Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushes for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a “boneheaded” move. The problem is that rich people can move. Unlike fixed assets like a mansion, they can take their wealth and taxes to other states without such laws.
The post from Senate Democrats supporting Senate Bill 5486 said, “The first $250 million of assessed value is exempted, meaning only the wealthiest people in Washington would pay the tax, including some of the wealthiest individuals in the world.”
I have previously written against wealth taxes from both constitutional and practical perspectives in the federal system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has long been a proponent of wealth taxes and the Biden Administration supported the effort.
The Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania found that Warren’s legislation would raise $2.7 trillion in revenue, but it would also reduce capital by 3.1%, depress average hourly wages by 1.2%, and reduce gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.2% in 2050.
It is part of an “eat the rich” pitch from liberal politicians and pundits.
When struggling in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledged a wealth tax, declaring that she was coming after “the diamonds, the yachts, and the Rembrandts too.” Then-New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, another Democratic contender at the time, was barely registering in the polls when he promised that “we will tax the hell out of the wealthy.”
The federal constitutional problems are not barriers to the states. However, the effort to hammer the wealthy has never worked for states or countries. France previously saw a massive exodus after it attempted to clip the most wealthy and had to reverse its policies.
Putting aside expected legal challenges, Democratic donor Nick Hanauer criticized state Democrats for the push and said he had already spoken to the wealthiest citizens about fleeing the state.
“Even if it clears the legal, implementation & other challenges, it’s unlikely to raise much [money] given every wealthy person I’ve spoken to in the last few days has said they will leave the state. I believe them. Thoughtful taxes don’t actually drive people away, boneheaded taxes do.”
That is the problem with eating the rich . . . they have to stay put to be eaten. These wealthy individuals are already willing to pay some of the highest taxes in blue states for income. However, a wealth tax would expose their property to what is likely to become an irresistible target for politicians unwilling to make tough budget choices.
Of course, Washington could follow California in seeking a retroactive tax. Rather than try to keep the most wealthy citizens, it could seek to make them pay to leave the state like a giant Venus Flytrap.
We previously discussed the push in California to impose a retroactive tax on the many citizens and companies fleeing that state due to its high taxes and other problems. Warren wants to do the same nationally. So, if businesses are fleeing the country due to these policies, they would have to essentially pay for the freedom in a type of captivity tax. It is incredibly short-sighted. They need these businesses and they will not be able to coerce them into staying by trying to make it more expensive to leave.
The wealth tax campaigns combine fiscal negligence with political opportunism. Rather than imposing budgetary restraints and reducing budgets, Democrats promise to fleece the superrich. This short-term appeal is likely to cost the state dearly as the wealthy leave for less predatorial states.
You can stay in Washington state and get hit with a wealth tax or you can “bye and bye” and move out of the way. It appears that millionaires are already training with a financial expert in Washington to move out of the way of the wealth tax:
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
The Privileges and Immunities Clause
The clause states that citizens of each state are entitled to the same privileges and immunities as citizens of other states.
The right to travel: The Supreme Court has ruled that the states are responsible for protecting freedom of movement, not the federal government. The right precedes the creation of the United States and appears in the Articles of Confederation. The U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court recognize and protect the right to interstate travel. The travel right entails privacy and free domestic movement without governmental abridgement.
This means, or SHOULD mean, that any tax law which tries/attempts to tax persons or companies leaving a state is unconstitutional. GROSSLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Which begs the question as to why California’s illegal tax law has not already been stricken down.
“Nuff Said.
Trouble is good for business has coincided with bad for the average Joe over the last 40 years …
There was that movement to divide California into as many as five separate states.
It failed for many reasons, but did give those folks in Eastern Oregon the impetus to try to become part of Idaho, with whom they share similar values.
What actually moves leftists is envy, and what they actually want is to reshuffle the deck, in the hopes that they will not end up on the bottom next time.
I’ve seen advertisements for years from
Some states about how businesses friendly they are, an attempt to attract businesses to build in their state. Doing so is good for business, it’s good for workers and for the community at large.
Such a relationship is fragile. Once word gets out to business leaders that a state is taking a hostile attitude toward businesses or those who own large shares of a business, the cat is out of the bag and in time, those seeking to come to a state will look elsewhere. Bad for business.
Then, take the retail sector in places such as California, New York, and the ultra left wing places. They favor the thieves and criminals. What is the result? Businesses shut down, leave town and vow never to return. The citizens suffer.
Places like New York or Aurora, Colorado where thugs can threaten tourists, find tourism is down.
Fast food workers are awarded by California a larger hourly wage than what the market can sustain and what happens? Restaurants are closing, workers are laid off and robots are introduced to replace humans.
On a side note, many of these glitter rich billionaires, for some bizarre reason, are leftists in ideology, yet, they don’t like the results of the political machine they helped to get elected. They sometimes bring their fringe politics to their new state. Isn’t that the definition of insanity?
Now we know why Musk deliberately tanked the original bipartisan funding bill, but endorsed the the final version that was very similar except for one important thing.
The original bill had an “outbound investment” provision which would have prevented American investment In technology enterprises in China. Specifically, it would have prevented transfer of Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing technology to China.
Musk is currently investing in joint ventures in China to build data centers that depend on AI and quantum computing.
That provision was stripped out of the final bill.
Musk got what he wanted and will enable China’s efforts to steal our technology and improve their ability to attack and compromise our technology infrastructure.
Prove what you say, and maybe use your name to give you authenticity ……Mine is Michael Bollinger
Elon Musk has a first and last name consisting of four letters each.
So does John Galt.
There, I said it.
Well said, does anyone read that book these days?
“John Say” has graced us with yet another interminably long, nonsensical, irrational, rambling rant consisting of disconnected thoughts.
A classical example of tangential thinking whereby fleeting, random, peripheral thoughts only vaguely related to the topic at hand render his postings completely incomprehensible.
LOL. Just like your comment. A series of random, meandering, peripheral thoughts (your words) encapsulating nothingness.
David H. Lynch II says: December 22, 2024 at 7:07 PM:
Is this you Kamala???
A classical example of tangential thinking whereby fleeting, random, peripheral thoughts only vaguely related to the topic at hand render his postings completely incomprehensible.
A WORD SALAD VICE PRESIDENT DEI HIRE WOULD BE PROUD TO CLAIM AS HER OWN!
California has already been hemorrhaging taxpayers for several years now, as confiscatory taxes reached a tipping point.
If California ever does pass that tax, that will require the wealthy to pay a wealth tax, annually, to California for a decade ever leaving, then the rich will flee before the law takes effect. Property values will plummet, which will be good for renters, but businesses will close, causing massive unemployment, which will be bad for renters.
There are many industries in California that rely upon the upper middle class and the wealthy. High end remodel companies, builders, corporate real estate agents, the jewelry district, much of the fashion industry, Hollywood, harbors. The poor don’t employ anyone, and essentially only pay sales tax and gas tax. The rich pay millions in taxes of various forms, employ many, and keep many businesses afloat. That would all end in the race to punish success.
The wealthy boost entire economies.
I don’t think California voters are capable of learning, at this point, that their complaints about the high cost of living, high gas taxes, and the high cost of all goods and services are a direct result of their own votes. CARB banned registering vehicles over a certain GVW manufactured before 2010, so shippers had to buy new vehicles, which cost 6 figures. Even the plumbing company that services my septic tank had to buy a shockingly new pump vehicle, and the electric version is not strong enough to make it up the hill to my septic tank the direct way to the tank. The alternate route is to destroy the front landscaping, and drive past my front door. CA will ban the sale of gas-powered cars, which will then make vehicles skyrocket, which will then increase the cost of any good or service that uses those electric vehicles, driving up the cost of living AGAIN.
Rather than taking responsibility, California voters just vote for more handouts, until the golden geese are chased out of the state.
Wealth worthy of sanction here deemed to be anything above 250 million? Because, wealth and assets of Washington state politicians are generally exceedingly less? Is that the case? What exactly is “middle-class,” is it say, assets of ten mil or more? What then is “rich”?
Has anybody here ever actually done the history of America’s version of “tax the rich”? How may times has it been proposed? And how many times has it passed? More pointedly, how many times has it failed? At what point do Americans realize that this is but the facade adopted by politicians seeking to conceal wealth by ill-gotten gains?
It seems to me a tax to leave a state clearly violates substantive due process. It has no connection at all with any government service provided to the taxpayer and violates the fundamental fairness rule.
Trump spent last Thursday signing MAGA hats at Mar-a-Largo, while Musk handled negotiations on the funding bill.
Has anyone seen J.D lately?????
Yes, he was also actively involved in the CR negotiations.
Pay attention.
Joe Biden was one of the people lining up to get his hat signed (the one he has been wearing since visiting PA).
Jill was there too asking Trump to sign the back of her red dress that she wore on election day. She flirted with Trump the whole time.
Musk not only handled negotiations on the funding bill, he simultaneously figured out how to make rockets land and take off from space-based gas stations, while the robot at the station cleaned the rocket’s windshield and checked the oil level.
You forgot to mention that Musk failed miserably in the negotiations.
He failed to get suspension of the debt limit that he and Trump so desperately wanted.
Basically, 170 House Republicans gave him the middle finger salute.
Trump is delegating – fantastic!
Trump, Musk, and Vivek can do atleast 3 times as much as Trump alone.
Add Kash, Bondi, and the rest of Trump’s picks and the next 4 years promise to see far more of Agenda 47 actually implimented that Trump managed in his first term.
Most of us do not care if Trump spends the entirety of the next 4 years signing MAGA hats and golfing at MAL – if his appointments deliver on the promises he made to win the election.
John Say
So you have no problem with Trump spending all his time at Mar-a-Largo signing hats while someone else runs the government. It is perfectly fine to “delegate” his responsibilities.
However you have spent most of this year here incessantly whining and moaning that Biden has been completely derelict in his presidential duties because he has “delegated” these responsibilities to others.
Do you understand the concept of hypocrisy?????
Perhaps you’re not aware, but Trump is not yet president. That happens at something called an “inauguration” (look it up in the dictionary), which will occur on 1/20/25. At the moment neither he nor anyone else on his team is “running the government.”
*What do they teach children in these schools?
-The professor in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Oldman
You are clearly being obtuse or simply obfuscating.
Either that, or you are not paying attention.
John Say said the following:
“Most of us do not care if Trump spends the entirety of the next 4 years signing MAGA hats and golfing at MAL – if his appointments deliver on the promises he made to win the election.”
John Say is saying that it is fine if Trump spends all his time at MAL, and delegates responsibilities for “THE ENTIRETY OF THE NEXT 4 YEARS”
I am criticizing John Say because he has incessantly complained that Biden has been doing exactly that. Now he is saying that there is no problem if Trump does exactly what he claims Biden has been doing.
Try to pay attention and keep up.
Perhaps you should ask your doctor for a cognitive assessment at your next visit.
Biden wasn’t capable of delegating. His staff simply took the responsibility because he couldn’t do the work.
I mean true. For a commenter to pretend the Potus has to be physically located in DC to get any work done or make decisions is disingenuous. And he oddly doesn’t have any complaints about Biden spending more time in Delaware vacationing than in DC over the past four years. Given the recent revelations about how Biden was basically brain dead and not functioning as the real president during that entire time, and now to make these absurd complaints about Trump being at Mar-a-lago before his term even begins … I can only conclude that he is trying to be ironic, or is dumb as a rock. I see no third option.
I am absolutely not saying that POTUS has to be in DC to get any work done.
I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy of saying that it is fine for Trump to stay in MAL “FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE NEXT 4 YEARS” while his appointees do the work, which is what John Say said.
That is exactly what you are accusing Biden of doing.
That is hypocrisy.
What ANON is doing is what leftists always and consistently do – accuse you of what THEY are doing. Ignore or mock them. They’re not worthy of anything else.
Anonymous: I don’t really care what John Say said, I was responding to your rather bizarre comment. Try paying attention yourself, and put on your thinking cap please.
John Say made the bizarre comment.
I was simply pointing out his hypocrisy
“Perhaps you’re not aware, but Trump is not yet president.” Fascinating, isn’t it? The press, the readers, the trolls, the shills,….they are all pretending he’s actually POTUS right now. Joe Biden is President. Democrats are in charge. The DNC has a majority in the House of Representatives. What’s wrong with these people? When Trump won in 2016, nobody pretended that Obama wasn’t still in charge, that Susan Rice wasn’t there, that Hillary wasn’t Secty of State, or that Leon Pannetta, John Podesta, and Comey/Clapper weren’t still in Washington running things. Obama didn’t even leave DC, in fact, after Trump’s inauguration.
Senate …
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but Trump is not actually the president yet. Plus I doubt that Trump ever said that Biden “delegated”. He repeatedly said that Biden wasn’t running the country, which is pretty apparent to all of us. When Trump delegates, you know it. We don’t know who is really running things at the moment.
And who has been running the country for the past four years? Jill? Hunter? That is actually a real thing.
This Musk thing is just another failed leftist narrative.
Trump ain’t president yet moron!
Trump isn’t President yet, but no one is paying attention to the failed President Biden. The world is looking toward Trump and with just his voice, absent power, he is making a difference for the better.
How is he making a difference for the better?
Threatening to invade Panama?
Wanting to take over Greenland?
Insulting Trudeau and Canada?
Are these examples of making a difference for the better?
What exactly do YOU think he is saying to make a difference for the better?
Please be specific.
I cannot help it when people are unaware of their surroundings hating America when anywhere else they would be part of the trash heap.
You have some superficial questions that lack thought. Why don’t you first tell us about the history and legalities involving the first two items? Also, quote Trump correctly. Your lack of knowledge about what Trump wrote leads to relying on inaccurate progressive talking points.
On the third point, Trudeau insults the Canadian people and Canada. You need to update your ideas because they are foolish.
Trump, in 4 years, with lies and impeachments from the left, created no wars and helped bring peace in the Middle East and elsewhere. He grew the economy and gave working-class families the largest income boost in decades. He was an excellent President who didn’t sell America to the Chinese like the Democrats and Biden did. He is now ready for a second term, and already the world is becoming more peaceful, and terrorists are starting to sue for peace.
You need to rely on facts, not Democrat talking points meant to garner support from the stupid and uninformed.
C. All of the above
For your information, President-elect Trump is not president yet. Why not criticize your man Biden? He wasn’t there for the last four years and I don’t recall any of your comments on that fact. Best you just STFU and go back to sleep.
signing hats for Zuckerburg, Bezos,,, are those the guys you are referring to?
@Dennis McIntyre: Jonathan: Sure, wealthy people can move to avoid taxes. Something most of us can’t do.
Dennis you sly ol’ Leninist-Communist Marxist: are you playing straight man Moe of The Three Democrat Marxist Stooges?
Telling the truth for once by admitting that even the “beneficiaries” of benevolent communism HAVE to flee communist states like you in Florida to free market states like here in Montana or Florida?
That is; they’re fleeing IF they have enough remaining money to afford to do that?
With 573,000 people fleeing California during the Biden presidency while “Tax ’em all and let my Taxman sort them out” Newsom was the Governor, they can’t all have been your Evil Rich Who Don’t Pay Their Fair Share. That’s a lot of Marx’s ‘middle class’ and other ‘working class’ leaving along with the wealthy that you hate for not giving you all their money.
Why Californians are fleeing this once-Golden State
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-08/why-californians-are-fleeing-this-once-golden-state
The U.S. Census Bureau reported in March that California’s population as of last July had dropped to an estimated 38,965,000 over the last four years. That’s down by 75,400 in a year — and 573,000 below California’s peak of 39.5 million in 2020.
Over the last four years middle and higher-income people began leaving for states such as Texas and Nevada that don’t impose income taxes. California has the nation’s highest state income tax rate, 13.3%. We also have high sales and gas taxes. We’re a high tax state, a fact California’s governor over those four years Gavin Newsom pooh-poohs.
Dennis, what’s the difference between you and Border Czar Harris assuring us that The Big Guy was completely cognizant and working his young staffers to death trying to keep up with him as he masterfully wielded the White House levers of domestic and foreign policy?
Old Airborne Dog
Will someone, especially a politician, explain how making the rich less rich results in the poor being any less poor?
Liz Warren is pushing for this and more. She always wants to get those billionaires. She used to be against millionaires but once she and her husband became millionaires I guess millionaires really aren’t bad people. If you own shares of stock and your shares increase in value she wants to put a tax on that increase even though you haven’t sold them yet. Now when you sell your shares you have to pay a capital gains tax on your gain. If this woman gets her way we won’t have anything. When will people see the consequences of their actions.
Liz Warren is a communist.
Communism is unconstitutional.
Next question.
Granny Warren will take us to 1929.
Another major problem with Washington state driving wealthy liberals to states east of Washington, is that they come to these areas with a big wad of cash and drive up real estate prices beyond what the locals can afford. This is happening as far east as Rapid City, South Dakota. These people supported and voted for these politicians. Let them stay in Washington State and deal with the fallout of their choices.
THE MEANS OF CONTROLLING THE EFFECTS OF FACTION
Wealth is private property that is created by commerce, including that of the interstate type or variety.
A “wealth tax” constitutes an unconstitutional denial of the 5th Amendment right to private property.
A “wealth tax” constitutes an unconstitutional denial of the freedom of interstate commerce assured by the Commerce Clause.
A “wealth tax” is unconstitutional.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
The judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court, has been satisfied, if not elated, to preside over the destruction of the Constitution and America and the incremental imposition of the principles of communism for, at least, 164 years.
Washington State, antithetically and unconstitutionally, subscribes to the slogan of Karl Marx: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
@ George: The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
The singular American failure is the continuing existence of the Democratic Party even after their progression from simple racism and insurrection to neo-communist Soviet “Progressivist” insurrection.
Fixed your daily Leninist-communist byline for you George , you vicious lying Marxist thug.
The USSR spy who defected, Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov warned us about fraudulent “constitutionalist” commies like you, George, back when many of us were well into our work careers. That was before you were having your first Democrat wet dreams about your Democrat heroes like George Wallace and his best friend young Senator Joe Biden.
At least sign an organ donor so we can hope you make some marginal contribution to this great country at some point in your otherwise meaningless failure of a life.
Yuri Bezmenov – A Brief Summary Of Communist Ideological Subversion As Used By American Communists Like George
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJnRmvqTdEQ
FULL INTERVIEW with Yuri Bezmenov: The Four Stages of Ideological Communist Subversion
Federalist 10, 1787
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; … and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other, than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind, to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those, who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall into a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of the party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government. …
It is vain to say, that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing interests and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. …
The inference to which we are brought is, that the causes of faction cannot be removed; and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.
– James Madison
Democrats don’t consider the consequences of their actions. They don’t think any further than the next election. If the people who come up with these stupid plans get re-elected, then the voters deserve what they get. When things go wrong, the Democrats will just lie and blame and demonize somebody else, or double-down on their original lies. Someday people will realize that the answer isn’t to pull up stakes and move to Texas; the answer is to make your own Texas where you are.
Not precisely all of them. There’s Joe Manchin, and perhaps Sinema, but surprisingly there’s John Fetterman. I suppose in the modern leftist vernacular, it’s now John Fettermyn. Anyway the guy gets the shock treatment and comes back thinking with rational common sense. Who’d a thunk it. Kind of like when lightening strikes a blind man and suddenly he can see.
Ironically, regressive redistributive change schemes have progressive consequences.
Excellent article Sir !
Jonathan: Sure, wealthy people can move to avoid taxes. Something most of us can’t do. In 2021 Washington state passed a 7% capital gains tax on the sale or exchange of long-term capital assets. Jeff Bezos didn’t like that so he moved from Washington state, where he lived for 30 years, to Miami because Florida does not have a capital gains tax. So now Gov. Inslee has proposed a “wealth tax” that would affect only about 3,500 Washington state residents. Will some of them move if the proposal becomes law? Maybe, maybe not.
This is where Sen. Warren’s wealth tax proposal would solve the “Bezos problem”. Warren proposes a national wealth tax that would impose a tax of 2% on incomes between $50 million and $1 billion–and a 4% annual “Billionaire Surtax” on the incomes above $1billion. This would generate 10-year revenue of $3.75 trillion. Warren’s proposal also includes an “anti-evasion” measure–that would impose a 40% “exit tax” on billionaires who try to skip the country.
People like Bezos, Musk and other wealthy interests have fought tooth and nail against Warren’s proposal in Congress. And there is zero chance Warren’s proposal will see the light of day when DJT takes charged on Jan. 20. In fact, DJT wants to extend his 2017 tax cuts for himself and his wealthy buddies that expire next year. Those tax cuts added about $1.9 trillion to the national debt. An extension would add another $5 trillion. That’s why DJT wanted the House to extend the debt limit to 2029–after he leaves office–so he doesn’t have to go back to Congress next year to raise the debt limit and the public fight that will surely happen.
We have a progressive tax system in this country. The more you make the more you pay in taxes. Bezos, Musk and the super-wealthy don’t like the system. They want to pay less in taxes, as a percentage of income, that someone making between 50K or 100K. Is that fair to the majority of taxpayers in this country? I say no!
“Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans’ tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.”
(The Hill – 12/04/21)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/584190-irs-data-prove-trump-tax-cuts-benefited-middle-working-class-americans-most/
Excerpted from “Policy Genius” analyzing the Trump tax cuts the first time around:
High-income individuals were the most likely to see tax savings, while low-income and middle-class families saw mixed results.
88.2% of taxpayers claimed the standard deduction in 2018.
The higher standard deduction wasn’t enough to offset the loss of personal exemptions for some families.
Businesses appear to have saved the most from the Trump tax cuts; corporate income tax collected by the IRS decreased by 22.4% from 2017 to 2018.
So in Left wing nut world – some biased but jobs claims trump real data ?
How about some reality – The cost of government will ultimately almost entirely be born by the middle class.
That will be true REGARDLESS of how you structure taxes.
If you increase business taxes – those are passed on to consumers.
If you increase taxes on wealth or investment – you get less investment and wealth.
Nothing changes WHO pays the cost of government. But different tax choices do change how efficiently taxes are imposed and how negative the impact is on the economy – and thus standard of living.
Just as all taxes are ultimately paid by the middle class, all taxes harm standard of living.
But the cost of taxes to the middle class are not the same for every form of taxes, the economic damage is not the same for all forms of taxes.
Dennis,
This is probably your stupidest post ever.
I refered you to Basiats “the candle makers petititon” earlier.
Now I would just you suggest you read the entirety of Basiats work.
Fredrick Bastiat was a great economist.
But his most valuebale contribution was he is an incredble great satirist.
He is the Johnathan Swift of econmics.
Almost 200 years ago Bastiat gleefully poke huge holes in the total idiocy that you are posting.
Nothing Inslee or Warren are proposing is new. all have it has been tried over and over and over.
It does not work. It is so OBVIOUSLY stupid it boggles the mind that anyone with more than two brain cells would propose it.
While the historical evidence, logic and human behavior dictate that with certainty it will not work,
and that first you will have draconian exit taxes and then when those do not work even more draconian measures.
But the more significant problem is – what if it DID work ?
One of the things the left gets right is that no one needs a billion dollars – much less 400B dollars.
Musk’s wealth is about 100 times that of Trump.
Do you honestly think there is one iota of difference in how they are able to live ?
Does Trump ever say – I can not afford lobster for dinner ?
Does Trump ever say – I can not afford the Yatch, the Gulfstream, the vacation home, that I want ?
What is it that Musk can do that improves his personal quality of life that Trump can not do ?
What is it that either of them can do that someone who is worth 1/10th of Trump’s net worth can do ?
Ultimately if your idiocy succeeds, the Trump’s and Musk’s and Bezo’s of the world – should they actually capitulate,
will do is quite simple – NOTHING.
They will stop striving to even greater levels of success. They will live incredibly comfortably on the mere millions necescary for a life that is the best any human can possibly have.
Musk could have stopped with PayPal and lived a life of leasure and oppulance decades ago. Almost no one would have heard of him. There would be no SpaceX, no Tesla, no Boring company. But Musk would be as comfortable as he is today.
Look arround at Musks accomplishments. Lots of people are doing electric cars today. But only Musk has done so both successfully and profitable.
Biden turned off subsidies for Tesla – and yet Tesla continues to produce more electric cars than all other electric car makers combined.
And makes money at it. But for subsidies the electric car efforts of Ford and GM would have failed. Even with them – Ford and GM are losing money on Electric cars.
The point is the Musks of the world are NOT trivially replaceable. Not anyone can make a successful electric car.
Not one in a billion people can step into Musks shoes and accomplish what he has.
I noted Musks success in electric cars.
What about SpaceX ? NASA has owned space for my entire lifetime. There are los of other Billionaries including Branson, Bezos, and Allen who have been trying to do what Musk has done – there are companies – like Boeing, and even done better than NASA. There is little doubt that if Musk did not exist – Bezos would be the king of Space. That eventually – decades from now, he will get where Musk is now. But SpaceX is actually PROFITABLE. They are launching 40% of everything that is going to space – they are doing so at far less cost than anyone else. and they are making money doing so. Starlink is now delivering high speed internet and communications services affordably anywhere in the world.
And all this before StarShip is out of development.
The claim that Musk is replaceable is refuted by thae FACT that NASA. Boeing, Bezos, Allan and Branson are still decades behind.
Further Musk was a late comer to the Billionaires in space game. Allan was there first and Bezo’s after that.
So what happens if Musk decides to retire after his first couple of Billion ?
No Tesla, no SpaceX, no Starlink – atleast not for a few more decades.
But it is not just Musk that will decide they have made enough, they do not want to fight idiotic governments.
It is the Trump’s and Bezo’s and Allen’s and Gates, and Buffets and …..
I just pointed out to you that even Bezos can not replace Musk in many things.
What happens to our future if ALL of them quit early ?
What happens if 10% of them quit early ?
One of the huge problems of the left is the failure to understand what would happen if they actually succeeded.
It took 300,000 years for Humans to get from Caves to very small cities, like Jericho and Babylon.
And life expectances a few years longer than Cave men. It took about 8,000 years to double life expectancy to 45, and reach the standard of living of the 19th century.
That is life without running water, and power.
Life expectancy nearly doubled again in less than a century.
Nearly everyone now alive is used to growth rates of 1-3%/year (though 19th century western growth rates, and late 20th century growth rates in China and india were 7% or higher).
The FACT is that Growth is fragile. Get things wrong and everything stops – even goes backwards, often rapidly.
Right Now Cuba is collapsing. it is increasingly unable to maintain basic services to people.
Most of us are not aware that Cuba before Castro had nearly the highest standard of living in the western hemisphere.
A few more of us remember that before Socialist Venezuela has a standard of living higher than any south american country and higher than many US states and European countries.
Today nearly everyone lives in poverty.
Most of us are not aware that prior to Thatcher the UK was going to drop out of the first world.
Left Wing nuts like you are not aware that while Europe has not been able to undo the absymally stupid decisions it made in the mid to late 20th century,
that those socialist choices FAILED.
As an example the idiotic eat the rich policies of those like Warren were tried in Europe – they did not work, and today the burden of supporting govenrment falls almost entirely on the middle class. Europe still has high taxes on the wealthy – though these have gone down, but it has the highest taxes on the middle class of any nation.
Europe also has sub 1% growth rates and has for 40 years. The middle class in the EU barely lives as well as the working class in the US.
It is not just the rich that has fled other countries for the US, it is the poor, and the middle class – when they can.
US growth dropped to 1.4% under Obama – which is incredibly poor for the US – but way above that of the EU or Japan. or all other wealthy nations.
I have not seen figures for REAL growth under Biden – but you have to subract atleast 20% inflation from any growth figures to get Real growth.
My point is that Growth is NOT inevitable.
And no growth or low growth is really really bad especially for the poor and working class.
Your policies have FAILED everywhere.
“John Say” has once again graced us with yet another interminably long, nonsensical, irrational, rambling rant consisting of disconnected thoughts.
A classic example of tangential thinking whereby fleeting, random, peripheral thoughts only vaguely related to the topic at hand render his postings completely incomprehensible.
LOL! you’re funny…..
Why isn’t it “fair”? Why is it your quest to transfer as much wealth to the government as possible where it is wasted and misused?