Part 1
We speak with Mark Trumbull, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, about the role of billionaires in funding causes. Specifically, we discuss Michael Bloomberg, who, like several other billionaires, has taken the ‘giving pledge’ to contribute money to causes. First, we look at what a billion dollars actually means, since most people cannot conceive of how much that is. A person earning $45,000 a year would have to work 22,000 years to earn a billion dollars. The number of billionaires in the US is now 625+. These numbers are inconceivable to most working people, and it is hard to think of how a person can add so much value by his/her work to an enterprise. Bloomberg, who had about $5 Billion prior to his term as mayor of New York City, is now at the $58 Billion level. He explains it by saying that he worked hard, and was lucky. Bloomberg has not released complete tax returns, and apparently will not do so. He says that they are too complicated for ordinary people to understand. During the time, of this growth in the number of billionaires, the wealth gap has grown. The GDP has lost 5%, which is attributable to the gap. It should be pointed out that Sweden actually has more billionaires per capita than the US, despite having a tax structure not specifically designed to shield the rich from income taxes, and having social programs that help lower-income members of the society.
Billionaires who contribute to social causes through their charitable donations choose the recipients, by choosing the social causes. And, because these donations are tax deductible, in fact they are subsidized by those who pay all taxes.
Part 2
We discuss Mike Bloomberg with Robert Hennelly, who writes for Salon.com. His article, “Fact Checking Bloomberg” is the starting point for this conversation. Bloomberg, as mayor, allowed reporters to view briefly redacted tax returns, which did not provide much information. We talked about the effects of the COVID-19 virus (Corona virus) on the economy in the US, a crisis that Trump is not dealing with very well. The prior crisis with similar effect was the government shutdown, which affected working people in the US. This proved, once again that very rich people are disconnected from the real world, because they did not feel the effects. It is not clear if the COVID-19 virus will affect both rich and all others.
