The combined $16.1 trillion could run the US government for almost three years!
snypher · 4m ago
Am I right in thinking how much better my life could be for not having to pay taxes for 3 years?
j-bos · 3h ago
3,028 known billionaires*
There's no legal or often practical requirement to publicly disclose the 9-figure status.
armchairhacker · 2h ago
How would you give away billions to benefit society? Know any research papers/articles/etc. that explore this?
the_real_cher · 3h ago
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.
kashunstva · 3h 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 · 1h 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 · 1h 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 · 1h 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?
LoganDark · 3h 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 · 1h 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.
burnt-resistor · 3h ago
Color me totally shocked. Not really.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) with $10B in assets isn't really a benign "community foundation", but a way for billionaires to promise wealth/asset giveaways later and get tax breaks now.[0]
Every billionaire is a policy failure and likely a deeply greedy, malevolent, and out-of-touch (and bordering on crazy) individual with far too much power and influence over other people and the fate of the species and planet Earth.
https://ips-dc.org/report-giving-pledge-at-15/
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of...
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.
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.
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).
However I am pointing out that the government inflates our currency which disproportionally hurts the poor and middle class way worse than any billionaire.
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?
I completely agree with you about billionaires being able to do more good with their money than the government.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) with $10B in assets isn't really a benign "community foundation", but a way for billionaires to promise wealth/asset giveaways later and get tax breaks now.[0]
0. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205...
Every billionaire is a policy failure and likely a deeply greedy, malevolent, and out-of-touch (and bordering on crazy) individual with far too much power and influence over other people and the fate of the species and planet Earth.