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Comment by AnimalMuppet | Hacker News Reader

> Unions hold countries hostage by closing down rail or airports. Still, a solution that doesn't cost 1 billion dollars per person is always found.

Sure. It's often found in the form of a court decision.

> Imagine you offer them 2-10x market value. With a confidentiality clause. And the threat of confiscation or project abandonment. I believe an amiable solution would be found in most cases.

Sure - in most cases. And for the ones that won't? You're going to have to either abandon the project, wait for them to die, or confiscate.

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> And for the ones that won't?

Then you confiscate, sure. And show publicly that you offered 10x and were refused. But not confiscation by default, in all cases.

I guess my argument is that if you really want something, you better pay up. Like for anything else, from cars and boats to 10x developers. What if the government could come to you whenever they want and say: I forcefully require your work and talent and I will not pay more than market price for it.

They can and have. It’s called conscription.

> But not confiscation by default, in all cases.

They don't (at least, I don't think they do).

I don't know if I said something that you interpreted as "confiscate first", but that was not what I meant.

I went through such a expropriation a couple years back. All I got was a notification letter and a check for corresponding amount (arguably under market value).

The problem is who gets to determine the value of that land. If the government wants you to write software for them for a year, you can protest that you’re a 10x developer deserving millions of dollars all you want, all they need to do is look at your tax return for the last year and pay you double or whatever.

On the other hand, if your family has been living on that ranch and tending that land for hundreds of years, and every generation has contributed to building out and maintaining the homestead, the government can’t properly say “well that derelict lot down the way sold for 100k, we’ll give you 1M and call it fair”.

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