Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

How different is this from officially devaluing the currency in situ? This has been done more than once in the USA (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_do... )


Very different. This is capping, not just devaluating. If you're devaluating, let's say, by 10%, if you had $10 you will have $9 (it will be still $10 but it will be only worth $9), if you had $100 you will have $90, if you had $1000 you will have $900, etc.

In this case, they're capping as well at $40. If you had $10 you will still have only $9, but if you had $100 (or $1000 or a million) you will only have $40. That's it. That's not just taxing wealth, it's taking all the wealth away.


At the same time there was no physical destruction of physical stuff, so it was wealth transfer not wealth destruction. In theory the country should be approximately as wealthy after this action as it was before it.

PS: Ignoring the intangibles.


it's taking all the wealth away

It's taking the liquidity away. People can no longer trade amongst themselves; they can only "trade" with the government.


So it's like devaluation, but with a "progressive" twist?


Well, yeah, infinitely progressive. It's like if the tax rate above a range was 100%.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: