The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
May 29, 2023 12:11:11 #
The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
Common Dreams
May 29, 2023, 7:25 AM ET
The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
FILE PHOTO - Amazon President, Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Business Insider's "Ignition Future of Digital" conference in New York, U.S. on December 2, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
It’s been a full decade now since I first predicted — warned, to be a bit more precise — that America would have its first trillionaire before 2040.
I stand by that warning today. Unfortunately, everything I said ten years ago has aged well. Too well. I explained back then how tax policy was supercharging the accumulation of obscene fortunes in America. Policymakers, I noted, had lifted the lid on wealth accumulation by decreasing taxes on inheritances and income from capital. That policy failure would go on to become substantially worse in 2017 with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Others would see this same ominous trend. In an interview with CNBC, several experts recognized the distinct possibility the world would have its first trillionaire by 2039, the year CNBC would turn 50. They offered various explanations for how that would happen, with most of them agreeing it would “take several Bill Gates-like successes from one individual to reach the trillion-dollar mark.”
I saw things differently, telling CNBC: “It might take the founder of five of today’s Microsofts to reach a trillion, but we’re going to see larger and larger Microsofts.”
More recently, the idea that a larger Microsoft would deliver our first billionaire has gained traction. Three years ago, USA Today reported on predictions that Amazon would raise Jeff Bezos’ wealth to trillionaire level as early as 2026.
Those predictions have turned out to be a bit aggressive — Bezos’ wealth climb has leveled off — but they may have been beneficial in an odd way. Historically, far too many Americans have looked at billionaire wealth the way they look at sports, as I noted in 2014:
The super-rich are setting new records, $10 billion, $50 billion, and soon enough $100 billion. Rather than objecting, our nation celebrates the increasingly obscene fortunes of the super-rich as we do athletes breaking sports records.
Reaching $1 trillion will be what hitting 73 home runs was before we knew Barry Bonds c***ted to get there.
Join Raw Story Investigates. Go AD-Free.
Will our first trillion-dollar fortune also be tainted by misdeeds of the achiever? Could that be what finally wakes us from our slumber?
In 2020, with Americans dying in large numbers from the p******c, Bezos had become to billionaire wealth hoarding what Barry Bonds had become to home run records. As noted by USA Today, the reporting on Bezos becoming the first trillionaire occurred when Amazon workers were publicly protesting over safety issues.
Which caused the appropriate response to his predicted trillionaire status — anger — at least on Twitter. One tweet disdainfully noted: “Jeff Bezos will sometime in the near future have more money than the Netherlands. Totally normal. Nothing out of order here.” Another considered a headline announcing Bezos’ impending trillionaire status the most “d********g and disturbing” he’d seen.
The reaction to trillionaire talk three years ago, unfortunately, may have been an anomaly, not the turning point I hoped it would be.
A case in point: The Motley Fool, a financial and investing advice company, has recently been promoting investment in a corporation it suggests could be as large as 17 Amazons, with a market capitalization of $17 trillion, an accumulation that would create the world’s first trillionaire. The promotional material doesn’t give the name of the corporation. To find it, you’d at least need to provide an email address, which would mean lots of unwanted promotional emails. Apparently, this corporation has technology that could supercharge artificial intelligence, or AI.
But the identity of that corporation — or the founder who stands to become the first trillionaire — isn’t the point here. After all, absent significant reform of America’s tax policy, we will see our first trillionaire, probably not much more than a decade from now.
Worse, too many folks may think that would be a good thing. In its promotional ad, Motley Fool gushes over how excited the prospect of a $17 trillion corporation headed by a trillionaire has investors, as if the super-rich becoming richer rates as a good thing in and of itself.
Most troubling: Motley Fool is using the prospect of someone achieving a net worth over $1 trillion as a selling point. This sort of advertising works because we have millions of investors out there who emulate the billionaire class.
Which brings us back to tax policy. Halting, then reversing, the obscene concentration of wealth in America will require Americans in overwhelming numbers demanding real tax reform. Without that tax reform, the concentration of wealth will worsen and, before we know it, we’ll see the arrival of our first trillionaire. And as our concentration of wealth worsens, the political power of billionaires will only continue to increase.
We’ll never have the collective mentality, as a nation, to take on the ultra-rich if millions of Americans identify with them and see the chase to become the first trillionaire the same way they see a football team’s pursuit of an undefeated season. We see this same identification in the response of everyday Americans to estate tax reform. In large numbers, many Americans oppose the estate tax because they think it will apply to them one day.
To be sure, many Americans do understand the perils of concentrated wealth. But to make real progress on tax reform, we need more than a bare majority of Americans opposing extreme wealth concentration and supporting higher taxation of the rich. We need to reach the point where for every average American citizen who sees billionaires as role models, another ten see them as the wealth hoarders they are.
Which means we should be fearing, not cheering, the prospect of an American trillionaire.
Now we have one !
A Most Worthless Asshole on the planet !!!!
The rest of youz worthless assholes will now need to step aside ,
We have a new
Worthless Asshole to Celebrate !!!!!
!!!!
Would anyone like to discuss just where he got all of this money from ?
How hard can a man work to become a
Trillionaire at his age ?
How ffing hard can a man work to become
A Trillionaire at his age ?
In the next column over .
An Oligarch defends his right to own a Supreme Court’s Justice !!!!!
Own a justice ??????
Shutter it up boys and girls .
We’re all done here .
How many gave their lives for assholes like these these ?
Now they want to cut spending on everything except
tax breaks for rich people !
Lock it up and go home !
Nothing to see here.
Common Dreams
May 29, 2023, 7:25 AM ET
The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
FILE PHOTO - Amazon President, Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Business Insider's "Ignition Future of Digital" conference in New York, U.S. on December 2, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
It’s been a full decade now since I first predicted — warned, to be a bit more precise — that America would have its first trillionaire before 2040.
I stand by that warning today. Unfortunately, everything I said ten years ago has aged well. Too well. I explained back then how tax policy was supercharging the accumulation of obscene fortunes in America. Policymakers, I noted, had lifted the lid on wealth accumulation by decreasing taxes on inheritances and income from capital. That policy failure would go on to become substantially worse in 2017 with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Others would see this same ominous trend. In an interview with CNBC, several experts recognized the distinct possibility the world would have its first trillionaire by 2039, the year CNBC would turn 50. They offered various explanations for how that would happen, with most of them agreeing it would “take several Bill Gates-like successes from one individual to reach the trillion-dollar mark.”
I saw things differently, telling CNBC: “It might take the founder of five of today’s Microsofts to reach a trillion, but we’re going to see larger and larger Microsofts.”
More recently, the idea that a larger Microsoft would deliver our first billionaire has gained traction. Three years ago, USA Today reported on predictions that Amazon would raise Jeff Bezos’ wealth to trillionaire level as early as 2026.
Those predictions have turned out to be a bit aggressive — Bezos’ wealth climb has leveled off — but they may have been beneficial in an odd way. Historically, far too many Americans have looked at billionaire wealth the way they look at sports, as I noted in 2014:
The super-rich are setting new records, $10 billion, $50 billion, and soon enough $100 billion. Rather than objecting, our nation celebrates the increasingly obscene fortunes of the super-rich as we do athletes breaking sports records.
Reaching $1 trillion will be what hitting 73 home runs was before we knew Barry Bonds c***ted to get there.
Join Raw Story Investigates. Go AD-Free.
Will our first trillion-dollar fortune also be tainted by misdeeds of the achiever? Could that be what finally wakes us from our slumber?
In 2020, with Americans dying in large numbers from the p******c, Bezos had become to billionaire wealth hoarding what Barry Bonds had become to home run records. As noted by USA Today, the reporting on Bezos becoming the first trillionaire occurred when Amazon workers were publicly protesting over safety issues.
Which caused the appropriate response to his predicted trillionaire status — anger — at least on Twitter. One tweet disdainfully noted: “Jeff Bezos will sometime in the near future have more money than the Netherlands. Totally normal. Nothing out of order here.” Another considered a headline announcing Bezos’ impending trillionaire status the most “d********g and disturbing” he’d seen.
The reaction to trillionaire talk three years ago, unfortunately, may have been an anomaly, not the turning point I hoped it would be.
A case in point: The Motley Fool, a financial and investing advice company, has recently been promoting investment in a corporation it suggests could be as large as 17 Amazons, with a market capitalization of $17 trillion, an accumulation that would create the world’s first trillionaire. The promotional material doesn’t give the name of the corporation. To find it, you’d at least need to provide an email address, which would mean lots of unwanted promotional emails. Apparently, this corporation has technology that could supercharge artificial intelligence, or AI.
But the identity of that corporation — or the founder who stands to become the first trillionaire — isn’t the point here. After all, absent significant reform of America’s tax policy, we will see our first trillionaire, probably not much more than a decade from now.
Worse, too many folks may think that would be a good thing. In its promotional ad, Motley Fool gushes over how excited the prospect of a $17 trillion corporation headed by a trillionaire has investors, as if the super-rich becoming richer rates as a good thing in and of itself.
Most troubling: Motley Fool is using the prospect of someone achieving a net worth over $1 trillion as a selling point. This sort of advertising works because we have millions of investors out there who emulate the billionaire class.
Which brings us back to tax policy. Halting, then reversing, the obscene concentration of wealth in America will require Americans in overwhelming numbers demanding real tax reform. Without that tax reform, the concentration of wealth will worsen and, before we know it, we’ll see the arrival of our first trillionaire. And as our concentration of wealth worsens, the political power of billionaires will only continue to increase.
We’ll never have the collective mentality, as a nation, to take on the ultra-rich if millions of Americans identify with them and see the chase to become the first trillionaire the same way they see a football team’s pursuit of an undefeated season. We see this same identification in the response of everyday Americans to estate tax reform. In large numbers, many Americans oppose the estate tax because they think it will apply to them one day.
To be sure, many Americans do understand the perils of concentrated wealth. But to make real progress on tax reform, we need more than a bare majority of Americans opposing extreme wealth concentration and supporting higher taxation of the rich. We need to reach the point where for every average American citizen who sees billionaires as role models, another ten see them as the wealth hoarders they are.
Which means we should be fearing, not cheering, the prospect of an American trillionaire.
Now we have one !
A Most Worthless Asshole on the planet !!!!
The rest of youz worthless assholes will now need to step aside ,
We have a new
Worthless Asshole to Celebrate !!!!!
!!!!
Would anyone like to discuss just where he got all of this money from ?
How hard can a man work to become a
Trillionaire at his age ?
How ffing hard can a man work to become
A Trillionaire at his age ?
In the next column over .
An Oligarch defends his right to own a Supreme Court’s Justice !!!!!
Own a justice ??????
Shutter it up boys and girls .
We’re all done here .
How many gave their lives for assholes like these these ?
Now they want to cut spending on everything except
tax breaks for rich people !
Lock it up and go home !
Nothing to see here.
May 29, 2023 12:21:22 #
May 29, 2023 12:23:58 #
JFlorio wrote:
Bezos supported Biden. wonder why?
A Trillionaire is one thousand Billionaires!!!
Go ahead make it about Biden .
You apparently don’t know any better .
May 29, 2023 12:27:34 #
JFlorio
Loc: Seminole Florida
Milosia2 wrote:
A Trillionaire is one thousand Billionaires!!!
Go ahead make it about Biden .
You apparently don’t know any better .
Go ahead make it about Biden .
You apparently don’t know any better .
I’m shocked you don’t see your hypocrisy. Not really. You’re a more on.
May 29, 2023 18:40:07 #
The world's wealth is increasing.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
May 29, 2023 18:50:55 #
Milosia2 wrote:
Why not?The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration.
Accumulating wealth is not a zero sum game.
May 29, 2023 18:58:33 #
Sonny Magoo wrote:
The world's wealth is increasing.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
Wealth is a measure of effort. And a way to keep score in oneupmanship circles.
The lack of effort some put into accumulate wealth is selfish.
Not earned.
May 29, 2023 23:58:26 #
Sonny Magoo wrote:
The world's wealth is increasing.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
As that happens there will be new highs of accumulation. Forcing redistribution would k**l the engine.
Sorry, but that's the way it is.
The few are getting richer and richer at the expense of the Many !
Can you see past your nose ?
Should 3 people own the equivalent wealth of the bottom 60% ?
There is nothing in place today to stop this steam roller .
Today 3 people own 60%
Tomorrow 2 people own75%
Day after 1 person owns 99% !!!
At some point you’re going to be living in their house . Then what ??
A little Chinaman knocks on your door and says
“This my house now , you get out !”
Is this really how it is or should be .
When did you decide to lay down and give it all away ????
May 30, 2023 00:01:53 #
RascalRiley wrote:
Wealth is a measure of effort. And a way to keep score in oneupmanship circles.
The lack of effort some put into accumulate wealth is selfish.
Not earned.
The lack of effort some put into accumulate wealth is selfish.
Not earned.
It’s worse than that .
It’s dishonest to pay to purchase politicians to change the laws of how money flows !
Changing the flow to straight up Reagan’s promised trickle down chute.
He said by giving all of your money to rich people you will in the long run
be better off !!!!
The liar grande !!!!
May 30, 2023 00:03:44 #
Blade_Runner wrote:
Why not?
Accumulating wealth is not a zero sum game.
Accumulating wealth is not a zero sum game.
Theft is illegal in most places .
But if you pay to change the laws
Viola !!
It’s all legal !!!!
May 30, 2023 04:00:49 #
Jlw
Loc: Wisconsin
Milosia2 wrote:
Theft is illegal in most places .
But if you pay to change the laws
Viola !!
It’s all legal !!!!
But if you pay to change the laws
Viola !!
It’s all legal !!!!
Isn't it check in time at your local welfare office?
May 30, 2023 06:37:25 #
Milosia2 wrote:
He said by giving all of your money to rich people you will in the long run
be better off !!!!
be better off !!!!
Reagan never said that.
Quote:
The liar grande !!!!
That is you.
There’s plenty to criticize republicans for but you can’t seem to do it honestly.May 30, 2023 12:04:44 #
Milosia2 wrote:
The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. T... (show quote)
Here's Forbe's 37th Annual World's Billionaire list for you to froth over, curse and rant against. ENJOY!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2023/04/04/forbes-37th-annual-worlds-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures-2023/?sh=22dffd2477d7
May 30, 2023 12:58:32 #
Milosia2 wrote:
The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. T... (show quote)
" The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
Common Dreams "
Under Biden being a $ Trillionaire isn't a big deal. Back in the day we called them $ Millionaires. With Jo-flation one day we will all be $ Trillionaires. Democrats debase our currency.
May 30, 2023 13:28:04 #
son of witless wrote:
" The U.S. Could Soon Have Its First Trillionaire. That's No Cause for Celebration
Common Dreams "
Under Biden being a $ Trillionaire isn't a big deal. Back in the day we called them $ Millionaires. With Jo-flation one day we will all be $ Trillionaires. Democrats debase our currency.
Common Dreams "
Under Biden being a $ Trillionaire isn't a big deal. Back in the day we called them $ Millionaires. With Jo-flation one day we will all be $ Trillionaires. Democrats debase our currency.
A trillion is equal to one million million. It is still a big deal.
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