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If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! America has a massive overspendin

If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! America has a massive overspending problem which is inflating the currency which is hurting the middle class more than than anything billionaires could do. America is almost 40 trillion dollars in debt and spends almost 7 trillion a year and tax revenue is only 5 trillion per year. (rough numbers) Currency is devaluing at a rate of 'reported' 3% per year but everyone on the ground knows it's more than that. This is not a party specific problem this is both Democrats and Republicans responsible for this. So sure you could tax the rich more and they could give away their wealth but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to government spending.

LoganDark 1y ago
The thing is the government doesn't need that money as much as the people do. The government can just manufacture as much money as it needs to do whatever it wants. So if you're a billionaire and you decide to give all your money to the government thinking that'll do any good, that's a huge skill issue. You could've done a lot more good with that money than to just throw it in the money hole Onion-style.
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  The government manufacturing money inflates existing money which is essentially a tax on people who rely on currency more than assets which is the poor and middle class. I completely agree with you about billionaires being able to do more good with their money than the government.
  - saulpw 1y ago
    Being able to? Perhaps. Actually doing more good with their money? I have yet to see it writ large. (10 out of thousands is a pathetic proportion to use as evidence for this.)
    - the_real_cher 1y ago
      I agree. I know every one loves to hate Elon on here and arguably for good reasons BUT hes one of the few rich people actually doing things to advance humanity and lord it over the peasants. It feels like most of the other rich people just sit on their money.
kashunstva 1y ago
> America has a massive overspending problem What is the right amount of spending? And if the answer is “less than current tax/other revenue” then how should the budget cuts be allocated with goals and implementation plans that are sustained enough to produce real effect? You mention that government spending is not a party-specific issue; and this is certainly true. But I don’t see how forward progress can be made in a winner-take-all environment that shifts polarity every 4-8 years. And when the utilitarian value of compromise and shared long-term goals is treated as nil. And it definitely doesn’t seem to be improving… In any case, possibly taxing the incomprehensibly wealthy in our midst wouldn’t produce a significant effect relative to other measures; but we do all sorts of things in civic life that are valueless in an economic sense, but serve something else. People stand at attention, remove their caps and lay their right hand on their precordium when the national anthem is played. It symbolizes respect for some (supposedly) shared ideals. Similarly, fairly taxing all citizens symbolizes something ethically important even if it results in just as much economic value as doffing your cap at a ballgame.
- burnt-resistor 1y ago
  Compared to other countries as a % of GDP, US spending is very low for 300M people and very low when it comes to investing in the health and well-being of individuals and absurdly high when it comes to funding death, militarism, and invasive gestapo bureaucracies. It would save money and misery to have a functional, single-payer healthcare system (not M4A because traditional Medicare isn't complete healthcare and Medicare Advantage is a joke).
  - the_real_cher 1y ago
    Cant agree with you more. We dont privatize our water supply but we privatize health care. Very strange.
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  I cant answer your questions as I dont have the 7 trillion dollar federal balance sheets handy. However I am pointing out that the government inflates our currency which disproportionally hurts the poor and middle class way worse than any billionaire.
zamadatix 1y ago
> If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! I think you and I see "less than 1,000 people have enough wealth to run the common good for a very rich country of 340,000,000 people for a full year" as having vastly different meaning in terms of what's reasonable. Why should the yearly common good spending of 340,000,000 people inherently be a lot less than the amount the top 1000 are worth?
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  Focusing on billionaires and ignoring govt inflating the currency is like focusing on a paper cut when theres a gunshot wound.
  - zamadatix 1y ago
    This is just jumping between fiscal topics as if they inherently support one view or the other by name.
    - the_real_cher 1y ago
      I think any patient will get mad if a doctor started treating their athletes foot instead of their gunshot wound.
trod1234 1y ago
Many of those billionaires became so through their government contacts/contracts. The Fed has a massive problem, and that probleem snowballs down to us, and the reason we have a massive overspending problem is because the Fed has chosen winners and losers to create captive government. Currency for the past 5 years has been devalued on average across all 5 years, about 25% in aggregate according to government numbers. If you revert to more accurate calculation numbers (ShadowStats), then its almost 40%. Taxing the rich won't fix this, it comes down to a selection process that only selects for candidates that will make this problem worse through mathematical capture of first-passed-the-post voting. If you have two groups that each exceed 33% of the vote in aggregate, no other group can win.

LoganDark 1y ago

The thing is the government doesn't need that money as much as the people do. The government can just manufacture as much money as it needs to do whatever it wants. So if you're a billionaire and you decide to give all your money to the government thinking that'll do any good, that's a huge skill issue. You could've done a lot more good with that money than to just throw it in the money hole Onion-style.

the_real_cher 1y ago
The government manufacturing money inflates existing money which is essentially a tax on people who rely on currency more than assets which is the poor and middle class. I completely agree with you about billionaires being able to do more good with their money than the government.
- saulpw 1y ago
  Being able to? Perhaps. Actually doing more good with their money? I have yet to see it writ large. (10 out of thousands is a pathetic proportion to use as evidence for this.)
  - the_real_cher 1y ago
    I agree. I know every one loves to hate Elon on here and arguably for good reasons BUT hes one of the few rich people actually doing things to advance humanity and lord it over the peasants. It feels like most of the other rich people just sit on their money.

kashunstva 1y ago

> America has a massive overspending problem What is the right amount of spending? And if the answer is “less than current tax/other revenue” then how should the budget cuts be allocated with goals and implementation plans that are sustained enough to produce real effect? You mention that government spending is not a party-specific issue; and this is certainly true. But I don’t see how forward progress can be made in a winner-take-all environment that shifts polarity every 4-8 years. And when the utilitarian value of compromise and shared long-term goals is treated as nil. And it definitely doesn’t seem to be improving… In any case, possibly taxing the incomprehensibly wealthy in our midst wouldn’t produce a significant effect relative to other measures; but we do all sorts of things in civic life that are valueless in an economic sense, but serve something else. People stand at attention, remove their caps and lay their right hand on their precordium when the national anthem is played. It symbolizes respect for some (supposedly) shared ideals. Similarly, fairly taxing all citizens symbolizes something ethically important even if it results in just as much economic value as doffing your cap at a ballgame.

burnt-resistor 1y ago
Compared to other countries as a % of GDP, US spending is very low for 300M people and very low when it comes to investing in the health and well-being of individuals and absurdly high when it comes to funding death, militarism, and invasive gestapo bureaucracies. It would save money and misery to have a functional, single-payer healthcare system (not M4A because traditional Medicare isn't complete healthcare and Medicare Advantage is a joke).
- the_real_cher 1y ago
  Cant agree with you more. We dont privatize our water supply but we privatize health care. Very strange.
the_real_cher 1y ago
I cant answer your questions as I dont have the 7 trillion dollar federal balance sheets handy. However I am pointing out that the government inflates our currency which disproportionally hurts the poor and middle class way worse than any billionaire.

zamadatix 1y ago

> If every billionaire gave away every cent of their wealth it would fund the federal government for 1 year. do a web search!! I think you and I see "less than 1,000 people have enough wealth to run the common good for a very rich country of 340,000,000 people for a full year" as having vastly different meaning in terms of what's reasonable. Why should the yearly common good spending of 340,000,000 people inherently be a lot less than the amount the top 1000 are worth?

the_real_cher 1y ago
Focusing on billionaires and ignoring govt inflating the currency is like focusing on a paper cut when theres a gunshot wound.
- zamadatix 1y ago
  This is just jumping between fiscal topics as if they inherently support one view or the other by name.
  - the_real_cher 1y ago
    I think any patient will get mad if a doctor started treating their athletes foot instead of their gunshot wound.

trod1234 1y ago

Many of those billionaires became so through their government contacts/contracts. The Fed has a massive problem, and that probleem snowballs down to us, and the reason we have a massive overspending problem is because the Fed has chosen winners and losers to create captive government. Currency for the past 5 years has been devalued on average across all 5 years, about 25% in aggregate according to government numbers. If you revert to more accurate calculation numbers (ShadowStats), then its almost 40%. Taxing the rich won't fix this, it comes down to a selection process that only selects for candidates that will make this problem worse through mathematical capture of first-passed-the-post voting. If you have two groups that each exceed 33% of the vote in aggregate, no other group can win.