Democrats reignite calls for wealth tax after Elon Musk hits trillionaire status
thehill.com
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) late Friday criticized what he called a “corrupt system” that produces extreme wealth at the top while many Americans lack access to health care. "There is something terribly wrong about an economy that produces its first trillionaire, but cannot provide health care for its people," he wrote late Friday on social platform X, while sharing a story from The New York Times about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. "Or one in which the richest handful of families have the combined wealth of almost forty percent of the rest of the country."
  • bedwyr@piefed.caEnglish
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    2 days ago

    Neo liberal leadership blasts system that he champions, knowing his supporters are too stupid or corrupted to care.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Schiff oughta know. He wallows in this all the time. I think he’s jealous. Also, fuck the anti-social money collector, elon musk.

  • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
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    2 days ago

    I maintain that the pyramid scheme of taking out loans against bought company valuation is the only thing that makes Musk a trillionaire or even one of the richest people on earth.

    Not saying he’s the only one doing it of course.

    But in Musk’s case, I believe the whole house of cards would come tumbling down if scrutinized.

    • i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
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      2 days ago

      This is different. The rules for the stock market were just changed in his favor to take money from everyone’s retirement and funnel it to him.

    • halcyoncmdr@piefed.socialEnglish
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      2 days ago

      That is how every rich person lives. Loans using stock as collateral.

      The stock isn’t sold, so no capital gains tax. Those loans are not taxed directly either. So it’s effectively tax free income.

      If they don’t pay the loan, bank takes the collateral stock. At that level, “credit score” isn’t a thing so there’s no disincentives for this process.

      Rinse and repeat as needed.

      This is simplified of course, but the basic process.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, that’s just the economics of capitalist dictatorship, where the wealthy write the laws to benefit themselves.

        The problem with Musk much worse than that; he has numerous cases of fraud, corruption and other shady dealings that he has already admitted would have put him in prison if Trump didn’t win and let him gut them via DOGE.

        Then add all the debt recycling where he’s rolled up failed businesses into spacex, and all the dogfooding between like 10 companies who are artificially inflating each others revenues and valuations, and the fact he’s a paper-trillionaire means that this entire pyramid scheme is corrupt as fuck.

      • YellowParenti@lemmy.wtfEnglish
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        2 days ago

        They never lose the stock. The stock is worth more than the loan by the end of the loan’s term. They negotiate a new loan that covers the old loan and the difference the collateral is worth. They never sell shit so they never get taxed.

        The estate tax designed to finally get something back got renamed death tax and get removed. As Whoopi Goldberg said, “I’m getting taxed because I DIED?”