quibble

I don't think anyone can predict the price of gold, beyond some bullion banks and other insiders with influence. Shirley a (very high?) 55% right vs. 45% wrong success rate (over some defined time period - which is the main problem) would enable the seer to acquire humongous wealth (even in the time that the system changed, rendering the 55-45 hit rate process defunct) ?

Quite, if they want to bring money into the UK, they pay tax on it. The scheme actively discourages people from doing what is it's claimed intention; bringing money into the UK! Who's to say that abolishing the non-dom status won't actually bring more money into the UK? The ex-non-doms who stay will no longer be dis-incentivised to bring money into the UK, and the non-doms who leave will be replaced by resident people who are not actively encouraged to take money out of the UK.

It's amazing that the trickle down theory gets any credence in this case - the system actually encourages non-doms not to bring money into the UK, if they did they'd be taxed on it! It may well actually take money out of the UK - don't non-doms move even their UK-earned money abroad, where interest/income isn't taxed?

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/taxi-statistics

Isn't this really a public assertion that all the paper sterling in existence are still good to buy UK assets? When you go bust, your creditors take your stuff. This is what has been happening to the UK for the past few decades. We have to continue to let our creditors convert their sterling into UK infrastructure & London homes, or the pound is toast. Maybe the problem is what happens when there is no more UK infrastructure left to sell.

Thank you for clarifying. I just find it insane that rich Russians that 'acquired' the wealth of Russia are allowed to reside relatively tax free in London, untouched by sanctions. Whilst poor Moscow waiters loose their jobs (Russia can't afford unemployment benefit because all it's wealth was taken by kleptocrats). It could be argued that even normal UK residents are more affected by the sanctions than UK Non Dom Russian residents - as a percentage of our wealth, we paid proportionally more of the €165,000,000 for Polish apple farmers, with our taxes! It seems that people like Cameron and Johnson don't want the Non Dom Russian residents touched by sanctions, maybe even to the extent of veteoing EU action? Until they do, I can't see any selling up in London en masse.

The really crazy thing about UK resident (e.g. Russian) Non Dom status is that it absolutely encourages all UK resident Non Doms to hold all their assets offshore, where they are tax free (of any income tax, let alone something like a wealth tax - which even e.g. even the Swiss government would levy on it's residents). Logically, UK resident (e.g. Russian) Non Doms (e.g. Abromovich) would hold all their many billions of assets in some offshore (e.g. guessing Caribbean ?) holding company. So, if the UK resident Non Dom rules encourage the UK Non Doms (e.g. former Russian) to have an absolute minimum of their (taxable) assets in the UK, what is there to go after? How would the HMRC (hahahaha) go after anything other than an utterly miniscule percentage of the UK resident Non Doms' assets? How would the UK government levy any sanctions whatsoever on your average UK resident Non Dom Russian (e.g. minor kleptocrat), yet keep e.g. (unrelated UK resident Non Dom) Abromovich here? Specifically, how would the HMRC (hahahaha) legally distinguish between a normal UK resident Non Dom Russian who has bought a BTL (with 90% mortgage) in the Olympic village from UK Resident Non Dom Former Russian Abromovich? Why do you think that the UK government hasn't gone after one single UK resident Russian Non Dom whatsoever, but have instead collectively punished Polish apple growers, and the average Russian consumers who would quite like to eat an apple for breakfast? edit: added some 'UK resident' bits to clarify these peoples' legal residency - as if they gave a ****

IMO, the people who run the world don't target other people who run the world. That would legitimise themselves as targets. For example, see the names of the people who tried to assassinate Hitler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Adolf_Hitler- see many anglophone names there? We were having a world war with the guy but hardly never had a go directly. I'm guessing that the likes of Abromovich (you don't get to be a Russian billionaire without some links to the KGB and other Russian people who run the world) will be happily paying his £30,000 non-dom fee next decade - and living the life of riley with the rest of his 10 billion in assets completely untaxed by the UK governemnt. They're not even going to tax the Russian owners of UK homes as proportionally much as they tax someone who has lived their whole lives in the UK! It would be a huge step if they treated non-dom Russians equally to British people, let alone worse.

Keeping the home, and gambling on the UK keeping it's tax free foreign pirate haven status. It only costs Roman Abramovich £30,000 a year, then he pays no tax on his worldwide (non UK) wealth.

Claims like this surface regularly on goldbug sites, and personally I think it's a bit sick - especially when the bugs are hoping for mass death in order to increase the value of their portfolio. Here is a 30 year gold price chart: The Vietnam war ended in 1975. What were the huge increases in war, misery & death in 1978 and 2005?

Do you have any evidence of this correlation? I think (and hope) that gold doesn't need people dying for it's price to rise. My guess is that it's driven by peoples' fear of their own governments (printing more paper in the west, confiscation of wealth in some of the rest).

As you bought it up, what is your position on the housing market?

Yeah but no but yeah but no but.. Did you sell your home in 2003, and have you bought another since?

I own my own home, but i hope prices will go down a lot (we don't need to rehash the reasons why that would be a good thing). I just object to seers making - apparently - negative statements about housing bears, when they don't seem to have stated their own actual position.

Yep, not the best hashtag choice. Picked up a couple of recipes, though. Anyway, let's get back on topic. It would be great if KB would comment on his actual position in the housing market.