Metrics
Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years:
(Full column: https://t.co/XP0a4Iljti) pic.twitter.com/dGxmOjQ1b5
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) October 7, 2019
There’s something inherently wrong with rich people. How do they see themselves? How do they judge themselves? Do they care who has the biggest boat or largest plane? Is five houses too many, too few, or just the right number? Do they pat themselves on the back for devising new ways of avoiding taxes? Does it bother them if they’re only a millionaire? Do care if they appear on the Forbes 400, the Sunday Times Rich List, or some equivalent list? How often do they look at their bank account balances? Do they pay a lot of attention to the number of zeroes in their bonuses?
These are the wrong metrics by which they should judge themselves. Instead, they should look at metrics that are more important to society. How many people do they employ? How many employees can afford cars? How many employees struggle to pay rent? How many employees have health insurance? How many employees are paid a living wage? How many employees are living from paycheck to paycheck? How many employees have kids in college? How many employees are going to college themselves? How many employees get bonuses? Is it reasonable to collect a bonus after laying people off? What’s a reasonable bonus after outsourcing jobs? Is it okay to be a billionaire in the same city where children are starving? Have they ever donated to a homeless shelter? Have they ever donated to their local public school district?
I have a feeling change is coming. Probably within the next few years, after the US elections in 2020, but its effect won’t be limited to the rich politicians and lobbyists. The system is rotting and ready to collapse. If the powers-that-be handle it incorrectly, we might face something as calamitous as the Depression and the Dust Bowl. If its handled well, we might be looking at prosperity unseen since the post-World War II boom. Either way, I think we’ll encounter a sea change unlike anything in the past hundred years.
Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years: (Full column: https://t.co/XP0a4Iljti) pic.twitter.com/dGxmOjQ1b5 — David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) October 7, 2019 There’s something inherently wrong with rich people. How do they see themselves? How do they judge themselves? Do they care who has the biggest boat or largest plane? Is five…