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Let’s assume that you are determined to do whatever it takes, within the legal framework, of course, to become really rich. What would be the ideal country for you?
The unique features that favor the daring and why the Nordic countries appear in the top positions despite the high taxes. The most recent data showing how many have a fortune of over one million per capita is from Credit Suisse. If you want to win money effortlessly, you can play on an online casino from the comfort of your home while you are doing business. You will have all the thrill you need, and you can even play live with real dealers.
The first country in proportion is the USA. 403,974 people or 7.1% of the total population. No surprise, as there is Wall Street that collects money from all over the world and Silicon Valley that collects minds from across the globe. Second is Australia with 7%, which has a special regime to attract millionaires from other countries. Third is Denmark, with 286,712 or 5.5%. Belgium is fourth with 313,045 or 5.2%. Norway follows it with 4.6% and Sweden with 4.5%. Greece has 108,127 millionaires representing 1% of the population.
Ιf you raise the bar to 1 billion? If you want to become not a millionaire, but a billionaire?
If we exclude the tax havens, Sweden is first with one billionaire every 320.000 people, which is very surprising since they have high taxes and high labor costs. Israel follows it with one every 475,000 and the USA with one every 572,000.
How do they do that?
The first reason is the free quality education. Public education is the only institution that can give opportunities for a better life for those who weren’t born rich. Knowledge is power and the best qualification in the effort of man to upgrade his standard of living. The highest economic form is the self-made man. Therefore the ideal society gives as many opportunities as possible to one of the lower strata to rise to the higher. How? By Encouraging the mood for innovation. The wealth of talent, against the confidence of the rentiers, the tendency for creation, against the ready family property.
A recent OECD report states that a child from a low-income family in Greece needs four generations to reach the average income. In the US and Britain, five (150 years). In the Nordic countries 2 (Denmark) or 3 (Finland, Norway, Sweden). They have the record. In South America, there is the worst performance with Colombia leading the way, with 11 generations.
The second reason is about the basic salary. In Scandinavia, we have the following paradox. The high minimum wage results in the employer-entrepreneur avoiding hiring many unskilled workers. Why? Because they cost them a lot of money. They have every incentive to replace these jobs with robotic systems. Otherwise, they will not be able to be competitive. We know that new technologies typically increase productivity. And what happens when you have increased productivity? Your profits increase. They also keep the pay of high-paid employees low. In fact, they are paid more than the unskilled, but less than their colleagues in other countries, and as a result, they save money.
What about the American Dream?
The best place to chase the “American dream” is not the USA; it’s Scandinavia. A state can’t attract investment while maintaining high taxes combined with troubled benefits. Either taxes should be reduced, or favorable conditions should be created to facilitate entrepreneurship. The lower the tax in a country, the easier it is to attract investment funds. Starting new businesses will create new jobs. Everyone will find a job, and the scarcity of available workers will raise wages. For a country to prosper, it must do better than its neighbor in attracting capital. The ease of choosing tax policy is more a matter of financial conditions. Wealthy countries like Germany and France have higher tax and insurance costs for businesses, but they also have the power to impose it. Why? Because they offer greater reciprocity. They have quality public infrastructure, a stable tax system, ensuring healthy competition, guaranteed demand from a strong and broad consumer public, specialized work by an educated workforce.
Even a small local business has an organization, productivity, and efficiency. The customer knows what he wants; the employee knows how to serve him. You will never see redundant staff, and no one is hired unless they meet at least the minimum requirements. It has a steady flow of receipts across all business cycles and remarkable profitability. He does not know what bureaucracy means. All customers leave satisfied and smiling. If someone is not satisfied, no one is forcing him to go again.
The main obstacle in developed countries is the demographic. Fewer young people of productive age support an increased number of older people. Bankers, as modern alchemists, can make money from scratch, not children. The bill does not come out even in the most favorable conditions. Even if any financial or tax system is correctly implemented, each of us considers it ideal. For this ratio to be viable, we must intelligently exploit technology in conjunction with a productive reconstruction so that productivity rises. At such a level, where the wealth produced is like working multiple times.
