(January 30, 2019 at 12:33 pm)Yonadav Wrote: There actually are some reasons to be cautious about taxing billionaires. One is that they have a distinct tendency to move their wealth beyond the reach of taxation, and thus reduce the revenue base. The second is that they actually do have the ability to retaliate by driving up some prices. I believe that the drive up in pharmaceutical prices was largely driven by billionaires who wanted to retaliate against the threat of healthcare being socialized and price controlled.
If we are going to increase taxes on the ultra wealthy, I am all in. But I think that a lot of people don't understand that it is going to be war. It is going to get ugly. They are going to push back and retaliate. You little rebels had better be ready to stand your ground and be willing to give up some things. We might need to have public iPhone burnings. Don't pick a fight with Apple if you're not willing to throw your iPhone into the fire.
Voting for someone to lead a fight is less than worthless if you aren't willing to follow them into the fight.
Yes, if we do, they black mail us. They have for the past 40 years and?
Billionaire, "If you don't give me 100% of what I want, I will take my toys overseas".
It does happen and has happened, and? Huge difference between legal, and moral.
"You little rebels"?
Excuse me, but if all we do is let the rich dictate to the rest of us, then we could easily live under the Kim family who rules North Korea, or the Saudi Royal Family who rules Saudi Arabia. Fidel Castro upon his death had a personal wealth of $800 million. Gadaffi was a BILLIONAIRE whom owned stock in General Electric.
What built our middle class post WW2 was a DIRECT reaction to the failed no rules policies "let the rich do whatever the want" that lead to the bad gambling that lead to the Great Depression. Post WW2 policies created regulations and a climate of unions, and TAX RATES that built our middle class.
It still remains, that if the rich, not just in America, but worldwide, want to continue to make money, they cannot continue as a class to assume they are the only class that matters.