The Coming Global Wealth Tax

[cr1776]

Ideas like a global wealth tax - kind of like the bail-in, in Cyprus, are being floated by the IMF. This type of news should only be a boon for bitcoin as people find out about it and consider the implications.  The article is not an approving one, by the way.

The Coming Global Wealth Tax - WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304355104579232480552517224?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion

Between ObamaCare, Iran and last quarter's uptick in U.S. economic growth, taxpayers these days may be distracted from several dangers to come. But households from the United States to Europe and Japan may soon face fiscal shocks worse than any market crash.
...
Of course these measures won't return the world's top economies to sustainable levels of debt. That could be achieved only through significant economic growth (the good way) or, as the IMF puts it, "by repudiating public debt or inflating it away" (the bad way). In October the IMF floated a bold idea that didn't get the attention it deserved: lowering sovereign debt levels through a one-off tax on private wealth.

As applied to the euro zone, the IMF claims that a 10% levy on households' positive net worth would bring public debt levels back to pre-financial crisis levels. Such a tax sounds crazy, but recall what happened in euro-zone country Cyprus this year: Holders of bank accounts larger than 100,000 euros had to incur losses of up to 100% on their savings above that threshold, in order to "bail-in" the bankrupt Mediterranean state. Japanese households, sitting on one of the world's largest pools of savings, have particular reason to worry about their assets: At 240% of GDP, their country's public debt ratio is more than twice that of Cyprus when it defaulted.

From New York to London, Paris and beyond, powerful economic players are deciding that with an ever-deteriorating global fiscal outlook, conventional levels and methods of taxation will no longer suffice. That makes weapons of mass wealth destruction—such as the IMF's one-off capital levy, Cyprus's bank deposit confiscation, or outright sovereign defaults—likelier by the day.

[Ibian]

There is nothing preventing measures like this, and much worse later, from happening. All the more reason to keep my money in bitcoin. Just try and take them. I'll happily go to jail before letting them get their hands on them, if I even live in this part of the world by then.

[Martijnvdc]

There's no way that would happen without extreme riotting...

[Ibian]

There's no way that would happen without extreme riotting...

Why do you think the police has been militarized? The US government expect massive riots to happen in the near future. It won't even be because of something like this, but simply because food stamps and welfare checks stop flowing.

[xchrix]

who said "bitcoin is a bubble"?

[cr1776]

There's no way that would happen without extreme riotting...

Look at what happened in Cyprus earlier this year. Lots of complaints, lots of people unhappy, lots of protests, but it still happened. Zeroday on these forums lots ~700k euros.

These trial balloons are the warnings of what the socialist parasitic politicians want to do.

[CoinCube]

This is just the beginning. (See my post titled Economic Devastation)

If you have ever read Asimov's foundation trilogy we are like the happily oblivious capital of the empire. Bad bad times are ahead.

[jones31]

who said "bitcoin is a bubble"?

This forum will need some additional storage space on the server if I start naming all of them with time date and the comment.

[ashaw596]

This is just the beginning. (See my post titled Economic Devastation)

If you have ever read Asimov's foundation trilogy we are like the happily oblivious capital of the empire. Bad bad times are ahead.

If you read the prequel , they weren't quite that oblivious (or happy). Just self denial.

Oh wait, thats us.

[ashaw596]

Wealth taxes are the natural and logical consequence of irresponsible deficit spending

Bitcoins are a natural and obvious hedge against govt sponsored theft

The case rests...

I disagree that theres anything logical about it. It might theoretically redistribute the wealth (which i guess would theoretically fix things), however, impossible to implement and as if offshore bank accounts weren't enough, we have gold, bitcoins, and dummy coorporations. Impossible to implement fairly and would drive capital investment as FAR AWAY as possible.

My points is that even without Bitcoins, they would never implement something so stupid.

[BitchicksHusband]

This is just the beginning. (See my post titled Economic Devastation)

If you have ever read Asimov's foundation trilogy we are like the happily oblivious capital of the empire. Bad bad times are ahead.

If you read the prequel , they weren't quite that oblivious (or happy). Just self denial.

Oh wait, thats us.

No it's not. 

[BitchicksHusband]

Wealth taxes are the natural and logical consequence of irresponsible deficit spending

Bitcoins are a natural and obvious hedge against govt sponsored theft

The case rests...

I disagree that theres anything logical about it. It might theoretically redistribute the wealth (which i guess would theoretically fix things), however, impossible to implement and as if offshore bank accounts weren't enough, we have gold, bitcoins, and dummy coorporations. Impossible to implement fairly and would drive capital investment as FAR AWAY as possible.

My points is that even without Bitcoins, they would never implement something so stupid.

All it does is redistribute the wealth from rich people who aren't IMF bankers to rich people who are...

[BitchicksHusband]

By the way, stuff like this is exactly why Americans like owning guns...

[Operatr]

There is already a global wealth tax, its called inflation.

[CoinCube]

There is already a global wealth tax, its called inflation.

Yes but that's no longer enough. Expect much more of this in the near future. After all how can you argue you should not contribute and have most of what you own taken help your government fix the economic crisis.

[AnonyMint]

Well I am very happy to see this awareness.

So the remaining question is can Bitcoin save us?

And the answer is definitively "NO". That is precisely why I got so involved since April. If I felt Bitcoin was a solution, I would have adopted it when it was $50. I studied Bitcoin in depth in March, see my Bitcoin : The Digital Kill Switch thread.

1. Anonymity and coin taint are insoluble in Bitcoin. Most all of you have not thought this out deeply. You think some VPNs and Tor have solved your problem, and you are highly mistaken.

2. Bitcoin does not have the required solution to the selfish-mining attack and thus can be taken over with as little as 25% of the hash rate. Many pools have that.

3. Bitcoin does nothing to limit the size of pools.

4. Pools are subject to share withholding attacks.

5. Bitcoin is vulnerable to takeover with the Transactions Withholding Attack.

6. Bitcoin's funding for mining dies proportionally (to market cap) as coin rewards diminish, unless we want transaction fees to be huge and/or transaction volume increases radically. Thus the incentive to attack is always increasing as the relative cost (to mcap) to attack is always declining.

7. Bitcoin is controlled by a few exchanges, which are likely controlled by the key owners of Bitcoin:

Presumably if you are that rich of an insider, you already own the exchange too. You created an exchange because it was insane not to.

What would prevent a competitor from buying coins from you on your own exchange.

Exchange-owned Sybil identities to hit the government imposed limits in favor of the owner of the exchange.

When the access is very limited as it currently is with exchanges, this tells you that Bitcoin is a fraud.

I know the solution to this, it is a CPU-only coin and anonymity, so we don't need exchanges so much.

Etc, etc, etc...

[AnonyMint]

There is already a global wealth tax, its called inflation.

Yes but that's no longer enough. Expect much more of this in the near future. After all how can you argue you should not contribute and have most of what you own taken help your government fix the economic crisis.

Inflation is 30-50% in the last few years for USD and EUR (Increase in M3) isn't that sufficient?

I alos think that a wealth tax doesn't just include fiat but also everything else INCLUDING Bitcoin. So the options will be either paying or tax evasion.

No because the debasement is not going to pay down debt. QE is ending up as dollar bond issues in the developing world, i.e. it is being used to increase debt.

Please learn to use correct terminology. Increases in the money supply are not inflation, they are debasement. M x V = P x Q. The Q can rise while M is, so no rise in P.

Sorry but NO - most of "our" countries debt is PRIVATE debt, this is the main problem, and it's completely unrelated to "state sponsored education" - the public debt of Germany or even Spain or Portugal is roughly the same as in the US, the problem are the fucking banks who go in debt to finance mortgages that fuel the housing bubbles and the households that go in debt for the most stupid and innecessary things (a new car, a new TV, new furniture, etc.).

The big difference between Europe's governments debt and US government debt is that Government money in Europe is mostly spent in public services and not in criminal wars.

You don't understand economics.

Private debt means an elevated level of commerce and thus tax payments pumped up by debt. When the debt write-down comes (which hasn't been allowed yet), then the government debts will skyrocket.

Also the interest rates have been held artificially low (see a devastating chart) by the central banks. This is just allowing the aggregate debts and misallocation of capital and human lives to increase. When the interest rates go back up to normal levels, the debts of the governments are going to skyrocket in a runaway spiral to apocalypse.

Everyone in power knows this. They are planning to confiscate all private wealth to pay for the write-down. Merkel lied to get elect, then immediately after federalized the German banks to the EU. It is going to be an all-for-one-and-one-for-all collapse. Everyone will pay their "fair share", hahaha. Stupid socialists deserve it.

You have no where to hide. Certainly not Bitcoin.

You will pay dearly for having lived in that debt-based, state-sponsored socialism.

P.S. it ironic how Europeans comfort themselves with notions of how their governments are less rapacious. Hilter's government was also so caring in the beginning while it was printing money for universal health care. You all never learn your lesson about collectivism and always come back for sloppy seconds, thirds, fourths, ...

[AnonyMint]

There is already a global wealth tax, its called inflation.

Yes but that's no longer enough. Expect much more of this in the near future. After all how can you argue you should not contribute and have most of what you own taken help your government fix the economic crisis.

Inflation is 30-50% in the last few years for USD and EUR (Increase in M3) isn't that sufficient?

I alos think that a wealth tax doesn't just include fiat but also everything else INCLUDING Bitcoin. So the options will be either paying or tax evasion.

No because the debasement is not going to pay down debt. QE is ending up as dollar bond issues in the developing world, i.e. it is being used to increase debt.

Please learn to use correct terminology. Increases in the money supply are not inflation, they are debasement. M x V = P x Q. The Q can rise while M is, so no rise in P.

Excuse me? It's you and most of the rest of the world who are using wrong terminology. Inflation is the increase of total outstanding. So inflating gold would require making more gold. They trained you to believe inflation means something else to get you to accept their global scam but inflation is just that and it not 2-3% per year they lead you to believe.

Don't believe everything the governments tell you please.

Incorrect.

[pinnpe]

This only sounds, like more people moving over to Bitcoins.

Mass wealth destruction is good, that means that the super rich also have to bend over.
Hahahahahahaha

China's central bank banning Bitcoins, mass wealth destruction
it's all good news. Maybe some people will wake up or get all their shit taken like in greece

[Rassah]

Well I am very happy to see this awareness.

So the remaining question is can Bitcoin save us?

And the answer is definitively "NO". That is precisely why I got so involved since April. If I felt Bitcoin was a solution, I would have adopted it when it was $50. I studied Bitcoin in depth in March, see my Bitcoin : The Digital Kill Switch thread.

...

Standard reply: please pay no attention to the FUD, this guy doesn't really understand how Bitcoin works.

Presumably if you are that rich of an insider, you already own the exchange too. You created an exchange because it was insane not to.

What would prevent a competitor from buying coins from you on your own exchange.

Exchange-owned Sybil identities to hit the government imposed limits in favor of the owner of the exchange.

When the access is very limited as it currently is with exchanges, this tells you that Bitcoin is a fraud.

I know the solution to this, it is a CPU-only coin and anonymity, so we don't need exchanges so much.

A CPU-only coin still needs an exchange to be useful, so that alone doesn't fix your problem.