The 10% have $85 trillion*. An $18 trillion wealth transfer to the rest of us seems reasonable to me

[reformist2]

Rather than being alarmed by it, I would call it a good start.

Go Bernie!

* Where did I get that $85 trillion figure? From something the Federal Reserve publishes every few months, called the Flow of Funds Report. It's not well publicized, probably because they don't want us knowing just how big their mountain of money really is!

** I had to revise my numbers - the Top 10% have $85 trillion. The Top 1% have "only" about $40 trillion.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2015/06/feds-q1-flow-of-funds-household-net.html

[randys1]

1. 18 is a bargain for them, if they think it through, that is

[daleanime]

2. Amen....

[Hoyt]

3. The moment something like that were seriously considered, the $85 trillion would plunge to

$10 trillion. It's mostly paper value, that is almost worthless with the threat of confiscation. Now, a significant tax increase could accomplish some of the transfer, but even that has to be imposed judiciously.

Not saying I wouldn't love to see something like that happening, but not if it plunges the world into economic conditions that would take decades for a recovery. Plus, a lot of that $85 trillion belongs to people who really aren't that wealthy.

I have not read Sanders' proposal, but I doubt it costs $1.8 Trillion a year above offsets from the amounts we already pay in premiums and some hefty tax hikes that would be necessary.

[reformist2]

5. We really ought to test it. If it really does vanish so quickly, it sounds more like a mirage, no?

[Hoyt]

6. Have you lived in a shack with an out-house, and limited running water, think rural south before 50s

We'd be plunged into a 1930s type depression.

[reformist2]

7. LOL, I really don't think so. How quickly you forget what the 2009 stimulus did for the markets.

[Hoyt]

8. In that there was anticipation of reasonable markets in the USA. When you inject

the kind of uncertainty confiscation of assets would cause, there would be no expectation of a return to an orderly market.

Now, it may well be all that turmoil will be worth it 50 years down the road, but the pain would be tough for almost everyone. I'd rather see an orderly transition, and not risk right wing militias running things.

[mhatrw]

4. There is no $18 trillion price tag!

$15 trillion of it represents a $27 trillion SAVINGS on the $42 trillion we will pay for healthcare if we do NOT change over to a $15 trillion single payer system!