I'm saddened as I read about the increasing socialist attacks against the rich. Without a Berlin Wall to make the rich stay put while they are systematically fleeced, they will take their substantial entrepreneurial talent and money and will flee to places that respect their ability and wealth. They will leave behind a shrinking economy.
France has also decided to drink the same Kool-Aid under their newly elected president, Francis Hollande, with his 75 percent income tax. Those with wealth are stampeding out of France taking their capital and entrepreneurial talents to more friendly places. With all of the divisive speech against the rich that our president and the media are saying daily under the guise that the rich need to pay their fair share, the smartest and the richest are already starting to exit the U.S. as well.
In September, co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, renounced his U.S. citizenship and moved to Singapore because of the threat of increased taxes. Last year a record 1,780 wealthy people expatriated to locate in countries friendly to the rich in comparison to only 235 who fled the U.S. in 2008 (Bloomberg News, May 14).
The unfolding disaster in Greece, France, Italy, Spain and other socialist welfare countries should give us a wake-up call against progressive taxation and endless government spending that will also bring us to economic disaster. If we continue on the course we are pursuing, this exit stampede of capital and talent will accelerate exponentially.
Jared F. Brown
Layton