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This week, right wingers were lauding Musk as the 1st trillionaire and complaining that Dems were again calling for higher taxes on the wealthy and essentially saying that the poor would starve if we didn't coddle the very wealthy.

Particularly because they aren’t paying mentionable taxes in the first place and most jobs in the highly profitable sectors will go to AI next year anyway. So employee income tax will evaporate from the sector anyways

Yup. And it is as it should be dynamic.

It's possible. But history shows that those with vast wealth and power often give in to temptation to skew thing in their favor even at the cost of someone else--even a lot of someones elses.

Billionaires should not exist. They don’t earn their money. They abuse systems and hoard wealth that other people make.

Everyone should pay a level of tax appropriate for their income and governments should pay for fundamental social programs (universal healthcare, education, infrastructure etc.). This simple concept is clouded by ideology, greed and asymmetrical political power, usually associated with money.

It's too late to realize this.

It really is. Sweden’s wealth gap has been widening for decades and is growing at a faster pace than other Nordic countries and with that a corresponding increase in crime and decrease in health outcomes.

There is another country in North America who's been on this path for a while now. Weighed down by the cultural/political weight of its nearest neighbour, but still committed to this path.

This is in fact true. Thanks for sharing the episode of AI and future generations!

Fascism. You've just described fascism. Mostly.

I am listening to a Prof G pod as I read this post! :)

Socialist Capitalism shows what can be done by applying the “Takes a village…” approach to governance.

Wait, capitalism AND regulations? Simultaneously? That protect the consumer??? 🤔🤔🤔

I recently met a group of young Europeans from several nations who were taking risks and starting businesses in Barcelona. In part, they could do so because there is a basic social safety net to help them as they're getting started and catch them, if they fall.

Maybe you could get to them faster by taxing fat cats

The Nethehrlands - "Last year, the country — the size of Maryland — was the second-largest agricultural exporter in the world by value, behind the U.S." Now that is impressive.

Life is not a zero-sum game. When everyone is provided with a base level of "good", we all do well ($$$$). My empathy doesn't make me weak. Empathy works with my self-interest. My humanity is what makes me a man.

It seems to me that trust in govt is one of the biggest drivers. I’m all for upping the minimum prison stay for government corruption. It should be very painful and non-paroleable as it’s our tax money they are stealing or misappropriating.

True, the Sweden model is: 1) Earned income tax rates commonly range from 30% to over 50%, for EVERY taxpayer starting at krona 1 2) VAT tax on consumption: 25% 3) Capital gains: 30% tax The impact is HUGE for the bottom 50% of USA taxpayers to go to that model to fund social programs.

Nice to see common sense check out in science.

What this truly says is that Americans have lost their sense of social pragmatism (maybe they never really had it) and instead let it morph into sociopathic self-interest, cultural exploitation, division, and control of the mechanisms of opinion.