Gyroscopic Investing

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/world ... wn.html?hp

and...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... othes.html

I read that article recently. My favorite part is how the wealthy are "pathetic" for leaving in the face of onerous taxation.

I love it. 

The mugger yelling at his victim as he runs away: "Get back here you coward and give me your wallet!"

Apparently the actor at the center of all of this has paid something like $190 million in taxes since he started working.  Guess the French have just as many not paying their "fair share" as we do.  They're welcome to come here, but even the rich French are still French.  I lived there for 5 weeks once and the U.S. culture is about as opposite as you can get among first world nations.  The first Walmart they went to would probably give them a stroke.

RuralEngineer wrote: Apparently the actor at the center of all of this has paid something like $190 million in taxes since he started working.  Guess the French have just as many not paying their "fair share" as we do.  They're welcome to come here, but even the rich French are still French.  I lived there for 5 weeks once and the U.S. culture is about as opposite as you can get among first world nations.  The first Walmart they went to would probably give them a stroke.

U.S. culture seems to be a monoculture of endless shopping.  Is that really a high quality of life?  It's what other countries like France mock us for.

MachineGhost wrote: U.S. culture seems to be a monoculture of endless shopping.  Is that really a high quality of life?  It's what other countries like France mock us for.

On the other hand, France's culture more or less consists of mocking other peoples' cultures and exulting in the superiority of their own (Sorry k9, I just had to )

I would say more so than endless shopping, Europeans would say that U.S. culture is endless work. From their perspective, we bust our butts for little benefit, and it seems terribly odd. I mean, France has a government-mandated 35-hour workweek!

MachineGhost wrote:

RuralEngineer wrote: Apparently the actor at the center of all of this has paid something like $190 million in taxes since he started working.  Guess the French have just as many not paying their "fair share" as we do.  They're welcome to come here, but even the rich French are still French.  I lived there for 5 weeks once and the U.S. culture is about as opposite as you can get among first world nations.  The first Walmart they went to would probably give them a stroke.

U.S. culture seems to be a monoculture of endless shopping.  Is that really a high quality of life?  It's what other countries like France mock us for.

I'm not commenting on which culture is superior.  They're just very very different.  I think both are flawed.  There's a lot to be said for the laid back French lifestyle, I certainly enjoyed some measure of it while I was over there.  But being American I also appreciate hard work and owning the fruits of my labor.  That's something that takes a beating in France.  At the end of the day I would probably say that the French lifestyle is higher quality than working 65 to 70 hours a week here in the U.S., however I don't think the French lifestyle is sustainable so I hope they're enjoying it while they can.

RuralEngineer wrote: At the end of the day I would probably say that the French lifestyle is higher quality than working 65 to 70 hours a week here in the U.S., however I don't think the French lifestyle is sustainable so I hope they're enjoying it while they can.

National and personal debt is lower in France than in USA (and UK) which makes me wonder who has the more sustainable lifestyle.

I did some freelance work for a large french company last year, nearly got caught in a stampede at 4:59pm every day... I like the french.