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Bernie Sanders: "top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 95%"

Parker_Chess

Parker_Chess

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It is very easy to conclude that the US has become the vulture crony capitalism model that the world does not need.
 
Who was it that said something about, "eventually you run out of other people's money"?

Bernie should listen to them.
 
Helix said:
They used to teach us about the Gilded Age in history class. These days, it's live action.
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For real, and red states are busy teaching kids the civil war was primarily over states rights, ignoring the exploitation and of labor workers, and not teaching the true legacy of FDR.
 
Mycroft said:
Who was it that said something about, "eventually you run out of other people's money"?

Bernie should listen to them.
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We will never run out of their money. These people are criminals and they deserve to have every penny of their wealth confiscated.
 
Parker_Chess said:
It's time to tax billionaires into extinction.
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Are you joking?

Parker_Chess said:
Redistribute all their wealth to the people. Enough is enough!!
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The existence of billionaires themselves isn't the problem.

If they didn't have an outsized influence on government due to their campaign donations the playing field could be leveled.

They should also be taxed appropriately.

Warren Buffet has done the math. If corporations paid a reasonable fair share taxes on individuals could be completely eliminated.
 
I don't think working class/middle class MAGAs really understand the difference (and rich MAGA media people certainly don't want to tell them).

So while MAGAs are depositing probably around $2,000 (net) every two weeks a guy who make $1.7million a year is depositing around $45,000 (net) every two weeks. In two weeks that guys match the annual salary of tons of MAGAs.

Now, Sean Hannity makes WAY more than $1.7million/year. He's more like $25million/year. So he's depositing probably around $661,764 EVERY TWO WEEKS.

Of course the Hannitys of the world don't want to talk about that to the MAGA faithful so he concentrates on brown people/Biden/Chicago/the poor leeches/etc. Heck, NFL/NBA players don't want people discussing their salaries much either.
 
Parker_Chess said:
We will never run out of their money. These people are criminals and they deserve to have every penny of their wealth confiscated.
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You must be joking calling the wealthy criminals.
Your economic guru, /s has only held odd jobs outside of his elected position in congress.

As always, Sanders oversimplifies, without noting wealth creation often stems from innovation and that his redistribution policies, or in your words wealth confiscation, could harm rather than help the economy.

Ironically, Sanders became wealthy selling his myopic wealth distribution claptrap to the class envious. Pretty good gig. His books brought Sanders approximately $2.5 million from advances and royalties between 2011 and 2023.
 
“We should be saying right now, in a world in which globally the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 95%, and in nation after nation you’re seeing more and more income and wealth inequality, I would say that in the United States we should not have billionaires.”

How does Bernie propose to do this?

“So we need to democratise our society, get people involved and create an economy that works for all of us, not just the folks on Wall Street or the new high tech billionaires.”

I went to the "Bernie's solution" link.

His solution? A complete restructuring of economic priorities—one that replaces corporate dominance with democratic engagement.

Didn't see a plan.

Bernie appeals to emotion.

“The idea that somebody now has $300-$400bn when we have people sleeping out on the streets, when people can’t afford healthcare, can’t afford childcare – that is insane.”

What would happen to Mackenzie Scott's philanthropy if we took all but one billion dollars of her wealth? And what of billionaires whose legacies to the people are more important than their bank accounts?

Alex Meruelo is one such billionaire.

City councilmember explains why he was one of the key 'yes' votes in favor of GSR Arena

For much of the Reno Redevelopment Agency Board's meeting last week, the swing vote on whether Grand Sierra Resort project moved forward with public-money suppo
nevadasportsnet.com

The public-comment portion of the meeting lasted more than 2 hours with 51 people speaking, including 50 in favor of the project...

Reno redevelopment agency OK's property tax reimbursement plan for GSR arena project

The Grand Sierra Resort's tax-increment financing for phase one was approved 5-2 on Wednesday by Reno's redevelopment agency.
www.rgj.com

GSR owner Alex Meruelo said he would give the lease to the property of Fire Station 21 to the city, and give an additional 5% of the 90% property tax reimbursement earnings to youth sports recreation facilities.

The city gets gifted a $5m piece of property, takes no risk in TIF, over $3m will be returned to Ward 3 youth sports, the University of Nevada gets a state-of-the-art basketball stadium built with private money (and leased), the community gets (more) jobs (which Meruelo has been creating in the area since 2014), more entertainment opportunities, and Tuscon's AHL hockey team when Meruelo moves them in 2027.

Everybody here loves him, including his employees. He's a modern American success story, son of Cuban immigrants. All billionaires aren't bad people. Meruelo's wealth is tied up in his major properties: The Sahara in Las Vegas, The Grand Sierra in Reno and the Tuscon Roadrunners hockey team. What would Bernie do with his property? If Bernie took ownership of the GSR, would Reno still get its stadium and the rest of the $1b investment planned by Meruelo? Why should I, as a Reno area resident, allow the federal government to limit wealth at $1b dollars? Sounds very autocratic.

Bernie Sanders has no solutions. He speaks to grievance.
 
Rich people are enemies. Stop defending them.
 
Parker_Chess said:
Rich people are enemies. Stop defending them.
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Division based on hatred is our enemy. Hating ill-defined "billionaires" for no reason other than Bernie says so is no different than MAGA obeying Trump. Stripping people's wealth and allowing the government to control the economy is no less autocratic than Trump doing so with tariffs.

If MacKenzie Scott is my enemy, then I need more enemies.

Northern Nevada HOPES this week announced the final phase of construction for its new 43,000-square-foot clinic at 1905 E. Fourth St. The clinic, named the Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center, is funded in part by an unexpected $6 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Photos: Northern Nevada HOPES expands with mega-sized donation

Reno's independent, online news and events source. Established in 2009.
thisisreno.com

Bernie is a grievance monger. Same as Trump. A rational, intellectual argument on taxation can be had. Screaming "billionaires shouldn't exist" is mindless hateful division.

All rich people aren't my enemy, and all poor people aren't your friend.
 
I have to agree that you and Sanders have a point. Though I would say redistribute some of their wealth no all of it.
 
aociswundumho said:
Did they teach you how fast living standards rose during the gilded age?
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They taught us about propaganda, but that was mostly in Soviet and Nazi contexts. When I got to college, they covered some American propaganda.
 
Helix said:
They taught us about propaganda, but that was mostly in Soviet and Nazi contexts. When I got to college, they covered some American propaganda.
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No, you were taught propaganda and you still believe it.


Gilded Age - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
 
The current administration takes orders and payments from them, so the time will be 2029 at the earliest.
 
aociswundumho said:
No, you were taught propaganda and you still believe it.



Gilded Age - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
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This may be true, but it ignore the recessions, through which the common man had no safety net.

Are you familiar with the Pullman company town in the late 1800's?

Big Trouble in a Company Town: The Pullman Strike

teachingamericanhistory.org

1894 was not a good time economically. Pullman cut workers' salaries but didn't lower rent.

When the Panic of 1893 took a toll on company profits, Pullman cut wages as much as 25% but refused to reduce rents. Nor would Pullman negotiate with his employees. In response, nearly 4000 workers walked off the job, May 11, 1894, shutting down the Pullman factory.

There's an archived paycheck somewhere from Pullman for 5¢, after deductions. Just a notch above slavery.
 
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