Where is Mamdani going to get “other people’s money”?
The phrase in this post’s title comes from Margaret Thatcher:
“Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.”
[Often quoted as ‘the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money’ [from an] interview, This Week Thames TV, 5 February 1976]
The socialist solution? Why, just tax the rich more; it’s simple. Except that it’s not, because rich people can leave (unless you simply take their stuff before they can do that, or kill them and take their stuff). New York has long both attracted rich people and made people wealthy, but most of them don’t want to be bled dry financially and many if not most have multiple residences already and can leave quite easily with hardly a hiccup in their lifestyles.
What’s more, they’re already paying the lion’s share of the taxes. From Mamdani’s inaugural address:
“Together, we will tell a new story of our city,” Zohran Mamdani said in his inauguration speech Thursday.
“This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the 1 percent. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.”
It will be a tale of the poor – or the less rich – versus the very rich.
The facts Mamdani leaves out:
The top 1% of earners pay 46% of the city’s budget — a budget, by the way, that at $116 billion equals that of the spending for the entire state of Florida.
Impressive. Is it an inexhaustible spigot, or is it almost tapped out? How much do the mega-rich love living in NYC, and how many will have reached the point of leavetaking and no return?
More from Mamdani:
We will govern expansively and audaciously …
In other words, whatever moderation Mamdani may have shown at times on the campaign trail – and he didn’t show a whole lot – that’s over. Of course, Albany might act as a check on him, but I wouldn’t count on it. The warm and fuzzy collective has arrived:
We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.
His first step in doling out that warm collective embrace has been to undo all of Mayor Adams’ executive orders of the last 15 months, including those that combat anti-Semitism. But hey, “Where else [but in NY] could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?” The answer: probably anywhere in the US or Israel or even most of Europe, if they cared to do so – although I must admit that, at least until now, New York bagels have been superior.
NOTE: Why care about Mamdani and New York? As I’ve explained before, it’s my hometown and I still know plenty of people there. But it’s also a shocking example of what may or may not become a trend in blue cities – even blue cities in red states. You might say that they’ll learn from their errors. I wouldn’t bet on it.
Can anyone provide a breakdown of the race, ethnicity, and religion of people who voted for Mamdani?
I think all of this is a consequence of living in a post-fact era. Is there really a way today to verify much of anything?
And into this void strides the most persistent and pernicious lies of western civilization, the supposed glories of socialism and the various anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
I’m at a loss to counter these lies to those who are inclined to believe them. Believers seem impervious to facts, to the extent they can be proven, and reason. Although, in today’s day and age reason is as likely to obscure truth as it is to reveal it. Most use reason as a tool to avoid confronting the evidence in front of one’s nose. There’s more than a little of that among Mamdani supporters.
@Irish Otter:Can anyone provide a breakdown of the race, ethnicity, and religion of people who voted for Mamdani?
I personally didn’t have one, but used a search engine to find out, which only took a minute… He won with blacks, Latinos, whites, South Asians, low-income people, and young people.
He had 62% of the under-30 vote and 53% of 30-44. He won 51% of men. He had a majority of all non-white groups. It’s almost not worth breaking down, because he won by so much with so many groups.
It’s not much of a silver lining, but that’s such a large and disparate group of people that some of them are going to be impossible to please without damaging the interests of the others. It’s possible they may learn something but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it.
The “blame” for Mamdanai is broadly shared across a very wide swath of NYC’s electorate. Most of the people are getting what they think they want. And there’s an end on it. There is no Abraham to ask God if NYC can be spared peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city.
When something goes badly wrong in NYC, and it will, Mamdani will blame someone else.
What it means is increased property, sales, and income taxes in return for diminished service quality and feeding useless people on public payrolls. The question is how much co-operation he gets from the clots on the city council, how much authority he can exercise per state law, and how much ruin spreads before there is an insuperable electoral reaction. It’s not hard to find examples of core cities which have been misgoverned for decades with no consequences for public officials. Baltimore, Detroit, and St. Louis provide examples.
Mamdani won in a Democrat primary election in which the turnout of registered voters was very low. He is the culmination of voter sloth. It serves New Yorkers right. Elections do have consequences. Here, Schadenfreude applies.
@Cicero:Mamdani won in a Democrat primary election in which the turnout of registered voters was very low.
He won the real election too, and the turnout was not low.
He is the culmination of voter sloth.
No, it’s the progressive version of the impulse that brought Trump to where he is today.
Niketas Choniates – “No, it’s the progressive version of the impulse that brought Trump to where he is today.”
Spot on. Every argument that is made to justify sticking with Trump despite his faults can be re-purposed to justify sticking with Mamdani despite his socialism and anti-semitism problems. What’s more, a big chunk of the Democratic primary voter base have sentimental feelings towards socialism that make putting up with Mamdami a much lighter lift than putting up with Trump’s nonsense.
And I had hoped that in the new year Bauxite would ditch The Great Orange Whale obsession. That didn’t last long, CC™ is still with us, just a little nudge from Nick was all it took.
@Bauxite:Every argument that is made to justify sticking with Trump despite his faults can be re-purposed to justify sticking with Mamdani despite his socialism and anti-semitism problems.
Trump is “stuck with” because he’s delivered on stuff the GOPe would talk about for years but never do. Trump is “stuck with” because establishment GOP has lost credibility with voters willing to vote GOP.
If Mamdani will deliver the socialism and antisemitism his most fervent supporters demand, NYC voters who like socialism and antisemitism will be correct to “stick with him”. They wanted those things from the Democrats and weren’t getting as much they wanted, so they went with this guy.
He probably won’t deliver all that well, because he’s promised different things to different people and they can’t all be accommodated.
I know a guy slightly who’s runs a small hedge fund & is worth 10’s of millions, at least. He designed a beautiful home and had it built in my CA community. And he owns a number of fancy cars.
Later, he sold it and moved to Florida. Now, presumably because his wife wants to spend a few months of the year in CA, they rent a place here, and he actually pays a car carrier to move a couple or few of his cars out here and back again.
I believe that in order to dodge the CA tax man, he must not have any permanent footprint in CA. Even storing a couple cars year round would expose him.
TommyJay:
My grandfather did more than well for himself as CEO of a medium-sized company and an early investor in oil wells. He couldn’t hack CA taxes in the 60s either. He moved to Florida over his wife’s preferences.
There is one quick argument against Communism. It’s the aerial view of the Korean Peninsula at night.
https://www.bing.com/th/id/OIP.yRUnF6-DCLV31QyvP8oMtwHaHA?w=237&h=211&c=8&rs=1&qlt=90&o=6&dpr=1.9&pid=3.1&rm=2
That picture defines the difference between capitalism and Communism in one quick glance. And the condition has persisted. North Korea is not getting richer nor is life improving for the average Nork. It’s a visible economic experiment that has been going on since the1950s.
Unfortunately, islands (cities) of poverty and despair, like Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, etc. can exist within the larger areas of normal capitalistic activity because they can leech enough economic activity from the surrounding wealthier areas to continue to exist.
Thatcher’s example of running out other people’s money is a good one if
you understand that the government has no money and is dependent on the wealth produced by the citizenry. Without that money there is no government.
However, if you live in a mental state in which life isn’t fair to you, and someone powerful should give you the necessities of life, then Communism appeals strongly. There are a large number of people who seem to feel that way in major blue run cities.
“It’s not hard to find examples of core cities which have been misgoverned for decades with no consequences for public officials. Baltimore, Detroit, and St. Louis provide examples.”
However, those cities have a super-majority monolithic voting bloc in place that would rather continue to live in squalor under incompetent/corrupt leadership than vote for anyone outside of their “team”, unlike fictional shows like “The Wire”. New York doesn’t have a huge bloc in place that must vote for Mamdani or else.
Where will he get the money?
Simple, raise taxes on all those corporations and financial institutions domiciled in NYC. (Why they are still there baffles me).
Raise property taxes, but only in “white” areas.
Raise fees and taxes anywhere and everywhere.
Raise personal income taxes.
Raise the minimum wage.
Did you know, that if you are NOT a resident of NYC, but you commute to NYC for your job, NYC will tax your job earnings as if you are a resident of NYC.
Yep, NYC has all the bases covered in screwing over workers.
I would not be surprised if the majority of wealthy folks in NYC voted for their new communist mayor. But even if they didn’t, the vast majority of wealthy NYC denizens will stay put.
And if they do leave , and in doing so, sell their $5,000,000 co-op on Park Ave or Central Park South, it just means that another very wealthy person just moved in. There never seems to be a paucity of very wealthy buyers of NY real estate.
And it’s looking like the governor of NY State, Hochul, will be giving the communist her full support. After all, she WILL win re-election as governor – after all she is a dem, – and you can thank the denizens of the Greater NYC region (who constitute 40% of ALL NY State voters – for her re-election).
NYC denizens , as usual, will stay put – for the most part – and just suck it up. This has been going on since the Mayor of NYC was the uber liberal
John Lindsay (1966 – 1973 ).
John Tyler:
I certainly understand where he’ll get the money if they stay put.
The question remains: will they stay put?
Bauxy proving once again he’s both a troll and not very bright.
No Rich vs Poor Marxists class warfare?
What tax the rich and give to the poor, free food, transpoon subways, free housing then?
One thing I have noticed over the past many months is a certain lack of symmetry vis-à-vis our friend Bauxite. “Bauxy” maintains his/her dignity and composure, while braving winds that often blow against him/her, whereas occasional originators of those winds sometimes indulge in name-calling (CC™, troll, not very bright).
Bauxite is on our team, but with caveats. I for one often agree with those caveats (your mileage may vary). And when I disagree with Bauxite, I am happy to take into account his/her perspective. I would think that serious, *intelligent* disagreements within the neo commentariat would be a good thing for us all, leading to more nuanced perspectives (and I do find Bauxite’s disagreements to be intelligent, and in no way trollish).
I would think . . .
Spot on. Every argument that is made to justify sticking with Trump despite his faults can be re-purposed to justify sticking with Mamdani despite his socialism and anti-semitism problems.
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Trump, like every observable component of the United States Congress, is insouciant about public sector borrowing and the composition of the tax code. Beyond that, he is not an advocate of troublesome public policies. He is not cosmetically appealing. Well, neither was his predecessor. Trump’s catagorical antagonists in the Republican Party are nearly all enablers of Acela corridor rent-seekers or manifest poseurs. Yes, Gov. deSantis might be doing a better job right now, though I cannot help but notice that he has yet to demonstrate DJT’s extraordinary resilience. Well, there are every four years a scrum of satisfactory candidates who do not attract the attention of ordinary voters or attract only insufficient attention. That was the case in the Democratic Party in 2020, in both parties in 2016, in both parties in 2008, in the Democratic Party in 2004, in both parties in 2000, in the Republican Party in 1996, in the Democratic Party in 1992, in both parties in 1988, in the Democratic Party in 1984, &c.
==
It’s pretty amusing that you’re comparing Trump, who has decades in real estate development under his belt and forays into other sectors, who was willing to run on issues the donor class insisted other Republican candidates ignore, and who will not leave the field against the Democratic Party’s lawfare machine, to Mamdani. Mamdani is 33 years old, childless, only recently married, bereft of any authentic trade, carrying a spotty job history, and possessed of no real knowledge, no common sense, no good instincts. Only an idiot would do that.
California tells New York to hold my beer
This from the leftist LA times
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-01-02/billionaire-tax-proposal-sparks-soul-searching-for-californians
* A proposed one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires could raise $100 billion for healthcare while threatening to drive wealth out of state.
* The measure has divided powerful Democrats: Sen. Bernie Sanders supports it while Gov. Newsom warns a state-by-state approachcould damage innovation and entrepreneurship.
* Initiative backers must gather the signatures of nearly 875,000 registered voters by June 24 to qualify for November’s ballot.
The fiery debate about a proposed ballot measure to tax California’s billionaires has sparked some soul-searching across the state.
While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California. Silicon Valley is minting new millionaires while millions of the state’s residents face the loss of healthcare coverage and struggle with inflation.
Whether they leave does not matter. Socialists are farm hands who seize the farm and use the farmer’s seed corn for their next crop. A year later, they try to do it again, and realize to their astonishment that the farmer didn’t save that much seed corn.
” their $5,000,000 co-op on Park Ave or Central Park South,”
It ain’t $5,000,000 unless someone else is willing to pay that much for it.
Raise property taxes, but only in “white” areas.
Wide open to a 14th Amendment challenge.
“Bauxy” maintains his/her dignity and composure,
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Ann Althouse has a character on her boards who appeared around 2015 and has spawned several alter-egos which he replaces on irregular interval (he is now using two with different personas). His foundational persona (now retired) was a ‘lifelong Republican’ practicing law in Michigan. Most thread he entered would start with a variation on ‘what about that thing Trump said last Tuesday’. One secure way to trigger an indignant retort from the man was for the moderator (who is not a political partisan) to say something mildly critical of a Democratic pol. He showed no interest in any area of public policy nor was his assessment of any controversy anything but on brand.
==
Everyone has their own distinct concerns and priorities. People whose concerns are cosmetic matters and news cycle shizz are telling you something about themselves.
Is this the culmination of feelings over fact. Since facts seem to be irrelevant it would seem so. How can one govern based on feelings successfully? If your definition of success is poverty for all I guess you can.
MJR:
Bauxite can
until he works President Trump into a comment or the topic is President Trump. Then all bets are off. He has been this way for years, hence Bauxite and CC™.
$116 billion budget for a city with 8 million residents, while Florida’s budget serves 23 million people. Just spit balling here, but my hunch is that an awful lot of that $116 billion finds its way into the coffers of public employee unions, Democrat operatives and their associates, and charities of questionable legitimacy.
Mamdani is calling himself a democratic socialist. If I remember my Russian history from my days at Loyola HS Los Angeles, Lenin and the Bolsheviks promised free elections and all the trappings of “democracy.” Once they fully seized power, all that went away and the killings began.
Not suggesting that Mamdani is going to suspend elections and declare NYC a Bolshevik dictatorship, but he could be the camel’s nose under the tent and cause the likes of AOC, Jayapal, Tlaib, Crockett et al to calculate that they too have to move further and harder to the hard left to remain relevant in the Democratic party.
Hear, hear, M J R! Well stated! I enjoy reading questioning and/or contrarian views here and Bauxite seems well intentioned.
Now, to raise a nit with him or her. “I think all of this is a consequence of living in a post-fact era.” I disagree, Bauxite. I can’t recall a time in my life when I had more, easier access to information than now. No human ever lived in an era where other humans weren’t trying to convince others of non-factual “facts,” but no humans lived in a time when the lay person had so much access to information and research as we do, now.
Robust, open debate is a sign of a society where people are free of persecution to pursue Truth. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler… they dictated what the facts were in their societies and there were no alternatives allowed for consideration.
I’m not sure what a “post fact” era is, but I know I do not want to live in a fact era.
How long before the frogs wake up to the fact the bathwater is boiling? And then, what will they do about it?
(unfortunately, “Nothing” would be my guess)
I no longer even wish to drive through a large city
Niketas @12:33pm,
And Gemini AI tells me this:
And Mamdani won with only 51% of that! Regarding your demographic breakouts, one has to consider if he has true majority support from any of those groups? A majority of registered voters didn’t even vote.
Art Deco and om, I certainly appreciate the responses. They are points to consider.
Rufus T. Firefly, thanks for the “Hear, hear” . . .
My concern about this person winning in NYC, is that it will come to Colorado. Already, the next Governor will be much further to the Left than Polis. Seems like every election more Left Wing Dems win Statehouse and Fed elections. One exception is Gabe Evens, but he will lose next Nov.
M J R,
I’ll even throw in a “Huzzah!” at no extra charge.
except everything that mamdani has tried has failed, writ large, I don’t need to bring the receipts, do I, of course witch hochul, has brought Gotham to the precarious stage, it now teeters on, there will be more capital flight, more chaos, and I won’t spell out further consequences, since only 20% bothered to vote, and nearly half voted against, well cue Mencken
I have mentioned the 1940 constitution as prologue to the horror that Cuba has lived through for 67 years now, this unicorn of free education free healthcare and free housing,
Queens used to be a smarter burg, but apparently not so much, most of the sensible ones moved to Texas Tennessee and Florida, the rest seem to go for bar tender girl,
New Jersey, under the Annapolis cheater and VA under the Company gal and
her psycho atty general, will be trying to tack as close to Gotham without capsizing even though that was not the promise they made,
California does seems to be roasting the Golden Goose on a spit,
Rufus T. (6:45 pm), c h o r t l e !
Re: Post-fact era
I take Bauxite’s point that back in the 20th C political discourse turned more on facts than today. Not that it was perfect back then.
Today’s Democrats are pure leftist attack dogs whatever the issue. I really can’t think of one instance of good faith debate from Democrats since Obama became President.
For that reason I don’t get too upset about anything Trump says. It may be a more effective response in these times than “Let us reason together.” As much as I wish it were otherwise.
MJR: I would think that serious, *intelligent* disagreements within the neo commentariat would be a good thing for us all, leading to more nuanced perspectives
Agreed!
Dems win in cities with their consistent Dem Demonization Strategy, which includes lying about their target:Trump, Bush, Kavanaugh, Kirk, Jews, America.
Neo talks about some of her friends & family who don’t believe facts that support Trump, and often facts that make Dems look bad. Post fact world.
Mamdani’s results in his first term are unlikely to be enough of a disaster to make most Dem true believers start questioning their politics, when it’s a key part of their identity.
Thanks for the $116 billion budget number. If it goes down by 10%, rather than up by 2%, he’ll only have $105 billion for his friends and some lower cost changes. Rent control is only terrible in the long term.
Some rich will leave, most will stay, every year. The big Q is not binary will or will not, it’s what % will stay & pay & pay.
My guesstimate is only so many that the budget goes down 3%, tho 5-10 would not surprise me, but a bigger than 10% decline in NYC tax revenues would surprise. Up to 3% increase would not.
—
Let me now get some facts, asking Grok for NYC total tax revenue($billions) since ‘16 — 55.0 (FY ends in July)
‘22 — 70.0
‘23 — 73.0
‘24 — 74.2
‘25 — 80.3.
8.3% growth! Thanks Trump!
My guess changes, reminded that as America does better, NY finance leverages the increase even better. New guess:
Both of Mamdani’s first two years are going to see higher tax revenue, some increase in rich folk leaving but no rush.
The early benefits are gonna look far better than we fear mongering Reps were predicting, and it won’t be an important lesson or example. Much less than the lesson of welfare fraud.
It’s slightly more likely that Dems use it in ‘26, since NY will be doing fine, than Reps.
There’s a humongous amount of OPM in NYC, and he hasn’t even started spending yet, much less run out.
Other People’s Money.
huxley:
Good comments. I agree.
@Rufus: Regarding your demographic breakouts, one has to consider if he has true majority support from any of those groups?
But of what relevance is “true majority support”? Our elections have never had that standard, and pretty much nobody we’ve heard of who has won any election in our adult lifetimes has had “true majority support”. I don’t really see the relevance, though the argument is trotted out by the Left any time a Republican wins anything.
Applies especially to one Donald J. Trump. Only one week ago, this appeared in the New York Times (headlined “The Trump Vibe Shift is Dead”):
So not even a majority of the 71% of registered voters who turned out. Trump doesn’t have “true majority support” either.
Colorado used to be a normal state, till Tim Gill got involved, well it elected Gary Hart, but also a Ben Nighthorse Campbell, what happened here,
after counting votes in california and new york and other dubious blue redoubts of course it was always a silly trope, but it was one the Dems lorded us over, for three cycles,
they also managed to steal four senate, in that period in Arizona Wisconsin and other places, with the very dodgy counting systems you have seen in Minnesota,
Once the left wins position it digs in and radicalizes ever further, proving exceedingly difficult to dislodge. This is what will happen in NYC. Even if Mamdani’s term as mayor proves as disastrous as many on the right are predicting, I’m certain he will retain the support of the dumbbell NYC voters. Why? For something approaching an answer to this question I suggest delving into the writings of Thomas Sowell. Also the late Paul Johnson and Roger Scruton.
The Wealthy in NYC seem quite content with Democrat rule, Kathy Hochul and the corrupt AG come to mind.
The Wealthy made this bed, just as they did in my state of California. There aren’t enough conservatives or Republicans to vote out the status quo now or in the future in either place. I guess those who didn’t vote for this “new normal” can take solace that there are still escape options.
@IrishOtter:This is what will happen in NYC.
Pretty sure it happened long ago. Even their Republican mayors were pretty far left, and their last one (who left office 13 years ago) ran for President as a Democrat.
Neither Giuliani nor Bloomberg were ‘far left’. They disagreed with the Republican mainstream on some issues.
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@ Niketas > ” There is no Abraham to ask God if NYC can be spared peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city.”
I always enjoy reading about Abraham haggling with The Almighty, and admire how God graciously continues to “give in” until Abraham is finally satisfied with five.
Possibly Abraham believed that at least one other member of Lot’s family would make the cut.
Of course, God already knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Margot Cleveland had a lot to say about Mamdani and his inaugural speech.
She particularly noted one of his statements, which she illustrated with this meme.
https://x.com/ProfMJCleveland/status/2006931886288036260
I think it was huxley who made a comment on some thread about NYC voting for Cthulhu, or something similar.
This picture from Mamdani’s first swearing-in ceremony made me think of Lovecraft immediately.
https://media.townhall.com/cdn/hodl/2026/1/c93f2fcd-b428-4ea9-a554-ea1e5ae398b7-1052×615.jpeg
The only sane response if Cthulhu wins control of any city:
https://media.townhall.com/cdn/hodl/tw/images/up/2024/344/1b8b60ba-bd94-49ea-947f-d3fcdf040248-1052×615.jpg
One might see a warning here for Mamdani in pursuing his socialist goals.
https://x.com/Yoda4ever/status/2006842874021949456
Thanks for the link at 2:53am, AF, I’m still laughing!
But the one at 2:23am is devastating.
Hey! Now we know Mamdani is not anti-Semitic. Because he eats lox and bagels.
That corporal was a vegetarian who loved dogs …….
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Several years ago I read a long piece on Iowahawk’s blog in which he conducted a thought experiment along with some hard math.
Basically it worked like this. “Tax the rich”? Okay. What if the federal government confiscated *all* wealth above a certain threshold. Say $1 million. Just clean out the assets of every large company and corporation and millionaire.
It would fund the federal government for something like four months.
This is what lefties who cry “tax the rich” never understand or acknowledge. Taxing the rich does not work and is never enough. And what happens after you confiscate everything above a certain amount? And all those companies and corporations and millionaires have nothing left? What then?
As the realtors say, “location……” As NYC becomes a less desirable location, even the top end homes will not sell for as much as the current owners paid or owe.
But someone who could get ahead, at least to an extent, on a five million dollar place in a pricey neighborhood, will have other resources. And if he can get out of town with a mill net on the house….he’s footloose.
Florida’s been done, in terms of suggested locations. Problem is, most folks in the north or midwest go there in the winter. Few go to Florida for the August breezes. But if you live there, you get them for free.
Been in and traveled through the mid South. Things can be pretty mild. A number of places got started with the monied needed a retreat from the lowlands/coastal southern summers…and yellow fever season. You don’t have to go far to find some hills and with altitude comes mild seasons.
Spent some time in Banner Elk, NC. It’s just short of 4000 feet. Yesterday, it was 44 degrees, compared to my home in Michigan which was at 24. In the summer there are days when we are warmer.
The towns, above a modest minimum, are pleasant. The landscape is always interesting. Larger towns are not infrequent if you wan some version of the urban atmosphere.
And the prices are reasonable.
Not trying to sell any real estate. Still, if people leaving NYC or adjacent areas of collective warmth don’t make it out with their private bank vault, there are options.
@ Rick67 > “Several years ago I read a long piece on Iowahawk’s blog in which he conducted a thought experiment along with some hard math.”
I don’t recall seeing Iowahawk’s piece, but it appears to have led to this old post from Bill Whittle’s “Firewall” podcast series.
This is a new link from his archive; an old one I used in a long-ago comment is now dead. However, this link has only the “blurb” and not the video, which was fascinating, and I hope it is eventually reinstated.
https://billwhittle2.com/eat-the-rich/
“Is America really broke? Michael Moore (and others) tells us that there are oceans of cash being hoarded by the wealthy. But Iowahawk (iowahawk.typepad.com) did a little addition, and armed with these statistics Bill and the ‘Hawk blow a hole in the “hoarding” lie big enough to fit a documentary filmmaker through.”
Found the video on the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/youtube-ows-BillWhittleontheEatTheRichMentality-6npXHS91U80
My comment on Neo’s old post was in response to a comment at the Legal Insurrection story Neo was discussing. It’s still relevant.
https://thenewneo.com/2020/03/06/rivas-williams-and-gay-they-were-told-there-wouldnt-be-any-math-on-the-exam/#comment-2483056
5under3 | March 6, 2020 at 11:52 am (at LI)
All the billionaires in the US are only worth in the neighborhood of $3 trillion. If we confiscated every penny of their collective wealth, that would be less than $10,000 per person in the US, less than one year of current annual federal spending and less then 15% of the national debt.
Bill’s post is from 2011, so that is the data Iowahawk used to run the numbers, but I’m sure the relative ratios of private wealth and government spending haven’t changed much.
Even Elon Musk’s wealth wouldn’t last the government spendthrifts and embezzlers, and the fraudsters, more than a few months today.
The other east coast and west coast cities are the same, have been for a long time. Chicago also. But less dramatic than NYC