic times, who are in many cases doing the best we’ve ever done and who can easily afford to pay more in taxes with no impact on our lifestyle — should be the first to step up and make a small sacrifice.
I think most people agree with the idea of shared sacrifice, but for many, when push comes to shove, that principle goes out the window. I don’t kid myself that I’m making any real sacrifices. The men and women who have been fighting for the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan — thousands of them coming home in coffins or missing limbs — are making true sacrifices. And when they enter the domestic workforce, they shouldn’t have to pay taxes at a significantly higher rate than the vast majority of millionaires pay.
Some critics of the Buffett rule point out that it would raise only an estimated $47 billion over 10 years, which is a sliver of the 2011 deficit of $1.3 trillion, let alone the national debt of $15.6 trillion. They’re right that this, by itself, won’t be enough. But we have to start raising money somewhere, and if it isn’t from people like me, it will have to come from people less fortunate than I am. Think of it this way: Every billion dollars not raised from millionaires is equal to a million average U.S. families each paying an extra $1,000 in taxes. That would be real hardship for a lot of families that, unlike mine, are struggling to make ends meet.
Other critics argue that there’s no need for anyone to pay more taxes, because our government is so ineffective and wasteful that we can generate the savings we need just by running it better. I disagree. While there’s always plenty of room for improvement, our government is actually quite effective and efficient. Our military and judicial systems and national parks are the best in the world. Unlike in countries where government corruption is rampant, I’ve never once been solicited for a bribe. And our police departments generally do a good job protecting citizens. My wife and I walk our dog in Central Park every night after 10 p.m. and have never feared for our safety.
I think that most people who complain about our government have no idea what they’re talking about because they’ve never been to a country with a bad government. I regularly visit Kenya (my parents retired there and my sister works there), I visited Ethiopia many times when my parents lived there, and growing up I lived for three years each in Tanzania and Nicaragua. So I’ve seen what life is like under corrupt, dysfunctional, underfunded governments. To quote Hobbes, it can be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
I am grateful for the effective government we have in this country, which is the absolutely necessary foundation for our wonderful capitalistic economic system that has benefited me so greatly. And I’m willing to do my fair share — in fact, more than my fair share — to help rein in our deficits and put this country on a more sustainable path.
Perhaps now that Whitney no longer has a need to pander to Buffett in every form, courtesy of the recent terminal blow up of his now former hedge fund T2 aka BRK/C (in everything but return of course), he may readdress his feelings on the matter.
Finally we leave readers with what we said last time we addressed this issue:
The good news is that with the entire world set to adopt 100%+ taxes on "wealthy" individuals as defined arbitrarily by Ph.Ds, there will be no place to hide.
The irony of course, is that while the central planners give with one hand, by ramping stocks through the issuance of unrepayable debt, which benefits primarily the 1% the bulk of whose assets are in equity-related products, with the other they demand an ever larger pound of flesh in the form of ever more creeping taxation. Sadly, what should be well-known by now is that the "rich" (whether defined by the "fairness doctrine" or otherwise) always win, and it is the poor and the nearly defunct middle class that ends up picking up the pieces. It always has, and it certainly will this time around as well.
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How do you say...Liberté?
www.mises.org
The real deal, not that LvM institute of Canada horseshit.
James Miller has 18 articles published at mises.org
All taxes are collected at gunpoint really. This is the reason the EU wants to become the United EU, so they can enforce the peripheral countries to get in line. As the bankers/government expand their tentacles to the far reaches, this escaping high taxes by moving will take on different forms, such as becoming part of the political machine.
Worked for Corzine.
And the masses are perfectly OK with the violence and coercion associated with government extortion...errr...I mean taxation.
Tax rate is not just irrelevant, it's FUCKING irrelevant.
Tax me at 75% and I will just increase my income so that my take home compensation keeps up with and exceeds your stupid tax increase.
I'm the 1%, I own you and can set my income at whatever I want.
P
meh, another hollow slogan hanging there in the air supported by nothing.
ARGENTine......
My father was a visionary , we left France 35 years ago.
He actually said at the time, " these socialists will fuck everything up "
Miss you dad!
Yeah, we're so much smarter here, with almost $19 trillion in federal, state and local debt and about $60 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and an economic crash in 2008 that spread around the world!
The world leader in profligate spending and self destructive debt. We're number 1!
Property taxes edging up;
No new roads unless they are Toll Roads;
Sales tax increases;
Internet sales tax begins this Fall;
Before you know it, they will pass a "death tax"...double taxing all your stuff when you die.
we are pretty good at bombing and killing too!!!
but the entrecôte should be better.
America has socialism too but it's the kind that goes to the 1/10th%:
Gov't Spending on welfare programs - $29 billion
Gov't Spending on oil & gas giveaways: $59 billion
Like Exxon needs a leg up from the taxpayer...fer chrissakes
CATO Institute (Often cited as libertarian biased) would differ.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/88767476/The-American-Welfare-State-How-We-Spe...
According to research by Michael Tanner, government spends over $660 Billion to fight poverty and the individual states collectively add an additional $200+ Billion.
However I think the difference is in the definition of welfare you are using compared to others. Many would substitute welfare with entitlement programs such as SS, Medicare and Medicaid. I don't dispute you because I understand the reasoning that we pay taxes to support these programs, thus we should be "entitled" to the benefits. If you want to get into a debate about whether they are sustainable, that is another matter.
Anyway, I will leave you with this fact, Oil companies uses the same tax breaks that manufacturers use, so to attack Exxon, you must also attack every manufacturer. You want to pick on oil companies that DON'T have a high profit margin compared to some other industries, let's just ban their profits. And when those oil companies have stopped exploring and drilling for oil because they are so evil, you can pay $20/gallon because the supply has dried up.
Once again to the assholes in DC and elsewhere.....Socialism only works for a short while.....eventually you run out of other peoples money.....or people and corporations just leave as more and more currently are. Already DC is making it more difficult to leave with what you have and it will get worse. This country is already broke....$16 trillion deficits and $55 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Are you f'n kidding me??!!
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples' money"
-Margaret Thatcher
Clearly that is why we are moving so quickly to conclude the NWO. It is essential that taxes be harmonized and thus collected fairly across all parts of the globe.
Oh did I mention "fairness" and " harmony" not to mention " social justice" " unicorns" and "peace in our time".
/sarc
Peak B/S bitchez....
@ Temporalist
+ $55,000
A better translation might be: "L'Or, Putainz"!
Liberté? It seem's by getting the hell out. Funny thing though is alot of the people who say they want more taxes like warren buffoon sure find plenty of ways not to pay them in the U.S. he for example hides his Billions in bill gates tax exempt foundation. In other words obama's crony capitalist welfare queen warren wouldn't even be affected if the buffet rule was enacted. So it was really just obama talking smack to rile up his socialist masses. Hypocrites and look how the elite liberal's that supported obama have started renouncing their citizenship and fled this year.
Johnny Depp Flees France Over Tax Hikes
Will Smith Stunned At Proposed French Tax Rate After Praising TaxesAwesome! Aren't hypocrites wonderful?
Well citizenship does not matter when it comes to paying taxes(unless you're American or North Korean) I am not a German citizen but pay 100% German taxes because I work here so this guy only has to Emigrate to lower his tax burden not change citizenship.
This article is Seriously Misleading it lets you believe that changing your citizenship is the only way of paying less tax when if fact citizenship has nothing to do with taxes(except for Americans and NK) it's where you work/live that determines that
People are moving to Belgium because it's a nice little place ... one of Europe's best-kept secrets for a totally wonderful place to live.
Fun hit song - mostly in English - by a chap from Liverpool who happily lived the final several decades of his life here -
'It's Great to Be a Belgian'
« With a beer glass in my hand
Then you must understand
I'm a Belgian, and nothing worries me! »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTqknJDZrlI
The Beatles - Taxman
GOLD.
bold but not sold to Mammon.
Nor to mummy, nor to bearded daddy.
In fact sold to doubt.
Ah doubt, its the source of enquiry, and that is the salt of innovation and that is the pepper of humiliation; as innovation requires humility to stay on track. And not become an instrument of torture to put people, simple ones, on the RACK to prove you are Baal.
We are back to square one as the cycle rebegins; where what you earn you spread around like manure, instead of putting it in the bank; for the Banksta brigade of scum rats!
You're a true adventurer and what more needs be said to guild the lilly of he that rounds the corner not knowing what life has in store for him. 'Cos to him the desire to CONTROL all is anathema. He is not of that race of know-alls who hate to take a fall. Baal of Wall street cabal.
So much for 'All for one, and one for all'.
Well, OK, + 1...
But, if I were REALLY, REALLY RICH, I would not hang around to get skinned for 75% of my income. Even if I were French, mon Dieu!
So much for ''I am my brother's keeper'', and ''from those with much, much is expected''. Probably just another failed ideology, huh?
Don't you really mean, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his means"?
That is the philosophical underpinning of most present-day would-be statist planners such as yourself, isn't it?
No, dumb ass. Actually, those quotes are from the Bible. You know, featuring Jesus, who I'm guessing most of you shit for brains conservatives would think was just like you.
Pro war, pro gun, pro death penalty, pro deregulating the banks, and tax cuts for the richest, right? Oh, and let's cut those social programs for the poor too, 'cause Jesus had no time or concern for the poor.
At least two of His disciples carried arms. They were called swords back then. Luke 22:35-38.
You're quite the dis-info specialist aren't you?
Oops, BobNoxious, your red team/blue team slip is showing.
For your information, I am NOT a conservative, and would thank you for refraining from making such simplistic and erroneous assumptions. But your own statist credentials here are beyond dispute --- trying to dress them up in Christian rhetoric is about as effective as a child thinking he can hide from his parents by sticking his head under the covers while his butt is still prominently in view.
So you're a liberal too? And I'm no Christian either, but think it's odd that so many of you right wingers are. The rest of what you said I just didn't get.
LOL! Again with your blinkered inability to see beyond the hopelessly limited red team/blue team paradigm.
(Cluelessness)3
Hey bobby try as you might you are not pinning your left right dialectic on us. I doubt you really believe it but of course it serves your masters well.
Here you go shitt wad let me make it easier for you, www.huffingtonpost.com. You'll enjoy it over there, with your fellow shit ... err ... deep thinkers.
Wow, do you know 'Max Fischer'?
"And I'm no Christian either"
Thanks for letting us know, as if that fact was not glaringly obvious from your mangling and misapplication of the Scriptures:
"Am I my brother's keeper?" The snide remark of a murderer when caught. See Genesis 4:9
"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" See Luke 12:48. A statement regarding the return on investment in both earthly and heavenly kingdoms.
Care to try again?
http://www.brotherjohnf.com/
So Akak, are you a liberal then? Obama guy or libertarian maybe?
Liberalism, properly understood, is a dynamic, radical force pushing for the liberation of individuals from arbitrary control by others. It advocates private property, limited government, social tolerance and peaceful relations with all. Over the centuries and across the world, there have been voices calling for individual freedom. Contrast liberalism with its nemesis, the conservative force of socialism.
How the Republicons tarred the Decepticratic party with this label, I'll never know, since most contemporary Decepticrats support "Social", and yes, "Progressive", ideas, which seem to always require Federal Govt involvement in our lives. I believe that the Decepticrats CHOSE to use the "Liberal" label to identify what they stand for, even though it has no basis in reality today.
The Republicons are no "Conservatives", either, as they've proven every time they've been in power and expand the Federal Govt, just like the "Social" and "Progressive", Decepticrats.
All of this just points out that the labels they use to identify themselves are meaningless. BOTH parties should be called the "Leviathan Party", if truth be told!
I have several questions regarding these tax the rich schemes. 1. Where does it end? 2. When the liberals keep spending and run out of money again, will they come back to the same trough? 3. If there were no rich people to bail ou out, what would you do? Remember, before there was civilization it was each man for himself and only the strong survived...it could end up that way again.
"before there was civilization it was each man for himself and only the strong, the self-exalting, the mendacious, the brutal and the ruthless, survived"
"They still do. Heh"-Lloyd Blankfein
"The meek shall inherit the earth" -Jesus
"...about 6'x3' of it" -the 99%
bobobnoxious - ie dumb ass/shit for brains:
Marx says that this is rational and necessary, and that once society advances from the lower phase of communist society and work becomes life's prime want, distribution will occur along different lines. During the higher phase of communism, the standard shall be "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".
Maybe you should just change your name to bobobnoxy.
Really Bob? You are going with biblical quotes? Please provides a quote were Jesus the Nazarean says that in order to be my brother's keeper I have to give 50% of my income to the government so they can do as they choose with it up to and including taking care of people who are not my brothers? Or where it says that much is expected BY THE GOVERNMENT who produces nothing from those who do produce?
Hollande is an Obama cloneling, it's not about hope, change or tax revenues. It's about sound bites aimed at power and re-election. Everything is talk-talk now days because they all know there are no workable solutions available.
That may be so, but please tell me you don't think that Rs are any better. Pretty please?
The first "quote" deals with someone lying to coverup his own brothers murder...clearly he was not his brothers keeper was he?
I stand corrected, from Cain who killed his bro.
Correct.
The second dealt with punishment as well...you omitted "the stripes" ;-)
I guess it is boxnoxious' shift today, always have to have a statist boot licker on call.
He needs a remedial boot licking class...lol.
I think you have a typo...didn't you mean 'butt'?
with the jawbone of an ass, no less
bobnoxy yes it is another failed ideology it always has been the rich liberal elites only want to redistribute YOUR money not their own. obama is a great example of a rich liberal elite hypocrite
Barack Obama: Not His Brother's KeeperSubstituting the government for God and/or religion is just the latest in many attempts to muddy the waters of charity. I was waiting for the classic "render unto Caesar" line they always use...but he never got around to it ;-)
Sad isn't it in the U.S. people used to understand that (IRS=prison if you don't pay) taking from one to give to another was theft and it wasn't the government's to give.
Very sad.
Many have become the immoral, unethical slugs they accuse others of being. They will rail on for hours on end about the corrupt who use the power of the government to extort from another (and rightly so) and then turn on a dime and say where's my "free" pills?
The hypocrisy can be breath taking.
That's funny, especially when the poor who get most of the handouts are more likely Republican voters. Education and incomes are highly correlated, and we know that liberals are better educated, so with higher incomes, we pay more in. And take less out.
http://funancials.biz/democrats-are-richer-than-republicans
The majority of the old people on S.S. and Medicare vote Republican too. Those Midwest farmers that think Obama is a Socialist all have their hands out for government subsidized crop insruance.
How many red state conservative people are getting unemployment checks? At least half? How many small town, conservative Wal Mart workers are on Medicaid? How many of the 46 million on food stamps are conservatives? What about the people showing up at food banks for the first time? No conservatives there?
It's you conservatives that are leeching off of us liberals, and if you keep this shit up, we may give you want you're asking for and shut you off. Of course, on principle, you could refuse your Social Security and Medicare benefits, and tell your parents to as well.
The government extorts and misappropriates trillions from SSI and you ask me to believe "progressives" have the needy's best interest at heart...just give us another chance to pay off those IOU's?...lol.
Really?
A little history lesson from your ole pal FDR...
"But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence."
http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3307
On a long enough timeline we always find out who was being deceptive and who was being truthful.
And the Republicans, controlling the White House for the slight majority of the past 30 years, and Congress about half the time, never fixed it for you? I see even Ryan promising to preserve Medicare, and he's a teabagger, as far right as they get.
I think it was Al Gore who wanted to sequester the SS funds. What did Bush do?
So how is it always the left's fault? Conservatives are still getting more than they pay in, so you should really stop bashing us who fund it for you, dumb shit.
As a good liberal you should understand that you owe it to us specifically because we are too stupid and obnoxious to prosper like you do. Celebrate the diversity.
You gonna open doors into your face all afternoon? ;-)
Here's the latest hypocrisy...
"The Medicare reform plan championed by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would encourage more seniors to move into managed-care plans by giving them vouchers to purchase insurance. The idea is to create a marketplace that would compete with traditional Medicare for customers.
Obama has repeatedly warned that this approach would lead to the demise of traditional Medicare, one of the most popular government programs. He has also attacked Romney’s proposal to give states fixed sums to care for Medicaid patients, a change from the current system in which the federal government matches a portion of state spending.
But critics see irony in the administration’s support for the state pilot programs. “It does seem to move the dual-eligible population in kind of a different direction from where the energy seems to be,” said Patricia Nemore, a consultant to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, one of 33 consumer groups to sign a letter of concern to HHS."
http://nationaljournal.com/healthcare/obama-more-flexible-on-medicare-than-rhetoric-suggests-20120908?page=1
And Al Gore cast the tie breaking vote in the senate back in 1993 to raise taxation levels on SSI benefits from 50% to 85% at higher income levels...and no republican (in the House or the Senate) voted for that. Clinton, signed it into law.
A benefit, treated as income, how...ummm, Orwellian.
Dumbshit.
nwewn,Not fair!!
You're fighting wits with a unarmed opponent.
lol...I'm not so sure. I believe he was being willfully deceitful.
Its what they do ;-)
Alternatively, thy foe could be woefully ignorant of History, which of course, leads to repeating the same mistakes...
Certainly, but I don't believe that was the case.
He admitted that the premise he was making for socialism or a "progressive" cause (the my brothers keeper bit) is based on a lie. I'm saying he knew the passage pertained to a lie in order to coverup for a murder and he knew it when he said it.
I'm saying he was being purposely deceptive in promoting an agenda.
I saw your "liberalism" comment above and I agree with a caveat. The word liberal would more likely apply to a libertarian philosophy than to the "progressive" one its attached to today. The caveat is, the dims have allowed safe harbor to all manner of groups (liberal to a point to be sure) including the communist, socialist & fascist who are the very anathema to a liberal.
In my view, the Liberal (read, a real Liberal) shouldn't stand on his principle to the point of giving his sworn enemy the gun AND the bullet for his own eventual execution.
"On a long enough timeline we always find out who was being deceptive and who was being truthful. "
and who is dead
I was quite comfortable with him describing "progressives" as the 1%. Always strive to never interfere when an enemy is in the process of destroying himself ;-)
Bloody Fabians (mumble mumble...)
LOL!!!
http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3307
thanks for the link
note that the speech addresses "Senator Wagner, Governor Lehman, ladies and gentlemen" .. one can only hope that Governor Lehman enjoyed it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_Lehman
You're welcome kind sir/madam.
I think this is one of his most important speeches for several reasons and have it bookmarked. It shows him for the naked, divisive demagogue he was. It also shows (from the quote I pulled) that those he was railing against have been proven 100% correct over time and he 100% wrong. The funds were stolen by the very ones he said to trust.
History always rhymes.
Just look for the one trying to fracture and divide. You may not know which one to be for...but you will always know which one to be against.
Bob your president already threatened the old people with holding social security hostage. Pretty funny too given he's now running on saving social security. The Constitutional Law Scholar must have gotten his degree purely on an affirmative action basis or something on the college level of no dumbass left behind since Social Security is not subject to his whims the SS administration holds a legally enforceable debt on the U.S. so the only way that could have happened is if the entire U.S. collapsed. How would Social Security be a means for conservatives to leech off liberal's anyway? Social Security is an entirely self funded program it gets NO government money none it is funded by employers/employee's and by law it can't tax or deficit spend. In other words any conservative who get's it is just getting back their own money they paid in same as any liberal.
You must be confusing Social Security with SSI a backdoor welfare program liberal's stuck in to further increase dependency a program that is sucking money out from the boomer's who were forced to pay in all their lives even though they weren't born when SS was put in place.
Medicare's another issue and obamacare takes money out of that even though you pay for it in your payroll taxes so again how is that conservatives leeching off liberal's when they paid into that program as well?
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
bobnoxy you are just dumb as a stovepipe. Conversing with you would be a complete waste of time except for pushing your libtard buttons and reading your laugh out loud intellectually vacant drooling idiot response.
"it always has been the rich liberal elites only want to redistribute YOUR money not their own."
"Bullshit", partisan bullshitter...The rich "conservative" elites are doing just BITCHEN at redistributing middle class wealth, the way they've always done it,....UP"
All for one and None for all.....fixed it!
How does one say "Laffer Curve" in French ???
Jerry Lewis
For some reason that I don't quite understand, I find that response funny ...
+ 1
Must be that drop of French blood in you, Hulk!
About one quarter DCRB ! Jefferson brought the ancestors over to work on Monticello. Viva la Va !!!
When the Hulk gets mad, he turns into Chuck Norris.
if i were the 1% i wouldn't pay any taxes if there was any place i could go to avoid them.
slavery has returned! rationed health care and death to the non producing slaves right around the corner
im gettin older i dont think id sell for much, but as a package deal w/ my son i might be OK
Thanks to the industrial and information revolutions and automation, slaves are not worth as much as they were. Most of them are not worth enough to offset their food and shelter costs. It's more cost effective to just steal all their assets, if any, and kill them. That process is underway as we speak.
At least in the Good Old Days on the cotton plantations, there was a reason to keep the slaves alive. That is no longer the case now that cotton picking machines are common and even the drivers are soon to be replaced by GPS and computer control.
^^^that is NOT hyperbole. Take what he said in, and the add to it a planet of finite resources. We went from 1 to 6 billion humans in the blink of an eye. Like any bubble, it felt fine on the way up. Plan accordingly.
America's super rich have long aped Europe's so, if European mega wealthy no longer subscribe to noblesse oblige ( if they ever did) maybe more American billionaires will act more like Larry Ellison instead of Warren Buffett.
Even if you were to tax the 1% all of their earnings, it wouldn't really help the overspending governments do. It's no wonder that everyone will start looking at tax shelters soon.
Atlas will shrug! Love it when that happens. Good for him. Leeches gotta find a new host!
Atlas is shrugging and governments are trying to break their fall with nothing but paper.
"Atlas will shrug! Love it when that happens. Good for him. Leeches gotta find a new host"
I'm John Galt and I approve this message.
This isn't really about Atlas shrugging, IMO. That whole narrative is far to simplistic. While I don't know anything about Arnault, i would bet my stack of silver that he is a crony capitalist of the highest order. I'm sure he gamed the system in every way possible as he amassed his fortune. The industry vs government narrative is misplaced. It's the .01% vs the world. We are not winning.
"Behind every great fortune there is a great crime," Honoré de Balzac 1799 – 1850
"Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu' il a été proprement fait."Of course, and by design. Why? Because there is more debt than money. Why? Because virtually all "money" is loaned into existence with interest. Only the system doesn't contain the "money" for both principle and interest to be paid... So... More debt must be issued on a continuous basis. Some of it ends up on consumers (see sub prime auto loans) some of it ends up on corporations (business schools preaching leverage and cash flow as the measures of a sound business) and some of it ends up on governments. But all these entities are nothing more than debt vessels for the finance oligarchs to control the world. The exponential function tells us the end is fast approaching. What's next?
Yep, you are correct. The article also shows why liberals are wrong about trying to put addional taxes on the top percent. They will just move their assets, their wealth, and even jobs to other places (outsourcing).
but lets not let logic and facts get in the way of the destruction of our economy. We'll distribute all the wealth so that everyone has a few pennies - see how far that gets you.
Just another shocked Liberal.
Just another ignorant conservative.
Come'on already; somebody hand bobnoxy a match... It's the merciful thing to do.
Hand it to him. You'd have to light it for him. He wouldn't be able to figure out how it works. Someone put a bag over him one day, and he couldn't get out until someone helped him.
lol...you have to elect me first, before I show you the real me...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48937062/Hollande_Faces_Questions_on_Tax_Pledge
There's no such thing as "critical tax revenues". The more tax government collects, the more it spends, the more it distorts the economy by causing misallocations of scarse resources.
So what's the top tax rate in Belgium, just out of curiosity. I'll bet it's not much different than France. Sound like a publicity stunt. It just gives "Hollandaise" an excuse to back down.
Top Rate 50%
http://www.taxrates.cc/html/belgium-tax-rates.html
I wonder why he didn't decide on Bulgaria. The top tax rate is only 10%.
It won't matter anyway. You can relocate your person, but unless you can relocate your income stream, whatever buisnesses you own can always be nationalized and your income stream diverted to the great cause of “It’s okay to raise my taxes.”
Better looking women in Belgium...
A lot better food in Belguim, especially the chocolates and the ice cream. Most of them speak French too.
bulgaria is banana republic compared to belgium.
his move is NOT about income tax but inheritance tax...down the road for his progeny.
The richest people have a tendency to get money from the state in the form of incentives. Taking your money and leaving essentially offers another person your old place. In the short term you win, but the long term easy money is gone. The more you invest in the status quo the more control you have over its future incentives. Mr Arnault is making a mistake.... (give it a year or two). imho
Yes, Mr. Arnault is an idiot.
That's why he's rich! (s)
More people get rich through feral greed or luck than intellegence. Being rich never prohibits someone from being an idiot.
This country is running enormous and unsustainable budget deficits that will bankrupt us all if they are not narrowed — and there is no way to do that without both cutting spending and raising revenue.
OK, the tax issue is ion the table, where is the spending cuts? The answer is there are none and there will be none and if you want to pay this group of liars any more, go ahead, I want the cuts first, an expansion of the economy and even distribution of tax revenue including money from those on social programs. You cannot have a system just hand out money to non-producers and ask nothing of them except for a vote.
Whenever I see a hedge fund manager offering money I have to wonder who he fucked out of the money first and take nothing he says as the truth.
This is the biggest bunch of bullshit I have read in weeks!
define "non-producers".
are they:
Welfare recipient?
Traders?
Politicians?
Waiters/Waitresses?
Bankers?
Salesmen?
"non-producer" is a very wide net.
I'm kinda lost with this whole thing. Governments print useless pieces of paper backed by nothing. This paper is used as a litmus as to one's wealth. Governments/Banks "loan" this paper out to the people. Those same people strive/work/slave their whole life "playing" the game for this paper. Some lose. Some win. If you win, government wants your "paper" back. Is this some sick joke?
IT'S PAPER.
None of this shit matters. Real wealth is knowledge and "things" that you can hold in your hand.
The "paper" game must end. People "owe" paper as debt. If it's just useless paper, then it's just useless debt.
Knowledge is the only asset one can posses that can never be taken away and by that measure, the vast majority of the people of the world, be they rich or poor, are utterly bankrupt.
+1
Let's not get into the whole most people aren't worth the oxygen they breathe thing. Some of these fuckers do have pride. Try to take that and you better start looking over you shoulder. Try to take mine? I'll be getting it on with your missus and I'll force you to watch. She's going to enjoy it too.
I can say with absolute certainty...that I do not understand your comment.
I'm going to go with you on this one. Pride-banging my wife??? My knowledge isn't letting me add these two up.
"...pride is a complex secondary emotion which requires the development of a sense of self and the mastery of relevant conceptual distinctions..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride
Like an idea or a combination thereof but on an emotional level. Sheep do have their own feelings sometimes you know.
Funny how so many here say it is nothing but useless bits of fiat confetti worthless debt yet try taking a few percent more each year from the undertaxed and see how they act like psychopaths trying to protect every last dollar bill.
Personally, I like to eat. Being that I like to eat, I must play the "paper" game. I'm just plain ass fucking tired of having more than 50% of everything I earn STOLEN from me. If you're an good person who achieves their wealth honestly, then absolutely,"the system is set up against you." If you make 20K or 1M and you play by the rules....you're fucked. The piss-ants in government try to screw you out of everything you own and you fight back as best you can. I earned my wealth and I'm sick of paying for useless people who won't work, wars based on lies, agencies that work against me, Israel, etc, etc, etc, etc-the-fucking-etc....
Problem is... what if these other countries fold as well and have their own "anti"-tax haven schemes.
Moving your money probably would only work when there is still somewhere safe to go.
Perhaps safe for now, but later?
"Paradoxically, and a continuation of our article from yesterday on the mechanics of QE, the US will need to raise its debt issuance, and thus accelerate its fiscal profligacy in order to allow Bernanke to monetize more debt, so that more brand new money can enter stocks"
Building of the Imperial Death Star in 3...2...1...
I heard Johnny Depp is fleeing France too. If this keeps up there will be a crash in mansion and villa prices. At least poor people will be able to afford homes again
There will be plenty of `trophy` type French property coming to market soon. Foreign owners of Frech real estate are a big target for French Tax inspectors, and now the tax on rental income and capital gains is increasing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/93773...
It's like Exile on Main Street played backwards.
Easy. Don't work anymore. Starve the beast
Whitney is a stupid tool
Good riddance. Billionaires are not entrepreneurs. They never invest with their own money. They invest with other peoples money. Their high wealth and pathological mental states move them to manipulate governments, create fiendish non-profit think tanks to push Socialist and radical agendas, move universities to exalted status, create wars, and promote perversion in the arts under the guise of free thinking. No. Billionaires will not be missed.
Unfortunately for France, they are probably killing their entrepreneurial class.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. If a financier can produce a good return for investors while facilitating economic growth then that benefits a great number of people.
But that is the function of government. It's not as if an elite class with a monopoly on violence was established in order to help out the little guy. Government is the problem.
Revolution comes in many forms. Refusal to pay debt payments by say 30% of the US would drop the political asses in 3 months. I say this will become the new way to vote. Not every 4 years but every month.
How many unemployed former middle class Republicans are there in the United States? How many will vote for RoMONEY? How many will be unemployed at the end of RoMONEY's first term in office? LOL
That asshole makes his billions promoting luxury consumerism, the epitome of wasteful stupidity in a fantasy of unlimited growth. Somehow, I think the French may be better off without him in the long run.
Just like we would be better off without Sheldon Adelson.
Its all about inheritance tax. Its high in france, very low in Belgium. I think this guy wants to be able to transfer his shares one day in LMVH to his progeny at minimal cost. That is his main thrust.
His secondary thrust is to embarrass the current socialist government so that they relent on the 75% tax gimmick that hurts the top tranche tax payers in france; aka football players, musicians, actors, oligarchs; all hi profile people that the media love to talk about. He is a stalking horse for this tax revolt.
Its nice to be in the press when your rivals flash Salma Hayek or Carla Bruni. And you can't.
Although his wife is nice, she aint in that hi profile class.
These billionaires/'entrepreneurs' all (ALL) borrow their fortunes and compel (by way of the state's police powers) the rest to repay the debts.
This is what an 'economy' is, and nothing more.
How do you think Gates gets $65billion? Giving away Windows7 w/ each Dell computer? How about Buffett's $55 billion? Does he sell that many egg-beaters? Their 'businesses' are nothing more than theater, collateral for finance loans. The proceeds are distributed: "one for you one for ME!" The businesses themselves are nothing more than fashionable FOLLIES that are transient and offer NOTHING OF ENDURING VALUE. A trendy BUSINESS (like ZYNGA or FACEBOOK) is forwarded billions in loans by the so-called CAPITAL MARKETS which have interest conflicts. Wall Street is nothing more than a money laundry.
Billionaire-and other tycoons are parasites/leeches/cannibals/monsters. If Hollande's plan is to rid his country of them, it is a good plan.
A better plan would be to cut tycoons' heads off with a samurai sword on television. Heck, I would buy a TV for that!
A Frenchman re-locating/moving to Belgium? He's either being kicked out of France or insane. No self-respecting Frenchman would voluntarily move to Belgium, especially Wallonia.
Msr Arnaud could not monetize self-respect and so had his discarded.
It's suddenly 'aspirational' to become a MISERABLE FAT BELGIAN BASTARD
~~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fcN3VaXs4
Is that right, King Louis?
Lulz
This is not the first time that the aristocracy has had to flee France.
Where is robespierre?
He's in the US; he goes by "Barry X" now.
Wow, Whitney Tilson is a dumb asshole Goes to show money can't buy brains or a personality.
I am a 1% of the 1%.
I hereby pledge 1% of my wealth to the United States Government so that it can spend it freely, in return for the designation of the "most patriotic citizen" title.
The wealthiest Americans (and over the globe) have amassed an astonishing amount of wealth in the past two decades, much of it thanks to the largesse of the government and from non-productive activities.
If millionaires, myself among them, have any notion of humanity or social contract, they will understand that the People are a bit upset about having been screwed for so long and would like the rich to return at least some of the ill-gotten gains. If the rich think this is Socialism, Communism or worse and believe contributing fairly to preserve our economy and society constitutes a grave breach of their constitutional rights or human justice, let them remember that the alternative will be lengths of hemp and lamp posts.
It is true that taxing the 1% will not help because of spending. But it is a symbolic gesture. Taxing future earnings will not redress the theft and the economic distortions.
And, finally, if you believe that you should not have to pay because you already pay your fair share, then please leave the country...go to some place with low taxes like Liberia or Nigeria and tell me if you would prefer to pay taxes to support police, firemen, teachers, air traffic controllers, a safe army, and an honest judicial system to protect your wealth and your family.
That would create moral hazard.
When people get something for free, they do not care. That is what has already happened with sub-prime mortgages.
That's one of the reason why children of super rich fail in life. People have to learn to work and earn their piece of bread.
The worst, when you train people to get free lunch very so often they become lazy and at the end vote in Socialist and then Communist government - to continue with the land of "Free".
Unfortunately then "Greece" will happen, but people are still trained to get "free lunch", which is not there anymore and then blood bath "1917 Russia begins". Rich will be killed, their wealth expropriated and divided between Politburo members.
Be aware of Hazard!
Giving money away for free will kill you!
Expat, two requests.
First, would you be kind enough to post the signed dated copy of the letter to your accountant wherein you instruct him to forego all your legal tax deductions.
Second, please explain how you came to be a millionaire, we'd all be way interested in hearing about how you stole your million.
I agree with what you say here expat. However, do you really think that higher taxation is the solution to this problem? Out current governments in the West will squander these funds quicker than the rich have stolen them. Perhaps, a better solution than ultra-high taxation, would be for a law requiring pro-bono work for the poor with the number of hours of required pro bono work being proportional to individual net worth. This pro-bono work could take certain forms: working in a soup kitchen for the homeless, a shelter for the homeless. You get the idea. For you personally, if you feel as you say, I recommend finding some local poor folk, wherever you are an expat, asking them what would improve their lives and then giving freely to them of your assets.