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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 19, 2024

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Why would Mr Musk or any other owner be forced to sell their stake to PMC corporations and not other rich people share his goals or ideology?

He would be forced to sell on the open market. And when you have a much smaller stake in a company you are more likely to go on to different pursuits. The company then is run by PMC.

Nothing prevents him from selling it to a rich friend who shared his ideology... except that the friend would have to have enough money available to buy it, and in cash so he can pay the tax. Plus every super-rich friend is likely to run into this same tax problem at the same time, if this new law goes into effect.

This is so under-analyzed, I think the exact opposite could be asserted. This will force large PMC corporations to sell, as the wealth tax will be harder for them and their shareholders to deal with, as they are less liquid than Johnny P Billionaire—as the structure of their firms demands that all money be invested efficiently unlike individual billionaires— this will lower prices and allow rich individuals like Elon Musk and the like to step in and rein in control.

Yeah. Basically this tax both destroys wealth and moves wealth form individuals to institutions (eg super tax exempts such as calpers, BlackRock). This changes control over the investment.