What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education

Re:What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education by charlesdm on Sunday July 17, 2016 @05:34PM (#12111959)

Very true. The noble family I know was stripped off of €75m worth of land in a certain Belgian town, that they had owned since the 1700s, in the 90s by the government.

Regardless of how they acquired that land in the first place, that's pure theft. And I've also heard several stories of how they lost significant wealth due to shady characters.

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Re:What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education by giardini on Sunday July 17, 2016 @06:13PM (#12112118)

"Regardless of how they acquired that land in the first place, that's pure theft."

Regardless? Really? Even if the way the family acquired the land was also "pure theft"? At bottom it's conquest + inheritance for nobility. IOW, pure luck. I think it appropriate that government redistribute such land someway.

Ditto for the various religious organizations too. Henry VIII took much land and wealth from the Roman Catholic Church.

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Re:What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education by charlesdm on Sunday July 17, 2016 @06:19PM (#12112146)

In this case, I believe they inherited it from the last remaining heir of another noble family that had owned it for nearly 600 or 700 years.

If I remember right, that family received it as a gift from a king at the time. While in principle I agree with your notion, I don’t think the government should be taking away property in this day and age anymore.

At the end of the day, how far do you have to go back to protect property rights? If a family has owned a plot of land for nearly a thousand years, is it not yours then? Do we need to go back further?

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Re:What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education by giardini on Thursday July 21, 2016 @04:17PM (#12139722)

So the king (government) gives and the government takes away.

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Re:What’s Behind the Ballooning Upper Middle Class? Education by nononosisisi on Sunday July 17, 2016 @11:25PM (#12113092)

So anytime now the first nations people are going to be kicking out all of us from the USA, I guess.

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