AmiBroker User's List>Ed - the cultural influence I was referring to is the generational >change that occurs when the children of self made men/women are born >into affluence, which is the inevitable outcome of older developed
interesting.... IMO since in our system money is basically debt based on collateral (land), any changes to the way land is treated legally (ie, taxed), will result in dramatic consequences. this is what happened in the US : - interest on mortgages was made deductible - capital gains on real estate was made tax free to 500 k (!) every 2 years (!). - down payments were not required - mortgages were securitized (ie, sold to foolish investors) to reload the mortgage guns. in a way the entire system went on a war footing to ensure real estate appreciation. obviously, land speculation (the way most millionaires were made in the US), was sold as a get rich quick scheme to the entire population, especially the gullible immigrants. the ones who got in and out early made a killing. the real damage however is to the honesty in the system. the US and its govt encouraged speculators made a fortune on crisis profiteering in Latin America, Russia etc by selling them austerity packages when they had their crises. This way they bought priceless assets for pennies on the dollar. This is how the oligarchs in Russia got their wealth. when the crises hit home, the US coolly rejected its own medicine and went for bailouts of unimaginable amounts. And this is just the beginning.
