What is it with the super-rich’s infatuation with government?
Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, John Bogle, George Soros and sixteen other uber-rich cats and ex-politicians sent a letter to Congress the other day recommending a 45% death tax on estates exceeding $2 million.
Forget about the travesty of decimating, yes decimating, the estates of families (farmers, small business owners, etc.) that represent lifetimes, generations even, of prudence and hard work — families that occupy the class that pays the lion’s share of all income taxes year in and year out — and consider the utterly sickening notion that somehow society would be best off by the taking of those assets, those resources, from the folks who’ve earned them and handing them to the most fiscally inept cast of characters this country has ever seen. I mean Bill Gates is a bright guy, isn’t he?
Yes, the U.S. government is a fiscal train wreck. To sustain its present level of spending, it has to find more revenue. But understand, the politicians knew what government was bringing in while they were ramping up spending — in the real world that’s called fiscal stupidity (a real world entity would have to cut spending). And the mega-rich want to give them more (taken from the private sector) to play with. Insane!