Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

American Equity

blog.samaltman.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 552 posts

Re: American Equity

#241

Post by SimbaOnSteroids »

Balero wrote: post #217
SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an option for enforcement you're not realizing here, called the Commodore Mathew Perry method, it goes like this. --Location: Tax Havens-- > Knock Knock Its the United States With huge boats, with guns, gunboats. >Open your banks' records, stop having them be closed and theres not much they can do about. So they sign a treaty making sure their banks' records are not closed. ----------------------------------…

Are you suggesting the USA does this to tax havens like Ireland, The Netherlands and The City of London? Is it not a thing for startups to be based out of Delaware for a tax advantage? Would the ships even have to leave the harbor to do this?

I wasn't suggesting it as serious solution.

And I was under the impression that startups use Delaware because it has a boatload of case law that favors investors.

Re: American Equity

#242

Post by matco11 »

rdl wrote: post #238
Balero wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting the USA does this to tax havens like Ireland, The Netherlands and The City of London? Is it not a thing for startups to be based out of Delaware for a tax advantage? Would the ships even have to leave the harbor to do this?

There is basically no tax advantage for startups in being based in Delaware -- you end up registering as a "foreign corporation" and paying in-state taxes whenever you're actually located. Delaware is chosen because of the body of corporate law and efficient secretary of state.

Yep. 100%. ...and it does not apply only to startups but also to large corporations

Re: American Equity

#243

Post by kgwgk »

dv_dt wrote: post #225
kgwgk wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The salaries do go up as well.

Wage data seems to say that it's growth does not match the amount that corporate valuations nor their profits. Nor does it match the growth of costs for longer term societal needs such as healthcare nor education... On the other hand large accumulations of wealth have had no such growth problems - let alone vs inflation. So yes salaries go up, but not in concert with people's costs nor with the value that is generate…

The question was if inflation can be considered a tax on wealthy and unwealthy alike, not how do real wages evolve compared to corporate valuations or whatever. In reality inflation is not even a tax on wealth, at most it is a tax on cash and financial assets (loans, bonds, etc.) and for the latter only inasmuch as the inflation exceeds the expectations.

Re: American Equity

#244

Post by gozur88 »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #234
slimshady94 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would Bill Gates have worked so hard (presumably) if he didn't have that specific understanding of ownership and casuality? Isn't that type of motivation and incentive necessary, to grind through the obstacles?

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, worked hard, and yet he still gave his hard work to the public.

Did he? I thought he was working for CERN at the time, meaning the public (or the European public, anyway) already owned the protocol he produced.

Re: American Equity

#245

Post by wu-ikkyu »

gozur88 wrote: post #205
pc86 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My React todo app is just as important as Microsoft.

That's why we have money - so people can say things like "No it isn't, because if it were people would have given you billions for it."

Money is not a panacea for valuation. If it were, then ending climate change would be much more profitable.

Re: American Equity

#246

Post by jholman »

simonsarris wrote: post #137

> I’d like feedback on the following idea. > I think that every adult US citizen should get an annual share of the US GDP. Sure thing, sama. I hope you saw it[1]: https://medium.com/@simon.sarris/after-universal-basic-incom... Without addressing these issues, UBI could look like a nightmare even if we're all on board. I think he's committing the usual assumptions: 1. That what people struggling and suffering in the U…

That essay was incredible, thank you.

Re: American Equity

#247

Post by samsolomon »

theptip wrote: post #180

Matt Levine has been musing on some issues adjacent to this one over the last year, e.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-24/are-index... https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-10-26/maybe-ind... The basic observation being that if we can get the benefits of capitalism when most equity is owned by a passive investment fund like an index tracker, then what's the problem with the state owning all t…

Matt Levine's Money Stuff is my favorite newsletter. I'm not a finance guy, but he has a way of exploring thought-provoking ideas in a way I can understand. Are index funds marxist? is among my favorite recurring topics.

Anyways, if you like his writing, I'd encourage subscribing. http://link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/join/4wm/moneystuff-s...

Re: American Equity

#248

Post by tvaughan »

The GDP is a poor measure of economic health. Even the IMF has its doubts https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2017/03/coyle.htm. The GDP doesn't consider natural resources like clean air and water as assets but pollution clean-up efforts (successful or not) are seen as positive economic activities, for example. A proper alternative would measure quality of life and sustainability, not "growth."

Re: American Equity

#249

Post by kgwgk »

Retric wrote: post #240
kgwgk wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to forbid loans?

No, you can still make a loan by buying a bond etc. I simply feel banks have conflicting goals as they need to be 'good at' customer service and making loans. This creates a lot of poor incentives and economic distortions.

Yes, it will be very convenient for people to issue bonds when they need a loan to buy a house or start a business...

Re: American Equity

#250

Post by socialist_coder »

Balero wrote: post #217
SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an option for enforcement you're not realizing here, called the Commodore Mathew Perry method, it goes like this. --Location: Tax Havens-- > Knock Knock Its the United States With huge boats, with guns, gunboats. >Open your banks' records, stop having them be closed and theres not much they can do about. So they sign a treaty making sure their banks' records are not closed. ----------------------------------…

Are you suggesting the USA does this to tax havens like Ireland, The Netherlands and The City of London? Is it not a thing for startups to be based out of Delaware for a tax advantage? Would the ships even have to leave the harbor to do this?

There are multiple levels of tax avoidance / money hiding being discussed here. You are responding to someone talking about the worst level, which was documented in the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers. It involves rich individuals who hide money in banks in the Seychelles, Cayman Islands, etc.

Very different from tax avoidance schemes that companies use to pay lower taxes by incorporating in low tax jurisdictions or funneling the money through multiple countries.

Post reply on HN