Bloomberg Once Said Taking From the Rich Was a Bigger Problem Than Income Inequality

[DanTex]

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg said in 2018 that raising taxes on poor people was a “good thing,” and that taking money from the rich was a bigger problem than income inequality.

The billionaire former New York City mayor has emphasized the need to tackle economic inequality as part of his election platform, listing tax policy and “economic justice for black America” as two key pillars of his election platform. He has also vowed to raise high income tax rates, impose a new tax on billionaires like himself, create jobs and “generational wealth for Black Americans,” and close tax loopholes used by the rich. Just last week, he wrote a New York Times opinion piece headlined “Fixing Inequality is My Priority.”

But comments he made at a high-powered Washington summit in 2018 run counter to those goals and could end up complicating Bloomberg’s efforts to sell himself to Democratic voters.

“I think income inequality is a very big problem. But the bigger problem is, you can take money from the rich and move it over to the poor. If you do it too much then the rich stop producing and everybody loses,” he told International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde during a Q&A at the IMF’s Spring Meeting.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-bloomberg-once-said-taking-from-the-rich-was-a-bigger-problem-than-income-inequality

[Autumn]

1. I wonder if the money he's spending on his race is tax deductible.

[Hoyt]

9. Not likely. No need to worry.

[Blue_true]

14. No, it is not. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

2. To motivate rich people to work harder, raise their taxes

[BusyBeingBest]

3. He does plan on doing that. Not as much as Warren or Bernie would,

but more than Biden or Buttigieg. At least from what I've been looking at.

[Blue_true]

15. Your first paragraph shows that you don't understand the dynamics of supply and demand.

If there is no incremental demand, business owners won't increase production.

Other than that, I agree with you. Rich people should pay more in taxes and the money needs to be spent in a way that promotes secondary economic activity - that WOULD increase demand and cause owners to raise production, further stimulating the economy.

[Gravitycollapse]

6. The world doesn't run because of the rich. It runs because of the working class.

We really need to stop pushing this narrative that rich people hold everything together. They don’t.

[BeckyDem]

5. Why would the rich stop producing? Because they would move more of their businesses

to countries were there are no labor laws at all? Gee, I wonder how he will deal with trade world wide. So hard to guess, huh?

[Hoyt]

10. I hope he's not like Sanders and Warren, who consider poor foreign workers scabs.

That’s exactly what Warren’s “Economic Patriotism” is all about.

[BeckyDem]

11. Excuse me?

You have any info you would like to share?

[tonedevil]

7. He seems to not only know...

but be intimate friends with John Galt.

[evertonfc]

8. who cares.

Bernie said fool lines were not that bad.

[abqtommy]

12. Hey Mike, it's not a problem for me!

[Blue_true]

13. I agree with what he said.

When money is moved around, we have to be smart about how it is done. Other than food, housing and healthcare assistance that is adequate, instead of handing people money we should instead invest in schools, training programs, safe streets, those investments produce offshoot economic activity that helps poor people even more.