12 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Greywolfe's avatar

Bill, I think you're on to something Non-MAGA people (of any political persuasion) should be focusing relentlessly on: "A 1 percent levy on Elon Musk alone would produce NIH’s $4 billion dollars in deficit reduction." NIH is of course just one example. Someone (not me!) needs to produce a chart showing how much Elon is worth, and how small percentages of his worth would could completely pay for many popular programs. Maybe even aggregate Elon, Bezos, and Zuck into an "Oligarchs Benevolent Fund".

Expand full comment
rlritt's avatar

And Google who just change the Gulf of .Mexico to the Gulf of America. They may been billionairse but they are still a bunch of wimps.

Expand full comment
Greywolfe's avatar

Most of the billionaires I hang out with are indeed wimps.

Expand full comment
Ron Bravenec's avatar

Yes! This is consistent with JVL‘s advise for Democrats to find an “out group“ to demonize. That outgroup could be the mega-billionaires like Musk, Zuckerberg, etc.

Expand full comment
MAP's avatar

One of the problems is that a subsection of Americans believes that they are one lotto or mega millions ticket away from joining the ranks of the uberwealthy, and that no way in hell do they want to pay a dime of taxes on what will be their sweet sweet money. It’s a perverse fantasy. They do not understand what taxes are for and don’t care. They just hate them.

Expand full comment
Rosie's avatar

Yes yes yes! Bring on the math! I can't imagine why the not very rich maga would be against increasing taxes on the uber wealthy, unless 1. they are clueless, or 2. they don't give a shit cause they just want to burn it down for revenge. But, there's also all those low information voters that aren't really maga and were just concerned about the price of eggs or who gets to play on the elementary school soccer team, that maybe just needs a little math lesson for perspective.

Expand full comment
Energenesis's avatar

They (MAGA) and a portion of the far left just want to BURN it Down…whatever it is…isn't working for them and they hate whom it is working for!

Expand full comment
Greywolfe's avatar

Exactly! How much does "Elon is worth 500 billion dollars" resonate with any "normal" person? No context = no value.

Expand full comment
dlnevins's avatar

We need to use comparisons that are clear. Elon's personal wealth equals 1/12th of the US Federal Government's annual budget!

Expand full comment
Greywolfe's avatar

Let's lump Elon, Bezos, Ellison, Crow, and Zuck's wealth into one big Oligarch Pot: now how much of the national debt could they pay off, by simply paying their fair share? Maybe the morons yammering over egg prices could begin to grasp concepts like this? Beats anything Schumer and Jefferies are doing lately.

Expand full comment
Diane Findley's avatar

To your point, numbers this large need a graphic to come to a closer understanding of just how much that is. This is a graphic printed in 2021 so the numbers are off (how rich Jeff Bezos is) but I think it presents a very clear picture.

https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

Expand full comment