Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters

Supporting the creative power of liberty. Avoid central planning, promote innovation through competition, support localism and let prices inform consumers.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

Is it time for a Privatization of Identity Act where individuals are guaranteed control over the use of and knowledge of their identity through non-state guardians? Using encrypted keys that we choose to distribute to those who need to know who we are is perfectly possible.

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

The fact that the Labour government is trying to ring-fence the entire population with digital ID surveillance and control is a grotesque abuse of power. No one voted for this. They are supposed to be public servants rather than Orwellian authoritarians.

[Annunziata Rees-Mogg @zatzi]

We are ruled by idiots.

Do they not know every 15 year old revises GCSE’s on YouTube?

Do they not know that teenagers track their friends are home safely on SnapChat?

Do they not realise that - especially in rural areas with no transport - teenagers social lives are on… social media.

Do they not know that teenagers will find ways round - as has been shown in Australia.

This ban is illogical and damaging.

If I hear another parent say “it’s so hard to police them” I’ll scream. It’s a parent’s job. Take responsibility the children you are meant to be bringing up.

It is not the government’s job to look after your children.

But the government will now insist all adults provide ID to prove we are over 18.

😡

[Blues Badger @badgers_back]

I have put restrictions on my kids phones so they can’t use them before 7am or after 8pm except to make calls/send texts.

They can’t download apps without me approving and they’re not allowed:

WhatsApp
Instagram
TikTok
Snapchat
X

It’s called parenting, some should try it.

[David McMahon @David_McMahon75]

I am sick of the government and tax academics gaslighting us on this 30% minimum CGT. Their argument is that people are engaging in some kind of "tax avoidance" by accumulating assets through their lives, deferring those gains and selling near retirement when their marginal tax rate is much lower.

This is a spectacularly stupid argument. People sell assets later in life not because they are engaging in some kind of elaborate tax dodge. Most of the time it's because that's when they need the money. This is basically just how long-term savings works.

Similarly, if someone starts a small business and then sells it later in life to fund their living expenses, they are not engaging in tax avoidance. They were just deferring consumption. This stuff should be obvious.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

We should be warned, all efforts at prohibition lead to powerful unintended consequences. The central state should not be usurping responsible parenthood practices. This measure will create new inequalities and injustices.

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

We are banning social media access for under 16s.

These days kids must find their feet in a world where technology intrudes into every area of their life.

I just can’t let that go on anymore. So we’re giving children their childhoods back.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@QasimRashid This is absurd. Using a promise of future gains to capitalise endeavour spreads the risk across many, all of whom the entrepreneur has to distribute margins to over time. Without that (and limited liability to limit risk) we would all be scratching subsistence from a field.

[Kristian Niemietz @K_Niemietz]

I prefer to live in a world where Elno can become a trillionaire than a world where Thomas Piketty can make everyone poor.
My enemy isn't the world's financial elite, it's the cultural elite.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

Sounds more like DEI measures to me.

[David Yelland @davidyelland]

What has Elon Musk taken from you? So ask many including Andrew Neil.

Here's the answer:

He has taken our peace of mind.

He has purposefully pushed us apart, divided us further and profited from our loss of community.

And that is hard to ever forgive.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@ewarren What's so odd about this redistributive worldview is that 168 million US taxpayers paying $6 would create a cash flow of a trillion. Most pay that much in sales tax each day, Musk took years to create that much value. Governments extract vastly more from us than Musk ever could.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@lewis_goodall @afneil Wow, so you want to curtail and control political information? Based on an assumption that it's information that you wouldn't perhaps agree with? And that it did more than just reinforce existing prejudices? A dog fight on X is not a policy making machine.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@lewis_goodall Where he has customers who pay a price for his products and services (as opposed to government contracts creating a monopsony) he has little power. Consumers have the power to create huge losses for any business by not buying what they offer.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

Some people understand wealth creation as the route out of poverty. Far too many don't.

[Brivael Le Pogam @brivael]

Je vais partir du principe que tu es de bonne foi, parce que ton raisonnement est intuitif et que 90% des gens le partagent. Mais il repose sur trois erreurs factuelles, et ça vaut le coup de les regarder calmement.

Erreur 1 : la fortune d'Elon n'est pas un tas d'argent. C'est de la propriété d'usines, de fusées et de satellites. "Prendre la moitié de sa tune", concrètement, ça veut dire forcer la vente de la moitié de SpaceX et Tesla. L'argent ne sort pas d'un coffre, il sort des entreprises elles-mêmes, qui passent sous contrôle de fonds étrangers ou d'États. Tu ne redistribues pas du cash, tu démantèles un outil de production. C'est la différence entre récolter des pommes et découper le pommier.

Erreur 2 : "ça résout énormément de problèmes dans le monde". Cette expérience a déjà été tentée, en vrai. En 2021, le directeur du Programme Alimentaire Mondial de l'ONU a affirmé que 6 milliards de Musk pouvaient "résoudre la faim dans le monde". Réponse d'Elon : décrivez-moi exactement comment, comptabilité publique à l'appui, et je vends mes actions Tesla immédiatement. Le PAM a publié son plan. Verdict : ce n'était pas "résoudre la faim", c'était nourrir 42 millions de personnes pendant un an. Un an. Puis il faut re-payer, pour toujours. Le PAM avait d'ailleurs levé 8,4 milliards l'année précédente, et la faim était toujours là. Les ONG traitent les symptômes en boucle, jamais les causes, parce que leur financement dépend de l'existence du problème.

Erreur 3, la plus importante : tu cherches ce qui sort vraiment les gens de la pauvreté. Bonne nouvelle, on a la réponse, et elle est massive. En 1990, 36% de l'humanité vivait dans l'extrême pauvreté. Aujourd'hui, moins de 9%. Plus d'un milliard de personnes sorties de la misère en 30 ans. Par quoi ? Pas par la charité ni par l'aide internationale (plus de 1 000 milliards versés à l'Afrique en 60 ans pour un résultat à peu près nul). Par l'ouverture des marchés, l'industrialisation, le commerce. La Chine seule a sorti 800 millions de personnes de la pauvreté en abandonnant le collectivisme, pas en taxant ses entrepreneurs.

Donc fais le calcul complet. Option A : tu confisques 500 milliards, tu finances quelques années de programmes, l'argent est consommé, et tu as détruit la machine qui produisait les fusées, les voitures électriques et l'internet des zones rurales. Option B : tu laisses le meilleur allocateur de capital de sa génération réinvestir 100% de sa fortune dans des industries qui baissent les coûts pour tout le monde et emploient des centaines de milliers de personnes. L'option A soulage ta morale pendant 18 mois. L'option B sort des populations entières de la pauvreté pour toujours.

La pauvreté ne se redistribue pas. Elle se résout par la création. C'est contre-intuitif, c'est frustrant, mais c'est ce que disent 200 ans de données.

[Adam Smith Institute @ASI]

Today is Tax Freedom Day!

Up until June 5th, every penny the average Brit earned went straight to the taxman. From today (June 6th), you are finally earning for yourself!

Under our improved methodology, this is the latest Tax Freedom Day ever recorded. 👇

[Brian Monteith @TheBluetrot]

Capital gains tax has stumped politicians for decades; Streeting doesn’t stand a chance

"For 10 years between 1988–1998, CGT was aligned with income tax and indexed. The result was hugely lower transactions & revenues."

My latest column for @Telegraph https://t.co/W5jmlONSrr

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@PinkFishBlueCat @JamesMelville @CllrMacDougall I am sure they will pay for it, there's plenty to go around. And it's a myth that they use a lot. Food factories use a lot too.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@JamesMelville @CllrMacDougall I thought Scotland was replete with energy potential and clean water. All the indie supporters honk on about this frequently. There are also an extraordinary number of fixed pie Luddites in your replies. I'm sure 19th C ship and steam engine builders did not face this pessimism.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@Williamgallus @wbmosler None of this gets past the issue of an ever-increasing deficit funded supply of SKr having to be matched by an equal increase in SKr transactions. If the former increases faster than the latter there will be inflation. With no foreign exchange controls, assets will flee abroad.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@scotgov What's fair about punishing success and making all Scots poorer? Fair means deserving, you are engaged totalitarian takings on the basis that no-one desrves a big house or a private jet. So your redistributions destroy freedoms, no wonder millions of Scots have left Scotland.

[Eben Wilson - Liberty Matters @LibMatters]

@danielanadj77 Having been in those queues twice in two months and observed the technical and operational incompetences the new system appears to be highlighting, I am relieved we have left.