Are you really having this argument ? It is obvious that we won't build a rail track on every road but at the same time denying that taxes will shitft some cargo towards trains and create new rail tracks does not make any sense !

Tax system with tax bands are always a headaches and encourage people to "optimise" their taxes.

And I think you are not talking about the same thing than I do ?

He is correct but I think most people understood ...

This is because you associate capitalism with evil: in many cases debt can be a useful tool. For a rich entrepreneur it can allow to diversify his exposure to a single business without realising the capital gain tax for example. For people with good ideas, it allow to allocate the capital to something with a higher return on investment. This is why finance is actually useful, it allows some allocation of money more efficiently than if you tried to do it with a single entity which becomes invariable corrupt. The post above my previous reply is totally oblivious to the fact that many of the recent changes in the last centuries are probably more due to modern economy and liberalism allowing the economy to flourish and scientific progress to be made.

This is a ridiculous statement, there are plenty of rich analysts in Private Equity ...

It is bad because it encourages saving and slow down your economy.

If it was only a matter of paying the right people why don't you just remortgage and pay them. There is still and element of selection and decision.

I take it you don't take your own advice, you would have noticed that without being invested in stocks for long periods of time you would lost much to inflation. A better solution is to use defensive stocks.

Know how and culture can be part of the goodwill of a brand

But don't you think that if a company was under asset value and has liquid assets it could be bought and sold off asset by asset ?

Sure you do ... You must have done very well !!!

There seems to be evidence that over the long term stocks oscillate around or above the company value they represent, so it is not totally stupid although a bit baffling that people buy a company which will not lay dividends and without the ability to influence any voting decisions.

So you would prefer to live in a world where you have to pay upfront everything ? Your house would start being built when you have the full amount to buy it ? Everything would be so slow without securitisation and the fractional reserve system.

You are right on a long scale, however gold was not very valuable during a large famine for example. At the time of a catastrophe your silver won't be worth much.