The Billionaire Class is Scared

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

With Warren and Sanders maintaining a significant lead over corporate and so-called "moderate" Democrats in the primary, Biden tanking, and left rhetoric including a wealth tax and/or bigger levels of progressive taxation, some billionaires are getting very uneasy. Bill Gates recently had a back-and-forth with Warren on social media.

Enter Michael Bloomberg. Yes, he's also scared and now he's entering the Primary race. Bloomberg is framing his entrance into the race as a way to save the party from defeat against Trump, that the left cannot win--they need a former Republican "moderate" billionaire to take on Trump. Bloomberg won't be another Tom Steyer because he has media connections, much like Trump.

This doesn't seem like a good thing.

 

[Harry Bosch]

With Warren and Sanders maintaining a significant lead over corporate and so-called "moderate" Democrats in the primary, Biden tanking, and left rhetoric including a wealth tax and/or bigger levels of progressive taxation, some billionaires are getting very uneasy. Bill Gates recently had a back-and-forth with Warren on social media.

Enter Michael Bloomberg. Yes, he's also scared and now he's entering the Primary race. Bloomberg is framing his entrance into the race as a way to save the party from defeat against Trump, that the left cannot win--they need a former Republican "moderate" billionaire to take on Trump. Bloomberg won't be another Tom Steyer because he has media connections, much like Trump.

This doesn't seem like a good thing.

It's a good thing if he can shore up the moderates. The left can't win without the middle. A little thing called the electoral college means that to win, the dems need a big tent. Warren and Sanders are targeting a smaller tent. Not going to work.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Sanders is not targeting a smaller tent. The working poor, eg. people in the Rustbelt, don't like corporate Democrats, but do like Sanders. Billionaires are not a big tent.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Sanders is not targeting a smaller tent. The working poor, eg. people in the Rustbelt, don't like corporate Democrats, but do like Sanders. Billionaires are not a big tent.

I would be extremely interested in knowing how popular Sanders is in Trumbull and Warren Counties in Ohio (the rust belt), a place that voted Obama but flopped to magic bean selling Trump. And then likewise in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties, typical Democrat support.

 

[Horatio Parker]

I doubt Bloomberg will make much of an impact. He was elected because he was anointed by Giuliani at a time when Giuliani's stock was at a high. He cleverly spread his money around to NYC nonprofits and bought himself a lot of good press. He'll be competing for the Biden-Butigeg-Klobuchar vote.

 

[Elixir]

"The Billionaire Class is Scared "

Surely you meant the billionaire class is sacred... dislexia?

I don't relish having a billionaire candidate, but at least he'd be a REAL billionaire. It would be fun to see him rip into the Donald for being a fake TV billionaire who is worth less than nothing, and can't even release his tax returns for fear of being outed.

 

[PyramidHead]

How does Bloomberg expect this to work, if he's literally going to be splitting the moderate primary vote even more than it already would be with Biden, Castro, Buttigeig, Klobuchar, and Harris in the field? This is nothing but excellent news for progressives.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

How does Bloomberg expect this to work, if he's literally going to be splitting the moderate primary vote even more than it already would be with Biden, Castro, Buttigeig, Klobuchar, and Harris in the field? This is nothing but excellent news for progressives.

Any split is temporary. They will unify eventually around who can stand the longest and that will be determined mostly by money. So, eventually it could be right of party against left of party. Where will super delegates go based on past history?

 

[PyramidHead]

And a perfect moment to once again illustrate that the two progressives in this race are not running on the same policy platform:

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Billionaires shouldn't be 'scared', they should want to contribute to making America's lower and middle classes stronger.

Sanders and Warren are making this an us v them thing, when it should be more of an 'inclusion' thing.

 

[PyramidHead]

The Billionaires shouldn't be 'scared', they should want to contribute to making America's lower and middle classes stronger.

Sanders and Warren are making this an us v them thing, when it should be more of an 'inclusion' thing.

No. Billionaires are not some innocuous component of a healthy society that can coexist with the rest of us as long as they can be cajoled into making the rest of us better off. Billionaires are people who control as much wealth and command as much labor as entire countries, and there is no amount of work, mental or physical, that could entitle anyone to that much influence. They will always protect their wealth when push comes to shove; Bill Gates complaining that he would only have eight thousand million dollars to his name under Warren's wealth tax, and is therefore considering voting for Trump, is proof that not even the supposedly noble members of this class should be part of any 'inclusion' project.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Billionaires shouldn't be 'scared', they should want to contribute to making America's lower and middle classes stronger.

Sanders and Warren are making this an us v them thing, when it should be more of an 'inclusion' thing.

No. Billionaires are not some innocuous component of a healthy society that can coexist with the rest of us as long as they can be cajoled into making the rest of us better off. Billionaires are people who control as much wealth and command as much labor as entire countries, and there is no amount of work, mental or physical, that could entitle anyone to that much influence. They will always protect their wealth when push comes to shove; Bill Gates complaining that he would only have eight thousand million dollars to his name under Warren's wealth tax, and is therefore considering voting for Trump, is proof that not even the supposedly noble members of this class should be part of any 'inclusion' project.

Which is why it should be a shame angle to get them into a sense of inclusion.

Billionaires control too much stagnant wealth. Stagnant wealth is useless to an economy.

However, the charge should be WE ALL NEED TO PITCH IN. And seeing the billionaires have a lot more to pitch in, they are a rational angle to help fund programs the US Needs. It shouldn't however be US v THEM. Because the money usually wins. Right now, it isn't too hard to spin that whacko Warren wants to steal from billionaires to give free stuff to people that don't work.

It needs to read, billionaires are being asked to contribute to programs, like the rest of us do, in order to make it so that Joe Schmoe doesn't have put off shoulder surgery another year simply because of the cost. So that people don't have to choose between small comforts and health. So that people can be free to seek out employment opportunities they share a passion for, instead of relegating to whom provides enough health care coverage.

How this is sold is going to be key in November whether you like it or not. And I don't want another four god damn years of Donald Trump because you loved your flaming torch too much to put it away.

 

[PyramidHead]

However, the charge should be WE ALL NEED TO PITCH IN. And seeing the billionaires have a lot more to pitch in, they are a rational angle to help fund programs the US Needs. It shouldn't however be US v THEM. Because the money usually wins. Right now, it isn't too hard to spin that whacko Warren wants to steal from billionaires to give free stuff to people that don't work.

It needs to read, billionaires are being asked to contribute to programs, like the rest of us do, in order to make it so that Joe Schmoe doesn't have put off shoulder surgery simply because of cost. So that people don't have to choose between small comforts and health.

Thanks for tone policing on behalf of people who can hire personal armies if they feel threatened.

How this is sold is going to be key in November whether you like it or not. And I don't want another four god damn years of Donald Trump because you loved your flaming torch too much to put it away.

Let's try your strategy of explaining to billionaires that they are rationally obliged to chip in more of the money they don't deserve in the first place. That's a super novel idea that has definitely not been part of political discourse for decades while failing to stop the exponential rise of inequality.

The time has come to admit to ourselves that the existence of billionaires is a policy choice. It does us no favors and has wrecked or ended countless lives through rampant environmental destruction (reminder that the Amazon rainforests are still burning, from fires intentionally started by Brazilian capitalists to clear space for their agricultural businesses), the endless machine of war profiteering, the private prison system, the health insurance industry, and the parasitic influence they have on politics in general. This has only gotten worse under policies of compromise and conciliation with these sociopaths. How much worse do things have to get before we stop depending on these people having a conscience when the chips are down?

 

[ZiprHead]

The tears are so sweet.

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/OhvVg9oeG5U[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Derec]

No. Billionaires are not some innocuous component of a healthy society that can coexist with the rest of us as long as they can be cajoled into making the rest of us better off. Billionaires are people who control as much wealth and command as much labor as entire countries,

Only for particularly small countries.

 

[Derec]

Billionaires control too much stagnant wealth. Stagnant wealth is useless to an economy.

What do you mean "stagnant wealth"? Presumably most of the assets owned by billionaires are invested in something, which means it is not stagnant wealth. You must be thinking of Scrooge McDuck and his vault.

That said, most billionaires lack imagination as to what to do with their money. Bezos and Gates should be building a hotel in orbit, or funding an asteroid mining operation.

 

[Derec]

How does Bloomberg expect this to work, if he's literally going to be splitting the moderate primary vote even more than it already would be with Biden, Castro, Buttigeig, Klobuchar, and Harris in the field? This is nothing but excellent news for progressives.

Castro is certainly not a moderate. Harris could have been, but she positioned herself too far to the left, a misstep.

But as to ask your question, Bloomberg seems to think Biden may falter and that the other moderates like Klobuchar are not up to the task.

But Bloomberg himself is a weird choice. For one, Bloomberg is 8 months older than Biden and only about 5 months younger than Sanders. Second, the man is 5'8". US usually doesn't elect shrimpy candidates for president.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Sanders is not targeting a smaller tent. The working poor, eg. people in the Rustbelt, don't like corporate Democrats, but do like Sanders. Billionaires are not a big tent.

They're both talking bread and circuses. The ones in the middle won't like that. If either of them get the nomination the 2020 election will come down to which side the moderates see as less dangerous.

(Personally, neither of them are that scary unless the Democrats get 60 in the Senate. They're not going to be able to implement their crap.)

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Billionaires control too much stagnant wealth. Stagnant wealth is useless to an economy.

Stagnant? They invest their wealth, it's not stagnant.

However, the charge should be WE ALL NEED TO PITCH IN. And seeing the billionaires have a lot more to pitch in, they are a rational angle to help fund programs the US Needs. It shouldn't however be US v THEM. Because the money usually wins. Right now, it isn't too hard to spin that whacko Warren wants to steal from billionaires to give free stuff to people that don't work.

Note that you can't expect much of a victory--you'll end up converting their wealth to luxury spending rather than seizing it. And in either case you'll ensure there's basically no more to eat. The French revolution set France back by about 30 years.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Sanders is not targeting a smaller tent. The working poor, eg. people in the Rustbelt, don't like corporate Democrats, but do like Sanders. Billionaires are not a big tent.

They're both talking bread and circuses. The ones in the middle won't like that. If either of them get the nomination the 2020 election will come down to which side the moderates see as less dangerous.

(Personally, neither of them are that scary unless the Democrats get 60 in the Senate. They're not going to be able to implement their crap.)

There isn't a monolithic moderate group and we found that out in 2016. Talking directly to the working poor and middle class who can also be swing voters is effective. Joe Schmoe in Ohio or Michigan can give a rat's ass about a billionaire crying because he got taxed 2% after that billionaire ratfucked his neighborhood by taking jobs to China.

Yeah, I'm talking about crybaby Leon Cooperman, hedgefund manager, who started asset management at Goldman Sachs to fuck us all in the ass and who got charged with insider trading in 2016.