Comment by goobatrooba
5 days ago
Citation needed.
Here is one for the contrary (just a book review. The citation is the book).
https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/06/we-need-to-tax-billiona...
5 days ago
Citation needed.
Here is one for the contrary (just a book review. The citation is the book).
https://cleantechnica.com/2026/04/06/we-need-to-tax-billiona...
That strongly supports my point. What do you think $250 billion a year worldwide pays for? That's $30 per person per year.
It's $250 billion less that goes to the ultrarich, so that they can't purchase another $250 billion of assets.
After a certain amount of money, financial engineers can basically build all kinds of leveraged instruments that will let you buy those assets anyway.
1 reply →
I think that's a very different goal post. We were talking about the social contract, publicly funded services. You must realize it's just not a meaningful amount, right? That was my initial point. If you want a real safety net, you have to tax the middle class, and a lot.
That's not really how that works. Almost all of that money is tied up in operating businesses. Most very rich people mostly hold investments in stock - and generally at large companies. That's debt, not an asset I think the way you're thinking of. Overall, taking that money out of market holdings reduces the value of those holdings, for everyone else as well. You really end up lowering the retirement savings value of everyone who has a retirement plan by some amount.