11,000 Ultra Wealthy Elites Own the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and Our Government via the Tax Code

Reclaim our government and our prosperity by replacing the current supply-side trickle down tax code that enriches the few with a new comprehensive wealth tax code that works for all Americans.

Sep 16, 2024

There is a horrible trope proffered by the good professor Robert Reich that in the United States we practice socialism for the rich and harsh capitalism for the rest of us. While it is true that we face a harsh immoral capitalism that no decent political or economics philosopher would ever argue is just or best for all citizens, saying that we practice socialism for the rich is professorial malpractice. The truth of how we treat the ultra rich and the negative effects it has on our society is so much worse.

Socialism for the rich is a horrible metaphor. The workers with government support owning the means of production is a decent working definition of socialism. The metaphor that the government paying corporations makes our economy socialist destroys both the meanings of socialism and capitalism.

Golden Parachutes paying tens of millions of dollars of severance to failed CEOs of Fortune 500 companies proves we have Oligarchy or Corporatism, not socialism, for the ultra wealthy and corporations, while the bottom 90% of us are fed this immoral, harsh corporatist capitalism that steals our wealth and gives even more to the rich.

We only have ourselves to blame. We consume the Oligarch propaganda that tells us greed is good, that God wants you to be rich which is literally the opposite of everything Jesus believed in and taught, and that poor people are less. For non-followers of Jesus like myself, don’t worry, there is not a philosopher or thinker in history who believes in liberty and who would agree with the Oligarch propaganda. Now, in a free society, greed can’t be stopped; however, excessive wealth must be taxed at a high rate. If it is not, then the people do not live in a free society.

There are nearly 800 billionaires and nearly 10,000 centi-millionaires (people worth at least $100 million) in the US, or roughly 11,000 people who make up the ultra wealthy elite. There are 336 million of us who are not the ultra wealthy elite. Those 11,000 ultra wealthy elite—those who inherited their wealth, founders of corporations, a few CEOs and all their bankers—give money to the Republican Party and to the Democratic Party.

Their hedge pays dividends in a tax code that no matter which party is in charge takes money from the bottom and sends it to the top. The Vice President’s plan of more tax credits simply furthers supply-side trickle down economics voodoo ushered in by the Heritage Foundation and the Reagan Revolution in 1981. Both parties and all Presidential administrations since then, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, have played from the supply-side playbook. Both 2024 candidates offer more of the same.

Christian White Nationalist ethno-fascist billionaires back the Republican Party and they are the ones who paid to bring MAGA to the fore. Having won the supply-side tax war has allowed them to aim at their next two targets, the complete undoing of the New Deal and a return to government enforced Segregation.

It’s not new, MAGA is over 65 years of work starting with the John Birch Society through Heritage and all their offshoots. Of course, the Christian White Nationalist programs and ideas of white supremacy are not new and have existed since Colonial days. Also, let’s be clear, there is nothing Christian, godly or any reflection of Jesus in today’s evangelism and fundamentalism.

The billionaires that back Republicans expect the representatives they buy to deliver a tax code that sends them even more of the nation’s wealth, the wealth of we the people, more wealth than is moral, deserved or could ever be possibly earned legitimately and justly.

Their money buying the Republicans also fights for the social policies of their immoral Fundamentalist beliefs that mock Christianity and Jesus. There is no virtue in false ideas of race and white supremacy. But man if it does not work to divide people and create others. Others to blame for all your problems.

Other people as weak or weaker than you somehow magically find power to keep you down, while the 11,000 ultra wealthy elite who actually wield power are praised and worse, worshiped as false gods.

Yet, they preach these lies and a large swath of Americans buys up the lies absolutely against their own self-interest.

Funny enough, the billionaires who back the Democratic Party pretty much always appear to be ok with the supply-side trickle down tax framework. These billionaires expect the Democratic representatives they buy to deliver a tax code that sends them even more of the nation’s wealth, the wealth of we the people, more wealth than is moral, deserved or could ever be possibly earned legitimately and justly.

Not being White Christian Nationalist ethno-fascists, the ultra wealthy elites who purchase the Democratic Party further expect their investment to stop resegregation and to nominally protect the New Deal programs. Their understanding of what happened to the French ultra wealthy elite in 1789 and how fascist regimes tend to end leads them to create a government that provides the veneer of freedom while stealing the people’s wealth.

Basically, they give the people enough to not rise up. So nice of them. And another swath of the American public accepts this state of affairs against their own self-interest.

So what can we the 336 million people who are not the ultra wealthy elite do? First, we can stop with tortured metaphors, like socialism for corporations, that equate sending the nation’s wealth to undeserving corporations that are not earning their just share, but are stealing an unearned, unfair, immoral share. Socialism is its own failure. We don’t need false ideas of Socialism polluting the actual solution.

Second, in November and in every election for the foreseeable future, every American who is interested in having even a modicum of liberty to follow their own self-interest and ensuring all their neighbors can enjoy a modicum of liberty to pursue their self-interest must vote for the Democratic Party for every race at the Federal, State and Local level. This is absolutely a vote for the status quo, for more of the same. However, as painful of a realization as this is, it is the only one that affords we the people the most freedom we can get today.

Third, each of us needs to start acting in our own self-interest. This means no longer falling for the propaganda of the 11,000 ultra wealthy elite that their excessive wealth is moral or ethical, and that only by their unchecked greed will the rest of us 336 million ever possibly have enough to survive. You owe the ultra wealthy nothing.

For the Americans who buy into and identify with White Christian Nationalism, you need to decide world you rather hate your brother and sister who might not look like you, who might not come from where you come, who might not have the same customs as you, yet, they are still your close family, closer family than any billionaire will ever be, or do you want to today mend those broken relationships and love and accept everyone as your brother and sister who can lead their own lives?

Continue to hate your brothers and sisters who have no actual power over you and you will never realize a life where you get to follow your own self-interest. Start loving everyone today and come together to oppose your 11,000 ultra wealthy elite oppressors and then we can all collectively start to build the world where you, your family, your neighbors, and all the strangers spread throughout this most incredible land can live a life of liberty and freedom.

For the Americans who don’t have the White Christian Nationalist bent, you too need to stop buying the false morality and propaganda sold to you by the ultra wealthy elite that greed is good and that you are one tax credit away from fixing a broken system and suddenly delivering a world where you are freely pursuing your own self-interest. You too must stop worshiping your ultra wealthy oppressors.

Then together, all 336 million of us can demand the return of what always belonged to each of us, our liberty, our freedom, and the natural rights which we possess as human beings.

How do we turn that demand into action? We overthrow the shackle of the tax code that enshrines and enriches the Oligarchs, the 11,000 ultra wealthy. We recognize that those 11,000 have collectively bought the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. We admit to ourselves that neither party will represent our collective individual needs over the excessive wants of the few ultra wealthy elite.

We see clearly that the social and culture wars make it look like there is two parties, but when it comes to writing and passing the tax code there is a unitary Republican-Democratic Party that always delivers for the 11,000.

Since we the 336 million will never have the power to control a political party, we need a different solution. We need independent leadership and politicians who refuse to answer the siren call of wealth and power that the Oligarchs offer in order to pass their agenda.

Adam Smith offers a clear warning in The Wealth of Nations as he describes an ideal commercial society with competitive markets. He tells us that the biggest evil in the world and the largest threat to our shared prosperity is the Monopolists and too large Corporations that will merge with the Government to steal our collective wealth for themselves. Smith also laments that we the people will probably never collectively come together to fight and end the immorality of unchecked excessive wealth.

He further explains that the merger of Oligarchs and Government will steal our wealth by rigging the markets to be anti-competitive, to harm workers and to enrich themselves. A believer in liberty and pursuing one’s own self-interest, Smith absolutely makes the case that not only must Corporations and Government not merge for the people to enjoy their fair share of the prosperity they created and earned, but also that Government has a moral and ethical obligation to ensure competitive markets.

Smith understands Government can’t make greed illegal as any effort to do that would be an attack on individual liberty and as immoral as greed itself. While greed is for better or worse a human trait, using the power of government to stamp out greed would be completely anti-human.

Additionally, Smith tells us the absolute worst tax a government can place on its workers is a tax on wages. A tax on wages discourages workers from entering the workforce, hurts their productivity, thus creating less wealth than otherwise would be generated for everyone in the nation, and with his unique prescience, signals the wealthy and the Government will use the tax on wages to enrich themselves.

Fortunately, Smith offers a solution for greed and the excessive wealth it generates. Tax it! Don’t confiscate all of it, because that’s immoral and anti-human. However, taxing much of it ensures liberty by making sure the people who also generated all of that wealth, the workers, receive their hard-earned fair share. And remember, there’s only 11,000 ultra wealthy elite oppressors immorally hoarding our nation’s collective wealth, while there are 336 million of us waiting to receive what is in fact ours.

This is why I believe the change that we should demand is an end to Corporatism and Oligarchy by starting over with a new tax code. For our own prosperity and liberty, and to match the moral call Smith makes in the beauty and humanness of a commercial society with open, competitive markets, we must institute a comprehensive wealth tax for the 21st Century.

What constitutes a comprehensive wealth tax? Well, it would count all sources of income and have a high exemption for total income from all sources of wealth. The first $500,000 of comprehensive income per year averaged over 3 years would be taxed at 0%. Any marginal dollars earned over $500,000 of comprehensive income per year averaged over three years would be taxed at 30-50%, or really whatever is required to balance federal spending for the year when added to a new federal sales tax on luxuries (briefly discussed below).

A decently thorough beginning list of all sources of income is:

Wage income (domestic and international)
Rent income (domestic and international)
Royalty income (domestic and international)
Net income from sole proprietorship and/or partnership (domestic and international)
Gifts--from all forms of comprehensive wealth (domestic and international)
1. Gifts from one spouse to the other are exempt
2. Gifts to anyone who is not a spouse are always included in the comprehensive income calculation, no exceptions
Estate (Inheritance)--from all forms of comprehensive wealth (domestic and international)
1. Inheritance from one spouse to the other are exempt
2. Inheritance to anyone who is not a spouse is always included in the comprehensive income calculation, no exceptions
Capital gains on property (domestic and international)
Capital gains on stock (domestic and international)
Dividends on stock (domestic and international)
Loans against value of stock (domestic and international) – this closes the loophole employed
Capital gains on minerals
Capital gains on mineral rights (domestic and international)
Capital gains on cryptocurrencies (domestic and international)
Life insurance payout to the beneficiary (this payout does not make the policy-holder whole, seeing as they are dead, but it is a form of wealth transfer to the beneficiary)
Wagering (gambling) winnings/earnings

Additional features the comprehensive wealth tax include

A yearly universal basic income direct payment of $36,000 per man, woman and child
No federal sales tax on necessities (Further discussion of what is a necessity will come in future communications)
A federal sales tax on luxuries paid by anyone who buys a luxury good or service (Further discussion of what is a luxury will come in future communications)
1. The tax rate paid on luxuries will be one flat sales tax for all luxuries, no exceptions to the rule
2. The actual tax rate will be determined by the revenue needed to balance the yearly federal spending outlays, minus the revenue brought in from the comprehensive income tax
Determine if any excise taxes should remain in place. If so, any excise tax would be taxed at the same rate as the tax on luxuries
End all tax exemptions including deductions, subsidies, tax credits and vouchers for individuals and corporations. In other words, not one single loophole for any special interest. Either every single American has the opportunity to benefit from a tax rule, or not a single American benefits
Tax corporations and trusts exactly the same way as individuals
End special corporate entities like nonprofits

Harsh capitalism is immoral and cannot be tolerated. The way to end it and to reign in the 11,000 ultra wealthy elite people who constitute the Oligarchy is for the other 336 million of us to stop fighting culture wars, to recognize, defend and advocate for each of us to enjoy maximum liberty to pursue our own self-interest, and to unite to find and elect independent leaders and politicians at every level of government to pursue our common interests and not the interests of the ultra wealthy elite.

No one is going to do this for us. The 11,000 ultra wealthy elite will fight us and divide us every step of the way using all of their power inside and outside of government to stop us. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party and every single representative under their banners owe their allegiance to the parties and the ultra wealthy elite and they can be counted on to continue to do the bidding of their backers against our interests.

Today is the day for the 336 million of us to start to take back what has always been ours by our natural rights as humans, to reclaim our liberty and freedom in the pursuit of our own happiness as each of us sees fit.

You can still vote blue on November 5 to save our country while advocating for revolutionary change that truly supports workers, and really all Americans. If this interests you, then join me at Revolution Today!