4 ms·

I read that you could take all the money from the billionaires in the USA and it would fund the federal government for 8 months.

• endo_bunker 2y ago
  Not just money, that's liquidating all of their assets at current market prices.
• lenerdenator 2y ago
  It'd be interesting to see if that would hold true if the country hadn't gone 30+ years without having an adult conversation about taxes. Republicans learned one lesson in 1993 and learned it well: "Read my lips: no new taxes" should mean no new taxes. Since then government responsibilities have grown as private industry has shirked it in the name of profit transfer to shareholders. There's also of course been wars of convenience. The gap has been funded with money printing and deficit spending. Now we sit here and say "but all of their money would only fund things for eight months!" and forget why there's so much interest on loans to pay in the first place.
  • rootusrootus 2y ago
    > forget why there's so much interest on loans to pay in the first place Not only that, but we consistently manage to forget who that interest is being paid to. The economy is complex, but we keep treating it like a larger version of a household budget.
    • lenerdenator 2y ago
      Primarily people who hold bonds for retirement, no? They're also the people racking up all of the debt.
      • rootusrootus 2y ago
        Primarily the US Government.