> This has been happening for some 15 years now, and accelerated after Brexit; covid might well be the nail in the coffin.
Estonia will be a useful barometer to keep an eye on for this in the future, but since their tax rate is actually basically in line with this floor anyway it may well be that this just doesn't affect them at all.
> their proximity to large adversaries actually makes them more dependent on soft-power diplomacy to maintain big friends.
Georgia already has recent experience with such relationships not keeping the bear at bay so may well view the extra capital from remaining an attractive tax friendly jurisdiction as more useful than bowing to parties who have already failed them in the recent past.
Malaysia seems even less likely to buckle to the "international order" as they have neither the cultural homogeneity nor the magnitude of the threat that Georgia has.
> You put your money into China, you can't pull it out ever again; you put your money into Russia, and tomorrow it might well be Putin's money.
When what your money gets you is absolutely nothing, one parasite is just as bad as another in the long run, it just becomes a question of which one costs you more. Russia and China have to restrain themselves in the looting sector less and less to the extent that their US & EU competition go all out in order to look like better alternatives.
And then, there's the implications of an extortion war across the global economy providing capital flight impetus to push the cryptosphere to obscene heights and complete inability to tax in a worst case scenario.
I think the fundamental fact of the issue will remain that as long as it's a forced payment not linked at all to delivery or quality of goods or services, all rational parties will be forever motivated to avoid it to the maximum extent possible, as it resolves to nothing more complex than "burning money" given what it actually buys you.
Estonia will be a useful barometer to keep an eye on for this in the future, but since their tax rate is actually basically in line with this floor anyway it may well be that this just doesn't affect them at all.
> their proximity to large adversaries actually makes them more dependent on soft-power diplomacy to maintain big friends.
Georgia already has recent experience with such relationships not keeping the bear at bay so may well view the extra capital from remaining an attractive tax friendly jurisdiction as more useful than bowing to parties who have already failed them in the recent past.
Malaysia seems even less likely to buckle to the "international order" as they have neither the cultural homogeneity nor the magnitude of the threat that Georgia has.
> You put your money into China, you can't pull it out ever again; you put your money into Russia, and tomorrow it might well be Putin's money.
When what your money gets you is absolutely nothing, one parasite is just as bad as another in the long run, it just becomes a question of which one costs you more. Russia and China have to restrain themselves in the looting sector less and less to the extent that their US & EU competition go all out in order to look like better alternatives.
And then, there's the implications of an extortion war across the global economy providing capital flight impetus to push the cryptosphere to obscene heights and complete inability to tax in a worst case scenario.
I think the fundamental fact of the issue will remain that as long as it's a forced payment not linked at all to delivery or quality of goods or services, all rational parties will be forever motivated to avoid it to the maximum extent possible, as it resolves to nothing more complex than "burning money" given what it actually buys you.
Time will tell I guess.