$25 min wage in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Issues like this are dangerous when presented to a city council comprised entirely of “community activists.” I’m not sure there is a single day of small business experience between the 13 of them.

Whether this is a good solution or not, we still have a massive affordability gap. For instance the average new house buyer just ticked up to 40, where it was 28 not that long ago. Keep ignoring these outcomes and we'll keep getting someone who will try to fix them, even if they end up failing.

Build more housing, not less. This has worked in other cities. We could try it here.

Did you move here yesterday? DC has been doing this for a very long time. The number of housing units has grown more than 20 percent over the past decade or so. Housing is expensive in part because incomes are very high here. Even cops and elementary school teachers make six figures.

Build more. The demand is still outstripping supply. When apartment buildings start competing for renters, things will improve.

Up in CC DC, all the buildings have vacancy and offer months of free rent. However, the buildings are mostly pretty dated with few amenities and it isn’t the liveliest neighborhood for young people.

So, someone is willing to let you live for free in a cardboard box. Surprised that there are no takers.

Not a cardboard box. Too many young people today are spoiled and expect too much without working for it.

Spoken like a true ignorant boomer you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

They roll them over indefinitely and just pay the interest with PIK interest…that or they may have investments in real estate or other assets (they don’t just spend the loan money on clothes or other consumables) that they sell (maybe at a loss) to repay the loans.

I mean, they could go for 50 years and only spend say $10BN vs stock worth $200BN+.

The only real issue is if the stock tanks and the banks call their loans because the loan-to-collateral is too low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

Most of that wealth can't be converted to cash because it would crash the market. It's paper wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

Most of that wealth can't be converted to cash because it would crash the market. It's paper wealth.

If you have a disciplined stock disposal strategy it won't crash the market. That would only happen if Bezos as an example decided to dump 10% of his ownership in one fell swoop, vs. selling say 10% of his holdings (so, 2% of Amazon stock) over the course of a year (and usually on days when the market / Amazon is up).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

They roll them over indefinitely and just pay the interest with PIK interest…that or they may have investments in real estate or other assets (they don’t just spend the loan money on clothes or other consumables) that they sell (maybe at a loss) to repay the loans.

I mean, they could go for 50 years and only spend say $10BN vs stock worth $200BN+.

The only real issue is if the stock tanks and the banks call their loans because the loan-to-collateral is too low.

Disney's stock price is lower today than it was 10 years ago. It would be an extremely terrible decision to do something like this with a lot of stocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

They roll them over indefinitely and just pay the interest with PIK interest…that or they may have investments in real estate or other assets (they don’t just spend the loan money on clothes or other consumables) that they sell (maybe at a loss) to repay the loans.

I mean, they could go for 50 years and only spend say $10BN vs stock worth $200BN+.

The only real issue is if the stock tanks and the banks call their loans because the loan-to-collateral is too low.

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway paid $26 billion in taxes last year. You should call him up and tell him how he's doing finance all wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

Most of that wealth can't be converted to cash because it would crash the market. It's paper wealth.

If you have a disciplined stock disposal strategy it won't crash the market. That would only happen if Bezos as an example decided to dump 10% of his ownership in one fell swoop, vs. selling say 10% of his holdings (so, 2% of Amazon stock) over the course of a year (and usually on days when the market / Amazon is up).

People like Jeff Bezos have to publicly report when they sell stock. The announcement alone can drive down the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

They roll them over indefinitely and just pay the interest with PIK interest…that or they may have investments in real estate or other assets (they don’t just spend the loan money on clothes or other consumables) that they sell (maybe at a loss) to repay the loans.

I mean, they could go for 50 years and only spend say $10BN vs stock worth $200BN+.

The only real issue is if the stock tanks and the banks call their loans because the loan-to-collateral is too low.

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway paid $26 billion in taxes last year. You should call him up and tell him how he's doing finance all wrong.

That's the company vs. how much did Warren Buffet himself pay? Here is Warren actually commenting on this very topic:

In addition to criticizing corporate tax, Buffett has come out against ultrawealthy individuals. “The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population,” Buffett remarked in a 2019 CNBC interview.

He contends that the current tax system, by granting preferential rates and many loopholes, allows billionaires like himself to pay only a fraction of what they reasonably should, ultimately shifting an unfair burden onto ordinary Americans.

Buffett has said his own low effective tax rate (around 0.1% between 2014 and 2018) isn’t an endorsement of the current system—it’s exactly the problem he highlights.

In his view, the current tax code disproportionately favors the ultrawealthy and allows them to pay far less, percentage-wise, than ordinary workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

Most of that wealth can't be converted to cash because it would crash the market. It's paper wealth.

If you have a disciplined stock disposal strategy it won't crash the market. That would only happen if Bezos as an example decided to dump 10% of his ownership in one fell swoop, vs. selling say 10% of his holdings (so, 2% of Amazon stock) over the course of a year (and usually on days when the market / Amazon is up).

People like Jeff Bezos have to publicly report when they sell stock. The announcement alone can drive down the price.

1000% incorrect if they announce they are selling to diversify their personal holdings over several years. They hire a 3rd party firm to sell the shares over a long time period, optimized to sell on Up days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

How do they pay the loans back?

They roll them over indefinitely and just pay the interest with PIK interest…that or they may have investments in real estate or other assets (they don’t just spend the loan money on clothes or other consumables) that they sell (maybe at a loss) to repay the loans.

I mean, they could go for 50 years and only spend say $10BN vs stock worth $200BN+.

The only real issue is if the stock tanks and the banks call their loans because the loan-to-collateral is too low.

Disney's stock price is lower today than it was 10 years ago. It would be an extremely terrible decision to do something like this with a lot of stocks.

Again...not really if you are borrowing the equivalent of 5% of your total net worth. Nobody cares if your collateral decreases 25% or even 50%...there is still a ton of equity in the loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sound economic policy, which this is not, is simply beyond the grasp of the average or below average person.

Why don’t you explain it to us sweetheart?

This will just drive prices up for everyone. If people at the very bottom now make a minimum of $25, then everyone else's wages will go up accordingly because everyone will say what about me. If everyone suddenly has a lot more money to spend, then prices for everything will also go up accordingly. A pint of beer will cost $25 and the dishwasher making $25 an hour will not be any better off.

Just as I suspected, a bunch of BS completely made up by you. Got forbid people on the bottom make a living wage. Have to keep those suppressed so you can have cheap beer.

Sweetie, this is how inflation works.

It's really not. you have no idea what you're talking about. Raising minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets, which they pump into the economy.

Raising minimum wage puts more people out of a job. The number of jobs isn’t fixed. Only jobs that produce $25 of value per hour will exist after the transition and any laborer who’s labor does not produce value at that rate will be left out

No, it gives people enough money so I don't have to subsidize them with my taxes. There is a reason so many people working these jobs rely on SNAP and medicaid to get though life. It's people like you who don't want to raise the min wage OR give them benefits that are the problem.

Where do you think the money comes from? It comes from a business owner who makes the evaluation: can I take the labor produced by person X and sell the output for enough to pay person X and make a profit. If the answer is no, then the business owner doesn’t fill the position. Except for government jobs program jobs, that’s how the economy works.

Oh please! The vast majority comes from people like me, making around 200K. Everyone knows your trickle down economic BS has never worked.

I don’t know anything about trickle down theory. I do know a couple DC restaurant owners who either have or are expecting to go out of business with the min wage hikes. There’s a limit to how much they can charge for meals and the business breaks.

Let them go out of business. Not everyone who can't afford to pay a living wage to the people they employ needs to stay in business. As I said before, when the owners don't pay, we all do with our tax money.

Oh stop. If you make less than $100,000, you pay *jack shit* in taxes. Your taxes are miniscule. The top 10 percent pay for everything the government does.

I make $230K and can assure that I pay plenty in taxes. The top 10% SHOULD be paying most of the taxes. But they don't. Stop this lie.

79 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by people making at least $228,000.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Distribution-of-Tax-Burden-Current-Law-2025.pdf

Folks...the problem isn't the top 10% paying their fair share (they do)...it's not even the top 1%...it's literally the top 0.1% that don't pay anywhere near their fair share, yet are responsible for like 20% of the entire wealth in the country.

They famously pay themselves $1 because they have billions in stock, most of which pays no dividends...and they never sell the stock and realize capital gains, but rather take out loans with their stock as security and at miniscule interest rates (with the interest expense tax deductible). It's not as though Bezos needs to spend $10 BN a year to fund his lifestyle...in fact, I would be surprised if he has to spend more than like $100MM - $200MM per year to fund his lifestyle.

Most of that wealth can't be converted to cash because it would crash the market. It's paper wealth.

If you have a disciplined stock disposal strategy it won't crash the market. That would only happen if Bezos as an example decided to dump 10% of his ownership in one fell swoop, vs. selling say 10% of his holdings (so, 2% of Amazon stock) over the course of a year (and usually on days when the market / Amazon is up).

People like Jeff Bezos have to publicly report when they sell stock. The announcement alone can drive down the price.

1000% incorrect if they announce they are selling to diversify their personal holdings over several years. They hire a 3rd party firm to sell the shares over a long time period, optimized to sell on Up days.

The SEC requires insiders and major stock holders to publicly report sales within two days.