Robert ReichFeb 16, 2023

The rich don’t spend the money they have, and the poor don’t have money to spend.

This is a problem when 70% of the economy relies on consumer spending.

Closing our staggering wealth gap isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s essential to save our economy from collapse.

Show threadVincent Feb 16, 2023
@rbreich What if the rich were just forced to spend the money? Forced trickle down? Would trickle down actually work then?
Show threadNathanLonghairFeb 16, 2023
@brokenneon @rbreich I think that even if that were possible (outside taxes to some extent) what complicates it is the way wealthy have money. It can be very difficult for the government to exactly assess a persons worth, when most of the wealth is bound up in real estate, stock, off shore accounts, tax haven investments, gold, family “gifts” etc.
While most of it can be counted it’s difficult to do on a scale and makes it tricky to legislate on amounts.
Show threadVincent 

@nathanlonghair @rbreich I’m being flippant. Trickle down as an economic model is nonsense and always has been.

My point was that if you can actually find all of their wealth, perhaps you can give them a choice — spend it or we’ll spend it for you. Would that more politically palatable than “we’ll spend it for you?”

The cynic in me says nothing will happen, because the wealthy have already bent all tax law in their favor and bought the courts and politicians to protect it.

Feb 16, 2023 at 3:34pmWeb