Answer: Because, contrary to what certain class-warrior millionaires would have you believe, not only is America broke, we’re so broke that expropriating the personal wealth of the entire Forbes 400 wouldn’t get us out of the hole this year. Although, in light of fantastically depressing polls like this, I’m not sure if Moore is outright dissembling or merely confused about the extent of the problem. In a country where more people think large savings are to be had by cutting foreign aid than by reducing Medicare benefits, is it really surprising that this tool thinks Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and a few hundred other people could singlehandedly cure our broke-ness?

Note the reference in the clip too to “400 little Mubaraks.” In a world of cheap demagogues, few come cheaper than this.

One question, though: When he says America isn’t broke, are we sure he’s referring to the budget? My sense of this guy isn’t that he wants to rob the rich blind to eliminate annual deficits and pay down the debt, it’s that he wants wealth transfer in its rawest form — literally confiscating bank accounts (or taxing them into oblivion) and carving up the principal for distribution to people below a certain income level. Not only would all of the entitlements that are destined to cripple the federal government sooner or later stay in place, but in Mooreworld, they’d probably be expanded. Yet somehow, in some way, that $1.3 trillion wealth transfer from Larry Ellison et al. to the poor that he has in mind would solve everything. What a magical elixir socialism is.