this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 37 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just what we need, more fucking rich people.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Just think of all the thousands of dollars of extra tax revenue.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

And think about how that tax revenue gets spent on weapons and not healthcare.

(Given those millionaires were able to circumvent China's strict capital controls. Even if some of them did I'm sure they'd find a way of circumventing taxes in their new host country also)

[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 months ago (10 children)

China saw the world's biggest outflow of high-net-worth individuals last year and is expected to see a record exodus of 15,200 in 2024, dealing a further blow to its economy, a new report says.

It's interesting how through the neoliberal lens this looks like "a blow" to their economy. But from a Keynesian or MMT lens, China doesn't need high net worth individuals to drive the economy. Public investment can and has done this in China as well as many other parts of the world.

From another angle, letting high net worth individuals flee, could reduce apparent wealth inequality in China.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Yeah, is there some kind of meaningful drawback or are they just reducing inflation when this happens?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Does China have capital flight laws? Can they allow the millionaires to leave whilst retaining the actual material wealth?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think that, in theory, you can't really move all your money outside of China. In practice, I'm pretty sure there's a huge loophole in Macau where you can exchange all your RMB money for casino chips and then exchange them for dollars (or something like that) instantly, allowing you to move huge sums outside of China. There are probably a thousand other ways to bring out money we surely don't know about.

There are tons of millionaires and billionaires in China, and I doubt they want to be at the complete mercy of the CCP. They've been moving money outside of China for decades now, with this and other loopholes. Many of the billionaires are complicit with members of the party, obviously, sharing the money with those in power in order to do what they please.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

Money is just a social contract though. What they can't take with them are the means of production. Stuff like factories that they used to own will stay in China. What people in the west don't seem to understand is that the economy is fundamentally about allocation of labor and resources towards meeting the needs of the people. Money of itself has no inherent meaning, that's why the government can just issue as much currency as it needs.

Many of the billionaires are complicit with members of the party, obviously, sharing the money with those in power in order to do what they please.

If that was the case in practice then they wouldn't be fleeing China to go to places like US where they can do as they please.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (31 children)

Please keep them, we don't need more millionaires.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Better millionaires than billionaires.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The article doesn’t mention it, but it’s also difficult to bring their money with them due to strict transfer limits. China is shedding its parasite class, and the leeches are migrating to their natural environment.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

China is shedding its parasite class, and the leeches are migrating to their natural environment.

unfortunately; it means they're coming here

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

What exactly is prompting the emigration though?

I don't believe this:

Uncertainty over China's economic trajectory and geopolitical tensions are top of mind for many Chinese millionaires

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

Realization they're not in charge is likely the main driver I would imagine.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Well, you just need to read between the lines there.

uncertainty over China's economic trajectory

Read: uncertainty over ability to continue exploiting labors using your accumulated surplus

geopolitical tensions...

Read: closing window of opportunities to freely move your accumulated surplus elsewhere

This is just like those immigrated nobles running from liberal revolutions in the past.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Being wealthy in the US/UK/Canada is so much better than being rich in China because the marginal advantage is substantially larger

In China? You still take the train. Transit is probably still faster than driving. Your food expenses don't scale as fast because cheap food isn't made of garbage. You already likely own a home. You probably come from a tier 1/2 city, so traveling domestically is cheap. Your kid still has to grind for gaokao.

In the US? You fly business. You drive around in your S Class. You can bribe infinite extracurriculars for your kid to get into a top university. You basically never have to interact with anyone in the lower 90% of incomes, and you don't need to be THAT wealthy to do so.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

Come to the Corporatocracy Haven! Milk it's juicy population and be Free™.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, gusanos.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Problem is, people like that tend to be the driving force in aggressive rhetoric against their former homeland

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

they would anyway. no point in catering to them.

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