That's a load of nonsense for the most part, and illustrates that you have no clue what the more well-off people do with their money. Most of them, like me, have a highly variable income that we can control to suit the economic climate. Up until three years ago, I was definitely filing in the top 1% for several years because I had a lot of profit to bleed. When the economy went south, I sealed the hatches and focused on long-term business investments rather than letting the government rape me for my seed corn during this dry spell.
As a consequence, I have averaged $10k gross income for the last three years, which is just enough to cover my basic living expenses. All of my other resources have been dumped into startups and business ventures, all of which are starting to take off and gain value (something I'll pay for eventually).
So don't you worry about where my money is going. It's been paying the salary of class warfare idiots like yourself at companies I built, all without taking a dime of profit for the last few years while the economy has been tough because it would be taking money away from businesses that need it. I don't need closet communists masquerading as "conservatives" cheering every time Uncle Sam rapes me, because next time around I may decide not to play. Rather than putting my money in job producing investments I'll just live large through the bad economy so that you can see me write a fat check to the IRS. Just don't whine when you don't have a job.
"As a consequence, I have averaged $10k gross income for the last three years, which is just enough to cover my basic living expenses."
You may have been in the top earning 1% for a few years, but you certainly are not among the truly wealthy that I am talking about. I spent more than $10k on my last vacation and I took three last year. It probably costs that much in gasoline and insurance to run my Suburban for a year.
I know more than a few people who are leaving and I can guarantee you that they might spend that much on a single business meeting. I used to own a very successful import/export business and traveled all over the world in that business and today I am involved with a company that has me dealing with the wealthiest people in many countries around the world. There is one change that I have noticed in my travels in recent years. There are a lot more US expats in a lot of those countries - a whole lot more. In most small countries, 10 years ago, you would have to ask dozens of people to find out where the single bar or restaurant was, where the local American expats would gather. Today, you ask any taxi driver that question and he will ask which one you want to go to, since there are so many places like that now.
I'm talking about people like a man I met in Belize a few of years ago, who made, I'm sure, at least $2 million a year, back then. He has a home in Belize, one in Ireland and one on an island off the coast of Greece. He is a former US Marine officer who told me that the country that he left was not the country that he grew up in and proudly served. He was deeply disturbed by the fact that when he became successful, he went from being an honored patriot to being a target for every government agency that could find a way to poke their nose into his business. After two lucrative business deals in two years were bought out from under him by large corporations that learned of the deal from contacts in the US government, who leaked the content of certain filings that he was required to make, he was on the verge of leaving. Then Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), in which they tried to stem capital flight by punishing those wealthy people who have the audacity to leave. That law includes a provision that claims the right of the US Government to tax the income of a wealthy expatriate American for 10 years after he renounces his citizenship and is a tax paying citizen of another country (Why would the government pass such an onerous law, if they didn't already know that the wealthy are leaving?). If you don't believe it, read it. My associate told me that he saw that law as a howitzer aimed right at his pocketbook. It took him 10 months to move all of his assets offshore (out of the reach of the IRS) and acquire citizenship in at least two other countries. He has more than tripled his income since then and he hasn't looked back.
I can tell you similar stories about quite a few other US expats that I have met or talked with on the phone in the past 6 or 8 years. Most are not as prone to talk about what they make as the gentleman I mentioned above, but considering the subject of our discussions, in most cases, I can assure you that most of them have available cash in the 8 figure range - not just net worth - available cash. At least two of them have their own private jets. Another has a 180 something foot yacht on which he spends about half of his time. I can assure you that he spends more than your $10k a year in a single day on board that yacht. Chances are, that you would even recognize his name.
But, the people that I'm talking about are the people who aren't worried near as much about the level of the taxes, as they are worried about the privacy issues of being wealthy in the United States. Many high level business deals might be compromised if word got out to the wrong people before the papers are signed and they are ready to announce the deal. But, because of the IRS and other agencies that now claim the right to look into and "approve" any deal that involves more than a few thousand dollars, it is not uncommon for critical information to be leaked through one of those agencies.
Although all of the US expats that I know left prior to the (Un)Patriot Act, I know several wealthy US investors who are planning to leave as a direct result of that onerous legislation. It seems that many high level business deals are very time sensitive and each of them have lost very lucrative deals due to (Un)Patriot Act compliance delays. One deal that I am personally familiar with should have been completed in only about three days, prior to the (Un)Patriot Act. The US investor had a 30 day window to complete the deal. That window expired while the feds were giving every person involved in the deal, including several layers of brokers, a financial anal exam. I heard that the person that got the deal was European (I think he said German), who dealt in Euros, that don't move through the Fed and completed the deal in guess what time - three days. In fact, there are now many people who will not even offer a time critical deal to a US citizen or even to anyone who is offering only US dollars, since either of those things will create unacceptable (Un)Patriot Act compliance delays.
Our elected representatives in Washington, in their lust for power, control and more of our money to spend, are actually making it impossible for high level investors to function as US citizens and many are preparing to leave. The only thing that is delaying them is the time it takes for people that wealthy to move all of their assets out of reach of the IRS, before they leave (remember HIPAA? - if you leave it, it gets taxed for ten years).
And, even with all of that, I haven't even touched on the fact that the US government confiscates much more private property, per capita, every year, than any other Western nation. What it boils down to is that the more you have to lose, the more incentive you have to leave.
I congratulate you on making it into the top 1% for a few years. But, if you can live on $10k, then even if you managed to reach that top 1% for a few years, you are certainly not among the elite major taxpayers that I am talking about. You obviously just don't have that much to lose, yet. When your basic living expenses reach $100k or more and when each day or even each month, you risk millions, then I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on expatriation of the wealthy. And, should that ever happen (and it sounds like you may be headed in that direction), I would not be surprised to learn that you had changed your tune significantly, if you were still here, at all.