Can you believe the nation that invented the stock exchange in 1602 is now about to tax money you haven't made yet? We’re officially in a Schrödinger’s cat economy. Your profits exist and don't exist at the same time. At least the cat had 50% chance of being alive. But your unrealized gains? You're up, you hold, it crashes - haha too bad, tax was already charged. Congrats, you now have a loss on top of a loss. Double dead cat. Scientists: "you can't observe the outcome without opening the box" Dutch government: "what if we just taxed both outcomes and let the peasants figure it out” 🤡 and the best part? the rest of the EU is watching. France is broke. Germany is broke. Italy is broke. They just got a proof of concept. give it 5 years and europe will speedrun civilization backwards. 1602: invent stock exchanges 2028: tax imaginary money 2035: ban speculation entirely 2040: back to trading carrots for apples renaissance → enlightenment → industrial revolution → taxing imagination → bartering turnips 400 years of financial evolution. Haha fuck you, ctrl+z. at least in the ancient world they only taxed real grain.