Video: “I think we should outlaw billionaires”
Machinations of the wealthy have resulted in a “rigged game” against workers and the middle class, Hartmann claimed, and all wealth beyond $1 billion should be confiscated “to help those of us who have less” (audio) –
I started my rant about billionaires earlier, at the beginning of the hour, let me just finish it really quickly. I think we should have a wealth tax in the United States and I think all wealth over $1 billion should be taxed at the 100 percent rate. If you can’t make it on a thousand million dollars, a billion dollars is a million dollars a thousand times, if you can’t make it on a billion dollars, well, there is no therefore. There’s nobody who can’t make it on a billion dollars. So, any wealth over a billion dollars, a hundred percent of it goes to help those of us who have less. You can call it redistribution of wealth, that’s fine, I am perfectly comfortable with that language. I think we should outlaw billionaires.
Blowback
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He’d have loved the Khmer Rouge. Right up to the point where they round him up and brutalize him to death.
rbj on December 30, 2012 at 6:43 PM
I think the government should jump first.
FloatingRock on December 30, 2012 at 6:44 PM
…uh, meaning the government should limit itself to one billion dollars first and set a good example for the rest.
FloatingRock on December 30, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Why limit it there? What about people who make 1 million? Any amount you make over that line, gets taken?
ThePrez on December 30, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Thanks for using the big crayons to explain your position. I still don’t buy it.
Paul-Cincy on December 30, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Warren Buffett was unavailable for comments.
tommy71 on December 30, 2012 at 6:51 PM
What the hell is a “wealth tax”? Is he talking about a 100% tax on annual income over $1 billion (how many people actually make more than $1 billion anyway?), or is he talking about a confiscatory levy based on net worth?
Either way, he is socialist scum.
steebo77 on December 30, 2012 at 6:51 PM
Well its refreshing (and scary) that they are finally talking off the mask of liberalism they have worn for so long.
sharrukin on December 30, 2012 at 6:52 PM
I think we should do everything in our power to make as many people as possible want to be billionaires and to work towards that end.
Call me crazy but I think that is the better solution to the “rigged” game.
ButterflyDragon on December 30, 2012 at 6:52 PM
I think we should have a wealth tax in the United States and I think all wealth over $1 billion should be taxed at the 100 percent rate.
Confiscation.
sharrukin on December 30, 2012 at 6:54 PM
I’ll believe he’s sincere when he calls out Russian oligarchs & Chinese Communists.
22044 on December 30, 2012 at 6:55 PM
What the hell is wrong with these people?
I’m reaching my limit with these socialist thieves. They claim all they want to do is help people yet their “help” has killed millions.
darwin on December 30, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Schadenfreude on December 30, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Do they think the billion $ that a billionaire has is sitting in a mattress or safe in the billionaire’s home?
That billion $ is being invested somehow, somewhere and people/businesses are using that billionaire’s money to make more money.
albill on December 30, 2012 at 6:57 PM
Why not, who besides the government and their cronies actually needs a million dollars a year? People have been known to get by with less, (so that the elitists at the top can have more).
FloatingRock on December 30, 2012 at 6:58 PM
When the waitress was pouring Retard on their waffles, they forget to say “when”…
JohnGalt23 on December 30, 2012 at 6:59 PM
I agree! We can start with any of them who haven’t paid all of their taxes! And, we start the redistribution from the top down – bringing the maximum number of people up to the billion $ mark! When do I get mine? Or, we can start from the bottom, excluding assets, but including all forms of income (like welfare). I can be eligible in two weeks!
/S <– do I need this?
GWB on December 30, 2012 at 7:02 PM
I think we should limit the incomes of lobbyists and cronies to a hundred thousand dollars per year, but for the vast majority of us who don’t have any influence on the government whatsoever should have no such restriction.
FloatingRock on December 30, 2012 at 7:03 PM
I imagine comrade Thom probably makes more than the 400k per year mentioned later. I assume he must give the rest back to Uncle Sam to redistribute, right?? No, libtards only want to take from everybody else.
Southernblogger on December 30, 2012 at 7:03 PM
Dude, you can’t ever outbeat the Frogs in the ‘crazies’ department. Accept it, and get over the fantasy.
tommy71 on December 30, 2012 at 7:04 PM
Unfortunately, Obama is working on that. Of course, his answer is to jack inflation up so being a billionaire won’t mean anything except that you can buy a week’s groceries…….
GWB on December 30, 2012 at 7:04 PM
That jumped out at me.
He didn’t say the poor or those who need help. No, he said “those of us who have less…”
Handouts for people who don’t need it. Simply if “you have less” the government can put a gun to someone’s head and take their property.
SteveMG on December 30, 2012 at 7:06 PM
So no more than $1 billion shall be privately held, and controlled, by one person. The excess must be publicly held. Why, beyond a feeling of envy of someone who has more than you? Because you should be able to “make it on a billion dollars”? So the benchmark is “making it” rather than “freedom” or the “American dream” or “free will” or “doing what you want”. If “doing what you want” involves controlling more than $1 billion, then … says he, that’s just WRONG!!!
Paul-Cincy on December 30, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Where does he think the government would derive constitutional authority for this confiscation and redistribution scheme anyway?
steebo77 on December 30, 2012 at 7:17 PM
That’s it in a nutshell. Envy made into a political ideology.
sharrukin on December 30, 2012 at 7:24 PM
He said it would be a tax. That’s all he needs, thanks to Roberts.
pedestrian on December 30, 2012 at 7:25 PM
I believe all communist scumbags should be deported to Hell. That ain’t gonna happen, either.
John the Libertarian on December 30, 2012 at 7:29 PM
Oh, yeah. Thanks, Johnny.
steebo77 on December 30, 2012 at 7:51 PM
That’s right, it’s thanks to Roberts, Romney and other RINO’s that the government can do almost anything now if they call it a tax.
FloatingRock on December 30, 2012 at 7:54 PM
They start out talking about ‘billionaires’. Next thing you know it’s anyone who wears eyeglasses.
Kenosha Kid on December 30, 2012 at 7:55 PM
As far as I’ve ever been able to tell they believe Scrooge McDuck’s vault hidden in the mountains where he keeps his entire fortune in cash is really how rich people keep their money.
single stack on December 30, 2012 at 8:12 PM
Yes, bureaucrats need more money.
Baerwulf on December 30, 2012 at 8:37 PM
Because first you establish the concept;
Then you haggle over the price.
jaydee_007 on December 31, 2012 at 4:52 AM