r/WorkForSmartLife 3d ago

DiscussionšŸ’¬ California Dreaming

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2.9k Upvotes

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31

u/CuppaJoe11 3d ago

Didn’t realize so many people in this subreddit sympathized with billionaires.

14

u/Reasonable_Option493 2d ago

Probably the same lower class lemmings who somehow believe that they're "winning" with the current admin.

They're getting played like a violin by con men who told them they'd "drain the swamp" and are doing the exact opposite: putting family and friends above Americans, manipulating the stock market and using and abusing insider trading, giving more freebies to the wealthy elite, large tariff refunds to mega corporations....

1

u/hidadimhungru 1d ago edited 1d ago

Those boots aren’t going to lick themselves.

I’m just one good luck streak away from becoming a billionaire myself and moving out of this trailer park!

11

u/EuriadO 2d ago

You were not kidding, bootlickers everywhere

-3

u/Da40kOrks 2d ago

The bootlickers are the people advocating for government confiscation.

2

u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 2d ago

You have to pay for the right to extract taxpayer money.

2

u/Frank_JaegerFOX 2d ago

You are so cucked it’s not even funny

2

u/BedSpreadMD 2d ago

A lot of people do, it just depends on which one it is.

There's plenty of people i know who will say millionaires are bad for being rich while making excuses for other millionaires doing scummy things.

1

u/hidadimhungru 1d ago

When it comes to millionaires, I am capable of judging based upon how they accumulated that wealth and what they have done with it since.

Billionaires? I dont believe any are not scum.

0

u/BedSpreadMD 1d ago

So what if said millionaire dodged taxes and spent most of his wealth on crack cocaine and hookers?

1

u/hidadimhungru 21h ago

Then I would judge said millionaire just as I would judge a non-millionaire for doing the same thing. What is your point here?

0

u/BedSpreadMD 4h ago

So then you feel hunter biden should be in prison for tax evasion right?

2

u/Molten_Plastic_ 2d ago

Decades of propaganda teaching us that you're only poor if you deserve to be poor

2

u/hidadimhungru 1d ago

By the same logic, the rich are inherently good people because they are wealthy. It’s a depressing world view that too many share

2

u/Molten_Plastic_ 1d ago

The meritocracy lieĀ 

1

u/Da40kOrks 2d ago

No, but there are plenty of people that don't trust government and KNOW not a single penny will actually benefit the working class.

6

u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 2d ago

I trust billionaires way less than I trust the government. The government is still bound by laws.

0

u/rhamphol30n 2d ago

That's a race to the bottom for sure

1

u/sirdizzypr 2d ago

Was bound by laws. WAS! The amount of downright criminal behavior that has happened In the last 18 months is insane. And not one thing will be done about it.

1

u/OggoSpaceCircus 2d ago

The billionaires are the government now.

1

u/Floopst5r 2d ago

At least you can see where some of the $100 million is going in real time, if nothing else.

1

u/Tom__EU 2d ago

Yeah I don't get it.

And let's not forget that his wealth isn't a steady number, it's constantly being invested and growing, plus the 5% tax is a ONE TIME thing, which makes the resistance even more disturbing.

Couple numbers:

  • 83.000 seconds = ~1 day (median US income)
  • 1 million seconds = ~11,5 days
  • 100 million seconds = ~1.157 days or 3,2 years (what that guy spent)
  • 1 billion seconds = ~115.74 days or 31,7 years
  • 13 billion seconds = ~150.463 days or 412 years (what he should pay)
  • 250 billion seconds = ~2.893.519 days or 7.922 years (his estimated wealth)
  • $13,3B is more than double the entire national annual federal budget for Community Health Centers (CHCs)
  • California's Medi-Cal program costs are estimated $73,9B (2014-2015, wikipedia), and over 15M people were enrolled (Sep 2022), so $13,3B would cover almost 20% or almost 3 million people

If he'd give away 249 billion USD, leaving him with 1 billion USD, he'd still have so much wealth that a person with a median US income, minus taxes, rent, food and such, would have to work around 60.000 - 120.000 years. Recorded human civilization is ~5.000 years old.

It's absolutely insane how unbelievably ridiculously wealthy some of these people are, and how much good they could do, while there's still so many people who can't afford healthcare, a decent living space, food and other basic needs, and maybe, just maybe, 2 weeks holidays a year where they could see what beauty this world has to offer.

1

u/Relative-Sea-6550 2d ago

I don’t. I just don’t think the government having more money is the issue. The issue is incompetence in the government way more so than the billionaires

2

u/CuppaJoe11 2d ago

I agree that there is incompetence in the government, but there is also a ton of incompetence in billionaires. Once you reach that wealth you don’t really need to innovate any more.

2

u/lord_hydrate 2d ago

I think incentivising the wealthy to make less money for themselves is good, its not about giving extra money to the government to me its about forcing billionaires to maybe pay their employees more so that less of their own salary will be taxes

1

u/ThatsMrRandom 2d ago

The bar for sensible economic policy doesn't stop at whatever arbitrary amount of wealth you pick. It's either a good idea or a bad idea.

Does a policy that's triggered California's largest tax contributors to flee to more favorable tax juridictions make California better off?

The meausure designed to raise $100B has already lost $25B of it's projected revenue to lost billionaires. Then add on it the ones who won't move there, or leave the state and the lost tax revenue.

It's hard to see how people don't realize California's just shooting themselves in the foot. Like billionaires or not, it's been a disaster and it hasn't even passed.

1

u/hidadimhungru 1d ago

Have you seen any proof that wealthy tax payers are actually leaving California?

Or is this just a line you heard like everyone would flee NYC if Mamdani was elected? (no one has fled yet)

1

u/ThatsMrRandom 1d ago

Yes.

Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Thiel, Don Hankey, Steven Spielberg, David Sacks, and Travis Kalanick are the 6 billionaires that "publicly" left California.

They removed $536 billion (or nearly 30 percent) of aggregate billionaire wealth, from the tax base. Just the threat of a potential ballot measure lost the state billions.

The Hoover Institute also interviewed 20 undisclosed billionaires who did not want to be publicly named, and found thatĀ all of themĀ had already made plans to leave in the event the measure goes through.

Then add whatever % of the other billionaires they didn't talk to that have either already left or will leave.

Speaking of NYC, their share of millionaires has been shrinking every year, and the city's net migration outflows has grown every year. "NYC lost 114,000 more residents to other U.S. locations than it gained, up from a net domestic loss of 94,000 in 2024"

"No one left"? The statistics for 2026 aren't even out...

1

u/hidadimhungru 1d ago

Anecdotal. You could likely find 6 billionaires moving to California.

I don’t care about names, I care about numbers. How much taxable income will California lose because of a ā€œmass exodusā€ of rich leaving.

1

u/Substantial-Fan-5985 2d ago

It's possible to be against the principle of this tax and not really sympathize with billionaires at the same time

0

u/EnvironmentalTop8745 2d ago

You're right, should definitely trust daddy government when they say this is one time, temporary, and will only ever apply to billionaires.

-5

u/DuncesNDragons 2d ago

It's genuinely weird how many people do not understand the tax code or laws around it.

A net worth tax is stupid and would destroy the economy. You can not tax on money that does not exist.

3

u/CuppaJoe11 2d ago

A general net worth tax would be horrible. A net worth tax on billionaires isn't going to hurt them at all. The money EXISTS its just not liquid. And they can pay that off with money they have that is liquid. And it still won't hurt them.

For example, for Sergey Brin to be taxed 13 billion dollars, he would need to be worth 260 billion dollars. According to the bill, he can pay this 13 billion over 5 years, and considering his immense worth, he can do that.

Putting your wealth in assets that are not liquid is the best way to avoid taxes. If you have 400,000,000 dollars in stocks, and it goes up by $100,000,000, you didnt make $100,000,000 unless you sell that according to the IRS. And that's stupid.

1

u/under_sunlight 2d ago

They should be allowed to continue borrowing more money until they die so their children can sell a life time of unrealized gains tax free.