[jacobolus]

That's fine. Such people can renounce their citizenship and pay the required exit tax, convert all their assets to gold bars or whatever, and go move somewhere in the world without a functioning state, where they can hire a private militia, build their own basic infrastructure, etc.

[lazide]

why would they do that when they can take over the gov’t and steal everyone else’s stuff? (see Russia, Venezula, China, and many others)

Notably, the biggest thefts seem to happen when they can convince people that the gov’t is doing it for ‘the good of the people’, and they’re ‘going after the rich people’, and then they can pocket it when no one is looking.

[jacobolus]

In the USA it's mostly "the rich people" and extremely profitable corporations who have captured parts of the government and figured out ways to corruptly siphon money out of the rest of the economy into their own pockets.

This is a reason why we need better anti-corruption legislation, an end of the "super PAC", much higher inheritance taxes with fewer loopholes, and structural reforms to fix a profoundly corrupt Supreme Court.

[lazide]

Sure, but that isn’t what the comment I was replying to was saying, was it?

Also, a lot of what you’re describing seems like regulatory capture.