But I also know it is not an accident that someone as wealthy as Elon Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018 and pays very little in many years. As wealthy people concentrate more power, they bend the system to their favor - distorting both social systems and the markets.
What has this to do with anything? He doesn’t live off a salary, so of course he doesn’t pay income tax.
Every single metric shows that the wealthy are increasingly effective at concentrating their wealth. This has been the trend in the United States since the mid-20th century. It's undeniable that they are deliberately and effectively doing this. The only question is whether or not this concentration of wealth is good for society or bad for society. Due to the complexity of societies, this is difficult to demonstrate empirically. I grant you this.
If you think that these conditions haven't generally lead to the formation of strong kleptocracies throughout history... well I guess we'll simply disagree.
Perhaps because it’s not as strong an effect as people would like to believe.
Wouldn’t you say political activists have a disproportionate influence on our democracies too? Why is that ok and the influence of billionaires not?
