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Norway’s Wealth Tax Is Backfiring. Are Americans Paying Attention?

Posted by M. C. on July 15, 2023

Capital flight is exactly what happened, and it has left the Norwegian government with less revenue. 

Norway’s Wealth Tax Is Backfiring. Are Americans Paying Attention?

Jon Miltimore

In 2022 Norway’s third richest man, Kjell Inge Røkke, announced in an open letter to shareholders he was moving to Lugano, Switzerland.

“My capital will continue working in Norway,” wrote the fishing magnate turned industrialist who launched his empire four decades ago with a 69-foot trawler he bought while saving money working on ships off the coast of Alaska.

Røkke, who Forbes estimates has a fortune of $5.1 billion, will cost the Norwegian government an estimated 175,000,000 kroner annually (roughly $16 million) with his departure. That might not sound like a lot of money, but Røkke is not the only wealthy entrepreneur leaving Norway, The Guardian notes. 

“More than 30 Norwegian billionaires and multimillionaires left Norway in 2022, according to research by the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv,” reports wealth correspondent Rupert Neate. “This was more than the total number of super-rich people who left the country during the previous 13 years, [the paper] added.”

Did you catch that? More “super rich” Norwegians left Norway in 2022 than during the previous 13 years combined. The reason wealthy Norwegians are fleeing the country is not a secret. 

Following its 2021 electoral victory, the Nordic nation’s Labor Party made good on its promise to soak the rich. Norway is one of just a handful of OECD countries that still taxes net wealth, and the Labor Party increased the country’s wealth tax to 1.1 percent despite warnings that such a move would “trigger capital flight and threaten job creation.”

Capital flight is exactly what happened, and it has left the Norwegian government with less revenue. 

Norwegian Business School professor emeritus Ole Gjems-Onstad estimated that the wealthy Norwegians took with them a total fortune of $54 billion when they left. This means that the wealth tax, which was projected to increase revenue by nearly $150 million annually, will result in about 40 percent less revenue than it currently generates. Luca Dellanna, a management advisor and author, points out that Norway collected about $1.46 billion on its wealth tax in 2019. But the exodus of the wealthy will result in an estimated $594 million in lost revenue.

Those trying to understand how Norway’s policy could backfire so badly should look to the work of the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Lucas. Lucas, a longtime professor at the University of Chicago, received the top prize in economics for research that became known as the Lucas Critique, which exposed various problems with macroeconomic modeling.

Lucas believed that to predict policy outcomes it was essential to first grasp that all action is individual behavior, and humans are rational creatures who will respond to policies in rational ways — even to policies designed to fool them.

“Microeconomics assumed people were rational,” economist David R. Henderson pointed out in a recent Wall Street Journal article following Lucas’s death. “Why shouldn’t macroeconomics make the same assumption?” 

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Even now, capitalism is the greatest hope for Britain and the world

Posted by M. C. on July 15, 2023

The arguments for free markets are easy to make, but too often Conservative politicians shy away from them

In Britain, too, capitalism remains our best hope. The free market has doubled household income in my lifetime, even after inflation, even after current woes. The young have seen post-crash incomes stagnate and Bank of England money-printing distort the economy by pushing house prices out of reach – but this was not the free market. Nor was the hundreds of billions printed to finance lockdowns.

Why is inflation so high? Because banks printed so much money to bankroll lockdowns: a result of distorting capitalism.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/22/capitalism-is-the-greatest-hope-for-britain-and-the-world/


FRASER NELSON

Fraser Nelson
Commuters stand still at a crowded railway station to pay homage during a two-minute long remembrance for bomb blast victims in Mumbai
In the year 2000, 30 per cent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Now it’s down to 8.5 per cent

The most important intellectual discovery of my life came 20 years ago in the pages of Slitz, a sadly defunct lad’s magazine which wasn’t quite as risqué as it sounds. I was trying to learn Swedish and the few words that it printed were about my level. So I’d sit in a cafe with a dictionary and notebook, seeking to learn. Under such circumstances I came across an interview with Johan Norberg, an economist then in his twenties, entitled “Kapitalist? Javisst!” – (“Capitalist? Yes, sure!”). I tracked down his book, and my world changed.

I’ve since been told by far more erudite friends that Norberg’s work is nothing new, just a restatement of arguments made by Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Karl Popper. But they were writing about theory: Norberg had it all backed up with contemporary evidence. The collapse of communism had started a new experiment: what happens when the free market really does go global? The results were coming in by 2001 and Norberg collated them. Every day in every way, things were getting much better. We were – and still are – living in a golden age.

Since then, this thesis has been proved a thousand times over, but something strange has happened. As capitalism’s achievements piled higher, the more unpopular it seemed to become. Its wins have been taken for granted, its defects magnified as never before. The big charities, which witnessed free trade cutting poverty faster than any scheme of handouts, seemed to hate it the most. A generation has since grown up marinated in capitalism’s success, yet convinced of its failure. What’s going on?

I accept that, at present, it does look like a strange kind of success. Inflation is surging, the Bank of England has just increased rates yet again, mortgages are being pushed to agonising levels. Taxes are higher than any time in living memory, living standards are falling faster. Some 29 per cent of UK children are said to be living in poverty, as are 650 million globally – while, as Oxfam often points out, the top 80 billionaires have more wealth than the poorest half of the world.

There are endless rebuttals to this, as well as counter-examples – but no one tends to make them because no one defends capitalism. I can see why. It’s a daft word, usually used to make the basic notion of freedom sound like an evil ideology. Capitalism isn’t about capital, but about transferring power to the many, from the few. It’s about allowing people to make decisions on what will best improve their lives and communities.

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Is the United States Pursuing a Permanent Cold War with Russia?

Posted by M. C. on July 15, 2023

NATO’s attempt to enlist the rest of the world to isolate Russia and aid Ukraine has faltered badly. Seeking global unity for such a hostile approach once the Ukraine war ends would be greeted with derision throughout the “Global South.”

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/is-the-united-states-pursuing-a-permanent-cold-war-with-russia/

by Ted Galen Carpenter

usa and russian flags are cut with scissors. confrontation and t

USA and Russian flags are cut with scissors. Confrontation and the Cold War. Stock vector illustration.

There is growing speculation about how the Russia-Ukraine war might eventually end. Three competing scenarios are strong possibilities. The most likely outcome is a definitive Russian victory after a grinding, bloody struggle lasting several more years. As time drags on, Russia’s larger population and military will confer greater and greater advantages in the fighting, despite the lumbering, inefficient nature of the Kremlin’s forces.

The second most likely outcome is a frozen conflict roughly along the current battle lines. Fighting would end with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty and reflect exhaustion on the part of both Ukraine and Russia. Such frozen conflicts already exist in places such as Kashmir, Cyprus, and most notably, Korea.

The least likely outcome would be a definitive victory by Ukraine, given Russia’s long-term logistical advantages. Unfortunately, both Washington and NATO have embraced that unrealistic objective, pledging continued Western military support and encouraging Kiev to stay the course, regardless of the mounting costs in blood and treasure to the Ukrainian people.

No matter how the war finally ends, the Biden administration and its NATO partners appear to have given surprisingly little consideration to what the West’s postwar relationship with Moscow will—or should—look like.

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Nikki Haley Reveals What She’ll Do To Federal Agencies If Elected

Posted by M. C. on July 15, 2023

So why didn’t Tucker press her on foreign relations? She is no peacenik.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/nikki-haley-reveals-what-shell-do-to-federal-agencies-if-elected

By  Ryan Saavedra

DES MOINES, IOWA - JULY 14: Republican presidential candidate, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley fields questions from former Fox News Television personality Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit on July 14, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa. Several Republican presidential candidates were scheduled to speak at the event, billed as “The Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians seeking cultural transformation in the family, Church, government, and more.”
Scott Olson / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would gut federal law enforcement agencies and remove problematic officials who politicize and weaponize those agencies if elected to the White House.

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made the remarks on Friday during The Family Leadership Summit in Iowa with Tucker Carlson.

Carlson grilled the candidates that went before her, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and former Vice President Mike Pence.

With Haley, Carlson did not press her on foreign policy issues such as the war in Ukraine, but did ask Haley her thoughts on federal agencies that were involved in various ways in “shaping public opinion about the last election.”

“You know, when I was governor, I went and replaced the heads of every agency,” Haley said. “It’s the first thing I did when I came to office, it’s the first thing a president should do. You control what you can control. You start with your agencies.”

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The Goldilocks Zone | Mises Institute

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

But if such a rate exists, it would have been both communicated and achieved by now. All of their other data, whether unemployment statistics or hourly earnings, is just noise in an already crowded arena of barely useful economic data, serving little purpose other than maintaining the illusion of control.

https://mises.org/power-market/goldilocks-zone

Robert Aro

The latest meeting minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) offers valuable insights into the make-believe nature of monetary policy. While the true motives of the Fed’s inner circle may forever remain a mystery, it is evident their narrative revolves around the quest for an ideal economic state or finding a “Goldilocks Zone” of economic data. Only when the data aligns perfectly will the Fed’s mission be complete and the battle against inflation be won.

Let’s examine their perspective on the unemployment rate. In their own words:

The unemployment rate edged up, on net, but was still at a low level of 3.7 percent in May. On balance, the unemployment rate for African Americans moved up to 5.6 percent, while the jobless rate for Hispanics moved down to 4.0 percent.

Perhaps some find unemployment statistics intriguing. But the practical application of this data can hardly be explained and its conclusions are offensive. If African Americans are at 5.6 percent and Hispanics at 4.0 percent, it suggests that somewhere in America exists a team of technocrats tasked with answering the question: How many minorities should be in the workforce?

Average hourly earnings are given similar treatment:

Over the 12 months ending in May, average hourly earnings for all employees increased 4.3 percent, below its peak of 5.9 percent early last year.

Even if we overlook the issues of arriving at a national average for hourly earnings, the problem persists in what the preferred hourly pay should be.

Mainstream economic news outlets like CBS perpetuate the Goldilocks idea:

Some economists expect the Fed to raise rates at every other meeting as it seeks to pull off a difficult maneuver: Raising borrowing costs high enough to cool the economy and tame inflation yet not so high as to cause a deep recession.

Should anyone believe these economists, they’d have to believe the Fed can do the impossible; in this version, finding the interest rate that ensures the economy runs neither too hot, nor too cold so that prices continually rise by just the right amount, guaranteeing prosperity…

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Climate Change Crime – Depopulation In the Name of Human Rights

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

The media tells them: Claim it on “climate change” and help reduce your carbon foot print, do not eat meat, do not drive cars, do not fly, stay home, adapt to a modern lockdown. The new 15-minute cities are ideal for you, the commons.

Such an arrogant statement – humans making the weather with their sheer lifestyles – should already ring a strong bell in a clear-thinking mind of normal humans, but it doesn’t

https://www.globalresearch.ca/climate-change-crime-name-human-rights/5825577

By Peter Koenig

Global Research

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About a week ago, the UN Human Rights Czar in Geneva issued a stern warning – “Up to 80 million people will be plunged into hunger if climate targets are not met”.

These are the words of Volker Turk, the head of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. He spoke at a Human Rights event, and highlighted as principal cause for this coming calamity – what else – “climate change”. He said,

“extreme weather events were having a significant negative impact on crops, herds and ecosystems, prompting further concerns about global food availability.”

This is immediately proven by never-before-in-history extreme floods in Vermont, USA, by extreme droughts in Europe and Central – Western USA and by enormous, never-before experienced – forest fires in Canada. More is already announced – extreme Monsoon rains in India, and possibly Bangladesh. What a coincidence. Except, there are no coincidences. Droughts and gigantic flashfloods, in calculated interchange. No coincidences.

Most people of this globe just simply cannot believe how evil some non-people are. The Covid crime and the vaccination genocide was not enough to open their eyes, that their governments cannot be trusted, that they are sold, either by money or by threats, to an extreme evil power, a Depopulation, a Eugenics Cult which is behind it all.

Mr. Turk went on claiming,

“More than 828 million people faced hunger in 2021, and climate change is projected to place up to 80 million more people at risk of hunger by the middle of this century.”

Further contributing to the drama, he added, “Our environment is burning. It’s melting. It’s depleting. It’s drying. It’s dying”; and that these factors will combine to lead humanity towards a “dystopian future” unless urgent and immediate action is taken by environmental policymakers.

And then came the MUST reference to the 2015 (COP) Paris Agreement often referred to as the Paris Climate Accords, which were adopted by 196 parties at the time. COP means “Conference of the Parties”. Adding to the confusion of UN jargons, it refers to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose signatories agreed to cap global warming below 2 degrees celsius above the 1850-1900 levels – or to 1.5 degrees celsius if possible. Does anyone understand the language to carry out this easy task?

Such an arrogant statement – humans making the weather with their sheer lifestyles – should already ring a strong bell in a clear-thinking mind of normal humans, but it doesn’t, because our pineal gland for logical thinking and perception of emotions has been gradually dumbed, reduced, even killed in some people with chemicals we eat regularly und imperceptibly in our daily food, chemicals sprayed from the air via chemtrails, “disinfectant” chemicals in the water, the uncountable PCR tests, with absolutely scientifically proven unnecessary sticks up the nose, to the thin separation between nose and brain – and pineal gland — and more.

To dull our sentiments and perception is a long-term goal that “our Masters” have been working on for the last at least hundred years – or longer.

Dulled minds are easier to manipulate. Add to this DARPA’s MK-Ultra and Monarch mind-manipulation program and we know why we are where we are.

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“A Complete Failure”: Secret Service Suddenly Closes White House Cocaine Investigation Without Naming Suspect

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

Better no one than putting a sacrificial lamb through hell. Think anthrax and Olympic bombing.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/secret-service-brief-congress-thursday-biden-white-house-accused-cocaine-cover

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN

“There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area,” the agency said in a statement. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered. At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.”

According to the statement, the Secret Service said the bag of cocaine was “subjected to advanced fingerprint and DNA analysis.”

Lack of physical evidence? Nothing on the bag, and there’s an area of the White House that isn’t surveilled? Do we need to call the paw patrol to figure this one out?

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Supreme Court Justice’s Net Worth Skyrockets Since Joining The Court: Report

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

It’s OK because she is a Hispanic, liberal democrat. Liberal democrat John Kerry and his private jet are OK too.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-justices-net-worth-skyrockets-since-joining-the-court-report

By  Ryan Saavedra

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court has begun a new term after Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially added to the bench in September.
Alex Wong / Getty Images

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s net worth has skyrocketed ever since she became a member of the nation’s highest court — which has led to criticism from experts.

Fox News reported that, according to financial disclosures, Sotomayor’s wealth increased from being in the $15,001-$65,000 range in 2008 to being in the $1,600,000-$6,600,000 range in 2021.

Sotomayor was nominated by then-President Barack Obama to the Supreme Court in 2009. A recent data analysis of her actions on the court found that she is the most partisan justice on the court.

The 69-year-old reportedly makes more than $25,000 per year teaching law schools in addition to her $285,400 salary from the court.

The Associated Press reported that the main reason that her wealth has surged is because of the books that she has written.

Sotomayor used her taxpayer-funded to court staff to enrich herself by using them to perform tasks “for the justice’s book ventures.

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Here’s Why the Sudden “Rebellion” in Russia was a NothingBurger… And What it Really Means

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

So it’s odd that the ruble has continued to strengthen against both the dollar, the euro, and the British pound. I guess those Russkies are just dumb.

Here’s Why the Sudden “Rebellion” in Russia was a NothingBurger… And What it Really Means
“Rebellion” in Russia

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Ok, the big news of the last few weeks.

The imminent collapse of Russia. The sudden rebellion by Wagner troops followed by the equally sudden, non-rebellion had the MSM in a tizzy. Most interesting and hilarious was watching the MSM go from “Wagner mercenaries are murdering Ukrainians” to “Wagner mercenaries are going to free us from Putin’s tyranny.” And, of course, now… silence. To be fair, it’s probably best they just shut up. I am simply stunned that anyone continues to listen to these shills who either spout propaganda or simply have no earthly idea what is going on but feel the need to say… well, something. Surely, it must be getting humiliating at this point?

In any event, here are some thoughts and questions I have after having digested some of what appears to have taken place.

I watched the MSM come out with multiple (I counted 7 and then stopped counting) reports out on the Saturday morning. The fact we had this deluge of reports in such a rapid timeframe seemed odd to me. I mean the “mutiny” had literally only begun taking place hours prior. Hours!

Then we heard that the intelligence agencies briefed Congress earlier in the week about an expected uprising. Earlier in the week? So the spooks at the CIA and Congress knew about this ahead of time. Which means corporate media knew ahead of time. Which explains how they manage to have literally dozens of articles out within hours. They wrote the Russian Civil War narrative beforehand!

Which brings up the question. How did the security services know this was going to go down… before it happened if they weren’t playing a hand in the affair? An attempted Maidan coup 2.0?

If that’s true, then you know what that means? It means that the US has directly attacked Russia. That is an act of war.

Those conclusions, true or not, lead one to consider that maybe, just maybe we have the CIA involved in a foreign country attempting to overthrow its leadership.

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Stoltenberg Admits NATO Began Preparing Ukraine for War with Russia Since 2014

Posted by M. C. on July 14, 2023

Coincidentally the same year the US overthrew the Russian/Ukrainian government because Ukraine accepted a much sweeter Russian economic recovery deal than the EU offered.

If the 9 year NATO/US superpower plan was to install a stand up comic as president, finance a neo-nazi militia running the military and get it’s ass kicked while running out of ammo equals success…I can’t wait to see the NATO/US superpower plan for war with China.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/stoltenberg-admits-nato-began-preparing-ukraine-war-russia-since-2014/5825682

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name.

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Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that the alliance had prepared Ukraine for war with Russia since 2014. At the same time, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on July 12 that the French military has already trained 5,200 Ukrainian troops and plans to train a total of 7,000 troops by year’s end.

“France’s support for Ukraine is not weakening. […] Almost 5,200 Ukrainian soldiers have already been trained by France, including 1,600 in Poland. There will be almost 7,000 by the end of the year,” Lecornu tweeted.

According to Lecornu, Ukrainian troops are learning how to operate French military equipment transferred to them and practice modern combat tactics, such as forming battalions that can manoeuvre as a coherent tactical unit.

Meanwhile, the British government announced that more than 19,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been trained in the country over the past six months and that Ukraine can expect more material support.

“In the past six months, the UK has also expanded its military training programme for Ukrainian recruits. This programme has trained more than 19,000 soldiers to date and training for Ukrainian pilots in the UK will begin this summer,” the British government said in a statement.

The UK, through NATO, also plans to establish a medical rehabilitation centre “to support the recovery and return of soldiers to Ukraine’s lines of defence after being injured in combat.”

“[The British PM announced a] major new tranche of support for Ukraine, including thousands of additional rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition, more than 70 combat and logistics vehicles and a £50m support package for equipment repair,” the statement added.

Although these announcements are recent revelations, NATO training of the Ukrainian military is not new. Stoltenberg said that the Alliance began supporting the Ukrainian military long before the start of the war. 

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