How much money does Jeff Bezos need, anyway?
Says Liz Warren (who’s got a fair amount of money herself, although she’s nowhere near Bezos territory):
Jeff Bezos has $222 billion.
If he paid my wealth tax this year, we could fund insulin in America for everyone who needs it plus free school lunch for every kid in Texas—and have plenty of money left over.
And Bezos would still have $215 billion dollars to spare.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 5, 2026
What a brilliant, never-heard-of-before idea, Liz! And while we’re at it, could I have some of your eight million or so? I’d only take maybe two million, leaving you with about six – more than anyone really needs. I’ll put it to good use, and I don’t think you’d really miss it.
Here’s a takedown of Warren’ proposal, with some details.
Some of the responses to Warren’s tweet are pretty good, too, such as:
Just stop, we all know your scam.
Democrats raise taxes.
Money flows to NGOs packed with Democratic operatives.
Those operatives take their cut, write a check to Democratic campaigns
Report back that the problem still exists and needs more funding.
And
Bezos spends $15B, develops a space program, creates new technologies.
California spends $15B to build high speed rail, zero miles delivered.
You’re proposing to move capital from the best capital allocator to the worst, one rife with fraud and overspending.
What these wealth taxes would do is force people to sell assets, because neither Musk nor Bezos nor anyone else has a swimming pool with billions of dollars in it.
In order for any wealth tax to be collected, someone would have to buy those assets.
The point of the wealth tax is not to get Bezos’ “money”, because his wealth is not in the form of money. It is to force a transfer of asset ownership. Who, besides other billionaires, can buy any share of a billionaire’s assets? Institutional investors and governments.
And there it is. We will own nothing and be happy. Large organizations will own things and manage them in exchange for a small percentage. A little might trickle down to the rest of us who work for wages and salaries.
what has Warren ever created that helps the citizens of this country? Bezos created industries that didn’t exist, hundreds of thousands of jobs, wealth for his workers and investors.
Warren’s contribution?–nothing but lies about her heritage to create advantage to herself. Shes a corrupt, lying, hypocrite democrat. But I’m being redundant, I know.
She’s an envy shill.
We tax income, we tax capital gains, and we tax estates. This assets tax will not be a one-off. The whole point of it is to multiply the number of occasions your property can be seized. (And it is, btw, in violation of the federal constitution). You can bet the exemption will be progressively lowered as well and that selective enforcement will protect Reid Hoffmann.
Who, besides other billionaires, can buy any share of a billionaire’s assets? Institutional investors and governments.
==
The former run by ESG pushers like the pests who run Blackrock.
I didn’t used to believe this when I was young, but over the years I have come to believe that most on the left are really sad people eaten up with envy and resentment. If that is in your soul, then you will find a way to make sense out of this nonsense, and willfully ignore the obvious success of capitalism.
Boss I appreciate your italicizing of the word “needs.” The sarcasm implicit.
How dare Liz-ohontas or any of the other grabbers & grubbers & grifters presume to understand anyone else’s needs.
Like how many firearms a legal owner needs…or what type.
Piss off! is the only proper response.
“We could fund insulin in America for everyone who needs it plus free school lunch for every kid in Texas…”
Why just insulin? Why just lunch? Why just Texas? (And why put money toward free lunches for every kid in Texas, when the majority can probably buy it, or at least pack a sandwich?)
If you thought about it, you could come up with endless needs that could presumably be filled with enough money. But throwing money at problems doesn’t really solve them in any permanent way. How about developing long-term economic solutions that actually work so everyone who needs insulin or lunch can afford it?
(And by the way, according to Google’s AI: “Insulin can be significantly less expensive at Amazon Pharmacy.”)
“over the years I have come to believe that most on the left are really sad people eaten up with envy and resentment.”
Among the leftist activists yes but enabling the leftists are far more virtue signaling useful idiots.
People eaten up with envy and resentment… hate and hate seeks to destroy. And however unconscious, the one they hate most of all is God. It is not accidental that envy is among the Seven Deadly Sins.
“If you thought about it, you could come up with endless needs that could presumably be filled with enough money. But throwing money at problems doesn’t really solve them in any permanent way.” TR
Have they not come up with endless needs demanding funding?
Upon what basis might we assume that Pocahontas and the rest of her ilk have any real interest in permanent solutions?
Certainly the enabling, liberal useful idiots wish for permanent solutions. Believing as they do that permanent solutions are possible, they are congenitally incapable of accepting the reality to which Thomas Sowell has pointed; “There are no solutions, only trade-offs”
@ Neo: “I’d only take maybe two million, leaving you with about six – more than anyone really needs. I’ll put it to good use, and I don’t think you’d really miss it.”
Well, even responsibly investing that $2M might only net you $60K or so per year, especially after taxes and inflation. You should not plan to spend it all in one place, … unless you buy a Porsche, and then it is OK by me. 🙂
I find the $8M amount for the Warrens’ net worth to be suspiciously low, given the salary ranges they have had for a long time. Plus she is now 76 years old so her investments should have matured handsomely by that age. Then again living in expensive areas like MA and DC may diminish net savings?
Part of the answer might also be in the last sentence of your linked article: ” Also, joint mutual accounts — shared with her husband — weren’t included.” They could easily be in the range of $5M to $10M, I believe.
California spent $180 Billion on a variety of “social programs” to little or no effect on most of the problems TPTB declared would be solved.
Fauxahontas is a one trick pony, and as has been noted, worth millions. Where did she come by that money? Sweetheart Real Estate deals. Just like the Obamas in Chicago. Just like the Biden’s in RI. Just like Newsom in California.
The middle class have been promised the Magic of Disneyland but have been fleeced like a sheep going to slaughter.
Everybody likes free money, but it’s the Dems who lie about getting it to “do good” but, after getting it, failing to solve the problems.
Govt spending is the long term problem, with US national debt already more than 100% of annual GNP. Notice the Dems don’t want to raise taxes to reduce the deficit. Nor are they so keen on reducing fraud. Fraud is a key reason that when Dems run a program to solve a problem, they can keep spending more money without solving the problem. But most folks with problems prefer together free cash rather than change their lifestyles.
Still Warren has a point about huge rich fictional entities, like Amazon or Apple or SpaceX being so wealthy. Just as I prefer tariffs over VAT, and higher inheritance taxes over income taxes, I think the rich of America are getting a lot more wealth protection from the govt than the poor. A wealth tax/extortion /insurance premium of some small % of market capitalization, in the form of shares of stock (pieces of paper!), which take 4 years or 10 quarters to vest, is the kind of tax to be talking about as our population stabilizes & ages & SS payments start needing more cash.
There are no “fair” taxes in an unfair world, only tradeoff-offs & comparisons of unfairness. For decades, the top 99% /1% have an income level & a wealth level. So too does the median tax-filing worker, 50%. Our tax & spend govt policies should be making the median levels, income & wealth, rise faster than the top 1% /99 percentile. This would happen sooner with less govt spending, which is now causing asset inflation. And the rich have more assets, so see more increase.
I’m gonna say Jeff Bezos needs 222 billion dollars….
Well, without Bezos, we would not have Amazon, and without Amazon, we would not have a link or means to provide Neo with an associated purchase commission.
@ Tom Grey > “Everybody likes free money, but it’s the Dems who lie about getting it to “do good” but, after getting it, failing to solve the problems. .. Fraud is a key reason that when Dems run a program to solve a problem, they can keep spending more money without solving the problem.”
As more than one comment has mentioned, here and elsewhere, the MO of government seems to be as you said, and although Democrats are in the forefront of the news right now, I suspect plenty of Republicans have dipped their fingers in the till as well (just not as spectacularly).
A commenter at this Hot Air post makes the same observation about health and medical problems.
https://hotair.com/stephen-moore/2026/04/04/lets-kill-cancer-n3813553#comment-6859740874
What operates for “charities” also operates for pharmaceutical companies.
Why cure something when the taxpayers (Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and out of pocket) will pay you millions, for years, to “ameliorate” their illnesses?
In contrast, I read recently about a number of “little people” without government funding or think tanks or NGOs or huge organizations who actually have seen the serious problems and appear to have solved them.
One man wanted to help his dog who had a tumor on its leg, and invented a procedure that completely eliminated it (“in his garage” like Jobs invented Apple computers back in the olden days).
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/more-miracles-monday-april-6-2026
But wait, there’s more! (not in same order as Jeff’s post).
This is how the post began, and ended.