Daniel Keys MoranJul 8, 2025

A guy who I've known many decades said that my embrace of the far left had lowered his opinion of me a lot.

We were talking about wealth taxes, qua my earlier post about 90% tax rates. But not just income taxes, estate taxes, real estate taxes, generally speaking, asset taxes.

The billionaire class has to cease to exist. What the bootlickers defending them seem to not understand, is that this is the *nice* way to make that happen.

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
@fatsam I think I’m quite far into centre-right to right on this. I think we should have wealth taxes that are aimed at ensuring no one has a net worth over about $100m. I think it’s probably a better plan than the far left alternative, which involves guillotines.
Jul 8, 2025 at 5:53pmWeb
Show threadklarnebelJul 8, 2025
@david_chisnall @fatsam the French Revolution was not at all a far-left „Solution“ to the problem of „the rich“. In its first phase, the wealthy citizens fought for a constitutional monarchy and their civil rights.
When that was threatened by internal and external counter-revolutionary powers, it lead to a „radical“ democratic republic (the one with the guillotines) and when that failed, a rule of the upper middle and upper class was established, which fought 1/2
Show threadklarnebelJul 8, 2025

@david_chisnall @fatsam Both against movements for social equality and movements to bring back the monarchy.
I fail to see the far left in power here.

The killing was done by what we would now call upper class guys who wanted to really wipe the floor with the aristocracy because they were fed up with only having money but very little power.

Show threadDaniel Keys MoranJul 8, 2025
@klarnebel @david_chisnall is that a comment about the terror? No, I wouldn't recommend that as any approach to plan on. Look what happened to Robespierre, his brother, and his friends.
Show threadklarnebelJul 8, 2025
@fatsam @david_chisnall I don’t say that anyone should do anything like that. I don’t want that. I just want to disprove myth that the French Revolution was a far-left one.
Show threadDaniel Keys MoranJul 8, 2025

@david_chisnall oh, sure, if you want to call that center right, the label doesn't concern me. Better to tax than chop.

But I'm open to chopping.

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Jul 9, 2025

@fatsam

It’s a question of where you put the Overton Window. There are two extremes:

  • Allow billionaires to accumulate all wealth, control governments, and reduce everyone else to serfs.
  • Round them up and execute them.

Framing a wealth tax that aims to reduce wealth imbalance to levels that are sustainable in a democracy as an extreme is ignoring one of the real extremes.

Show threadDarberoomJul 8, 2025
@david_chisnall @fatsam Nazi Germany used the guillotine between 1933 and 1945 to execute 16,500 prisoners so not just the left.
Show threadFrank HeijkampJul 9, 2025
@Darberoom1954 Modern day Nazis always claim that Nazi Germany was politically left because they named it "National-Socialism", only focusing on the last word and totally ignoring the first.
@david_chisnall @fatsam