France's unrest exposes the consequences of failing to tax the wealthy. California's billionaire-tax fight raises the same fundamental question about who should pay to make a nation succeed...
Newsom's mistake will cost him his presidential ambitions. Meanwhile, I expect that the majority of the billionaires will have a hard time replicating all of the aesthetic, cultural and climate advantages--not to mention the fact that Cal Tech, Berkeley and the other (state-supported) universities shower them with brainiac grads..There is simply no other place like it. I think that's true even when you look at the international scene. Gimme a break. Those Wah Wah Wah big baby billionaires will still. have plenty of money even after the tax that helps support the state's citizens, and they damn well know it. Their threat to move away comes perilous close to extortion, which is a crime they can add to the other crimes they commit without paying the price for.
Further? Most people just don’t grok the impact of scrimping on — or improving! — public health. Covid taught us that even the rich get sick and die. While the poor died, in proportionally higher numbers, the rich couldn’t totally escape Covid even after the “aha” moment in April 2020 revealed that Black and poor people were dying in higher numbers/percentages and the administration pulled back on mask distribution. The entire population is not protected if we’re not all protected.
👉🏽We’re only as strong as the least protected among us.👈🏽
Hope this makes sense.
Point is that Newsom is pissing on the health of the entire State of California by sacrificing the health and wellbeing of millions to ensure the happiness of a few. A few who have benefitted greatly by being in a state where they likely have a richer, deeper pool of well-educated employees (an investment made by all of us to have an educated population); and an infrastructure supporting their commerce.
You make perfect sense, Carey. It's hard to 'grok,' but, while the actual world the ultra-rich inhabitant overlaps with the worlds the rest of us live in, it is not identical, and therein lies the rub. They live in gated compounds, far, far from the madding crowd, and thus are somewhat insulated from exposure to viral epidemics. They also have access to better and faster treatment than the poor or even the middle class do. And there's something else, perhaps even more fundamental--they really DO believe that they're better than us, and spend a LOT of effort trying to prove that to themselves and each other via showing off across the board. A not insignificant number of the so-called tech oligarchs also don't care if any number of us die off prematurely. In their fantasy world things are run by AI and related technology, and having all of us jobless to worry about would be an inconvenience. Hard to believe, but if you do some digging you can find these opinions expressed right out loud by any number of them. Maybe they were heartless before they got so rich that other people suck up to them which in turn skewed their views, or maybe there's something about being narcissistic and singularly focused on 'success' that helps them climb the money mountain. Chicken and egg.
Leigh, the opposition to taxes is not monetarily based, at least not for the ultra wealthy, it is about power. The fact that the government has the power to tax them, irks them. If you have power then nobody can tax or take from you.
In other words it is all about status. of in manspeak , whose got the biggest penis.
I thought that might have been implicit in my reply, but I guess that didn't come across. Thanks for the boost. BTW I keep thinking of Elon Musk or Peter Thiel, but most of all Curtis Yarvin as the Centurion Biggus Dickus in The Life of Brian, don't you?
Politicians are afraid to tax the wealthy, because they are their source of campaign funding, and attack ads, and then there is the financial benefits and perks they get while in office and especially after they leave.
I have a Democratic Governor, Ferguson of Washington State. following the lead of Christopher Armitage, I contact him via his contact page frequently, To no avail. Today, I contacted him about a state bank. Mr Armitage published, today, that South Dakota''s state bank made $238 million dolars, and gave a list of Democratic states and how much they would make if they had state banks, California would be 85 Billion., from Fergie I expect Crickets.Iwonder what they are afraid of and who?
Gavin Newsome just lost any chance he had to be president! with his opposition to taxing the rich - once democrats are in power in congress we need a nationwide minimum tax on billionaires - similar to what is proposed in California
Also, Newsom recently put his thumb on the scale to push for a settlement on the Paramount Warner Bros. Discovery merger, a massive betrayal. I read that Harris is making some serious moves to run in 2028. Lord help us all!
A person is known by the company they keep. Newsom was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle. Enough said.
If he was the Democratic nominee, I would have to think twice whether or not I would even vote. (Of course I would, failure to vote is to vote for the other side).
PS I do not identify as a Democrat, as I don't like or trust either party, I have historiically voted against, but not for. I would love to vote for, for once, for a change.
Here's an interesting piece I read from Andrew Yang titled 'Repeating Their Mistakes' about the DNC announcement that South Carolina would be the first primary state in the 2028 Democratic Primary. I lean very much toward Progressives, mainstream Dems continually disappoint.
I often hear from the well-off that it is unfair to tax the rich more than everybody else. After all, they pay a lot more in taxes than the average citizen, and they provide incomes to the community. Of course, if you look at taxes as paying for services provided free by the government, the foot is on the other shoe. Here are some examples.
Average taxpayers often seem surprised when I rattle off why the rich should pay more. Take streets and highways. Not only are they essential for moving manufactured products to markets, but they are often a key way employees get to work, and raw materials get to the factory. Oh yes, do not forget shipping. Like highways, they are a two-way conduit for delivery of raw materials and the return of finished products to markets foreign and domestic. The ships also get to their destinations safely because the US provides a global Navy to protect them from piracy.
Then therer are schools. K-12 is still tuition-free, but not college. However, all schools, free or tuition-based, provide a workforce ready to produce competitive goods and services to the market that employers did not have to pay for. How about electricity? While employers and employees both pay by the watt, the government pays to maintain the infrastructure that generates and delivers the juice - way more of it to corporations. Like the Navy, the government provides domestic law and order services essential to the retail and other markets. Until goods or services are delivered, the rich benefit from the cops more because they have more goods to protect. Of course, transportation generally, be it rail, air, water, and road, benefits the rich far more too. So, why shouldn't Musk, whose wealth is derived mostly from government contracts, pay way more than you and me?
Tom, the individual wealthy may pay more in taxes than the individual common person, but as a percentage of income, no. Most pay no taxes, because of capital gains losses, write offs,and other tax dodges.
If you itemize deductions you can deduct donations to qualified 501c(3_ organizations. While you can't donate to a PAC,, a 527 organization, (which is not taxed) you can donate to a 501c(3) orgganization which then passes your donation through to a 527 organization.
For instance Musk could donate 10 million to Moms for Liberty, who then takes one million and passes on 9 million to a Trump PAC.
Not surprised that billionaires are scouting real estate on the moon and Mars, in order to keep governments' hands off their stash. They are a pox on society. Any people who fully expect us to pick through their manure and drink their trickle-down for survival have no place in this world.
As a native California I know who Newsom is and despise what he has done to garner support from the oligarchs/billionaires. No one I know in CA will vote for him for President, nor will we stay silent should he decide to run. During his first term and two recall efforts Newsom needed the grassroots activists support. He was dubbed the "climate czar" as he signed into law green protections for solar, alternative energy sources, land protection. That all changed in term two when he worked to undo our rooftop and solar support, when we saw him veto bills the billionaires were against, when he is willing to let our health care system disintegrate because the billionaires are against Prop 40. FFS...these billionaires could be funding healthcare with the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are spending to defeat Prop 40.
My hope is that the hell we are going through right now will prove that voting for someone who is "handsome" and presents a strong, independent vision isn't enough. What we see isn't always what we get. We have to vet all the candidates - yes, it's a daunting job. People need to Follow The Money because if a candidate an afford to run hundreds of ads across the spectrum someone is paying for him/her to do so. We must demand transparency and honesty from those running for office. And, once elected, we must hold their feet to the fire and demand they work for the people and not the oligarchs/billionaires.
Appeasing the morbidly rich is demonstrably counterproductive, a characteristic of appeasement. Newsom has effectively removed any lingering doubts about his potential candidacy while fueling that of any true progressive. Perhaps we should thank him.
The fact that we didn't, and still don't have the brains to fund our elections by ''We The People'' instead of warmongers and tax bandits is the root cause of just about all our problems, bad wars, bad trade deals, bad tax laws, starving our accounts receivable dept., have nobody watching our backs in all three branches of government, charging our kids to get an education, legalizing gambling that ''no good'' could come out of, destroyed our unions, etc.
Some people say we're in this mess because so many people don't vote.
On his Substack, British comedian Barry Fine discussed learned helplessness in a recent podcast. He shared a video featuring a classroom experiment: one group of students received three anagrams that were easy to solve, while the other group received two words that could not be unscrambled and a third word that was fairly easy to solve.
The students who solved the first two easy anagrams were also able to solve the third word quickly. In contrast, the students who struggled with the unsolvable words—and saw their classmates succeeding—were unable to solve the same third word, even though it was just as easy.
This demonstrates the concept of "learned helplessness." What does this mean for people born into low-income neighborhoods and educated in underfunded schools? These individuals are often blamed for their circumstances and may come to believe that their struggles are their own fault. As a result, they may not challenge the system, protest, or vote.
We lived through this once and now we're living through it again. Newsom was married to Kimberly Guifoile. What more do you need to know? He is acting for whatever audience will pay for his tickets, slicked back hair and all.
This is not the same fight. Newsom doesn't want CA to be deprived of the income taxes of its billionaires, because a wealth tax would cause them to move to another state. The national scene might be different (unless billionaires would leave to U.S. in response to a wealth tax). Would they leave the U.S. if there were a national wealth tax?
Right it is a vain threat. They live in those locations because of their amenities, conveniences, climate transportation.
Bill Gates was from Seattle, his Dad was a powerful lawyer in Seattle (he is the one that drew up the licensing agreements for Windows and which are the mainstay of the computer and internet world, versus selling the software.
His first location was in Federal Way, just north of Tacoma on I-5, but the campus was too small, so he negotiated with a town that had been a train stop, Redmond, and Redmond expanded it's borders to include incorporated areas, especially to the West, and gave him tax breaks.
Now the taxpayer has subsidized him and the computer industry, by expanding and improving SR 520, the Evergreen Floating bridge,and Bill owns a Mansion on Mercer Island on lake Washington.
The MS campus is surrounded by associated and dependent software companies
He and they are going nowhere, besides Gates owns property and islands all over the world, his father bought half of Shaw island in the Salish sea, just east of Vancouver Island, BC
Gates Sr died, but I am sure that he left his estate and mansion to his trust.
Perhaps instead of taxing a fixed percentage of wealth, billionaires should pay a tax equal to the amount they willingly contribute to politicians, PACs, and dark money funds to avoid paying taxes in the first place.
It’s not about the money, it’s about power and control. It should not be a wonder that monarchical ambitions is the elixir they imbibe leaving the rest of us to drink flat, piss-warm beer!
While worried about the wording and possible abuse of Prop 40, I will be voting for it and against 42 and 43. The scare tactic Newsom uses, and it is real, is a function of the fact that there are too many places in the world that would be happy to have billionaires there giving them crumbs. If we really wanted a fair world, there would be income and wealth caps in every country, and a tax rate close to 90% on incomes and wealth over a specified event. That would leave petulant billionaires no place to go but maybe Mars or the moon.
It won't happen though, so we will just have to take the risk and see what happens. It seems so obvious, but with this SCOTUS, the power of bribery is unparalleled, and too many people succumb to it. Greed and the love of money are indeed the root of all evil in this world.
My guess is that Prop 40 will fail, and even if it wins, the confusion all the money spent on this election has created will nullify it because Prop 42 or 43 or both will pass. Confusion is the friend of the morbidly rich and those who toady to them--like gruesome Newsom.
Further? We need to help people grok the impact of scrimping on — or improving! — public health. Using funds generated from this tax would help protect all; help prevent public health challenges. Proven prevention measures are so much less costly and painful than leaving a population wide open to disease and injury.
Covid taught us that even the rich get sick and die. While the poor died, in proportionally higher numbers, the rich couldn’t totally escape Covid even after the “aha” moment in April 2020 revealed that Black and poor people were dying in higher numbers/percentages and the administration pulled back on mask distribution. The entire population is not protected if we’re not all protected.
👉🏽We’re only as strong as the least protected among us.👈🏽
Hope this makes sense.
Point is that Newsom is pissing on the health of the entire State of California by sacrificing the health and wellbeing of millions to ensure the happiness of a few. A few who have benefitted greatly by being in a state where they likely have a richer, deeper pool of well-educated employees (an investment made by all of us to have an educated population); and an infrastructure supporting their commerce.
Suggestions for the Democratic messaging/slogan: Fair Play Plan; Back to Democracy; Balance & Equality for Prosperity. How about a contest for the most catchy and descriptive idea?
Newsom's mistake will cost him his presidential ambitions. Meanwhile, I expect that the majority of the billionaires will have a hard time replicating all of the aesthetic, cultural and climate advantages--not to mention the fact that Cal Tech, Berkeley and the other (state-supported) universities shower them with brainiac grads..There is simply no other place like it. I think that's true even when you look at the international scene. Gimme a break. Those Wah Wah Wah big baby billionaires will still. have plenty of money even after the tax that helps support the state's citizens, and they damn well know it. Their threat to move away comes perilous close to extortion, which is a crime they can add to the other crimes they commit without paying the price for.
Further? Most people just don’t grok the impact of scrimping on — or improving! — public health. Covid taught us that even the rich get sick and die. While the poor died, in proportionally higher numbers, the rich couldn’t totally escape Covid even after the “aha” moment in April 2020 revealed that Black and poor people were dying in higher numbers/percentages and the administration pulled back on mask distribution. The entire population is not protected if we’re not all protected.
👉🏽We’re only as strong as the least protected among us.👈🏽
Hope this makes sense.
Point is that Newsom is pissing on the health of the entire State of California by sacrificing the health and wellbeing of millions to ensure the happiness of a few. A few who have benefitted greatly by being in a state where they likely have a richer, deeper pool of well-educated employees (an investment made by all of us to have an educated population); and an infrastructure supporting their commerce.
You make perfect sense, Carey. It's hard to 'grok,' but, while the actual world the ultra-rich inhabitant overlaps with the worlds the rest of us live in, it is not identical, and therein lies the rub. They live in gated compounds, far, far from the madding crowd, and thus are somewhat insulated from exposure to viral epidemics. They also have access to better and faster treatment than the poor or even the middle class do. And there's something else, perhaps even more fundamental--they really DO believe that they're better than us, and spend a LOT of effort trying to prove that to themselves and each other via showing off across the board. A not insignificant number of the so-called tech oligarchs also don't care if any number of us die off prematurely. In their fantasy world things are run by AI and related technology, and having all of us jobless to worry about would be an inconvenience. Hard to believe, but if you do some digging you can find these opinions expressed right out loud by any number of them. Maybe they were heartless before they got so rich that other people suck up to them which in turn skewed their views, or maybe there's something about being narcissistic and singularly focused on 'success' that helps them climb the money mountain. Chicken and egg.
Yes. And still, some of them got sick. They buy insolation and isolation and caste.
Leigh, the opposition to taxes is not monetarily based, at least not for the ultra wealthy, it is about power. The fact that the government has the power to tax them, irks them. If you have power then nobody can tax or take from you.
In other words it is all about status. of in manspeak , whose got the biggest penis.
I thought that might have been implicit in my reply, but I guess that didn't come across. Thanks for the boost. BTW I keep thinking of Elon Musk or Peter Thiel, but most of all Curtis Yarvin as the Centurion Biggus Dickus in The Life of Brian, don't you?
I didn't watch the Life of Brian, But given the name of the Centurion I get it.
let them move, they use the roads, the fire dept. etc etc. let them god damn move bastards griefters, why do we need them?
Politicians are afraid to tax the wealthy, because they are their source of campaign funding, and attack ads, and then there is the financial benefits and perks they get while in office and especially after they leave.
I have a Democratic Governor, Ferguson of Washington State. following the lead of Christopher Armitage, I contact him via his contact page frequently, To no avail. Today, I contacted him about a state bank. Mr Armitage published, today, that South Dakota''s state bank made $238 million dolars, and gave a list of Democratic states and how much they would make if they had state banks, California would be 85 Billion., from Fergie I expect Crickets.Iwonder what they are afraid of and who?
Here's the site, check it and see how much your state would make if it had a state bank https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/north-dakotas-bank-earned-the-state
Gavin Newsome just lost any chance he had to be president! with his opposition to taxing the rich - once democrats are in power in congress we need a nationwide minimum tax on billionaires - similar to what is proposed in California
Also, Newsom recently put his thumb on the scale to push for a settlement on the Paramount Warner Bros. Discovery merger, a massive betrayal. I read that Harris is making some serious moves to run in 2028. Lord help us all!
Harris will not win a primary -
I would rather see Kamala back in the Senate - it’s already proven (unfortunately) that a black woman will not be elected president
It's also been proven that even a white woman will not be elected president.
So, there's that too.
I agree JMcKay, She is a quitter, a loser, she conceded less than 24 hrs after the polls closed, while they were still couning live votes.
A person is known by the company they keep. Newsom was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle. Enough said.
If he was the Democratic nominee, I would have to think twice whether or not I would even vote. (Of course I would, failure to vote is to vote for the other side).
PS I do not identify as a Democrat, as I don't like or trust either party, I have historiically voted against, but not for. I would love to vote for, for once, for a change.
Here's an interesting piece I read from Andrew Yang titled 'Repeating Their Mistakes' about the DNC announcement that South Carolina would be the first primary state in the 2028 Democratic Primary. I lean very much toward Progressives, mainstream Dems continually disappoint.
https://blog.andrewyang.com/p/repeating-their-mistakes
I do too - we need to get rid of the “corporate democrats” and elect more progressive candidates
Long ago and admitted a big mistake.
True, but it shows his priorities, a pretty piece of ass, arm candy, and a lack of judgement.
She is what she is, and always has been, she is a money grabbing,, fame seeking user of men, and Newsom was so shallow that he was sucked in.,
I am not a Californian, so my opinion doesn't count in the Primary, but if it did I could not vote for Newsom.
Simply put his judgement sucks. Judge a person by the company they keep, and he married Kimberley Guilfoyle. If nothing else his judgement sucks..
He obviously was attracted to her because of sex, he goes for the superficial.
Thom, I truly appreciate your continuing writing regarding the essence of history and the present we are experiencing.......
Mitch Williams
Brightwood, Oregon
I often hear from the well-off that it is unfair to tax the rich more than everybody else. After all, they pay a lot more in taxes than the average citizen, and they provide incomes to the community. Of course, if you look at taxes as paying for services provided free by the government, the foot is on the other shoe. Here are some examples.
Average taxpayers often seem surprised when I rattle off why the rich should pay more. Take streets and highways. Not only are they essential for moving manufactured products to markets, but they are often a key way employees get to work, and raw materials get to the factory. Oh yes, do not forget shipping. Like highways, they are a two-way conduit for delivery of raw materials and the return of finished products to markets foreign and domestic. The ships also get to their destinations safely because the US provides a global Navy to protect them from piracy.
Then therer are schools. K-12 is still tuition-free, but not college. However, all schools, free or tuition-based, provide a workforce ready to produce competitive goods and services to the market that employers did not have to pay for. How about electricity? While employers and employees both pay by the watt, the government pays to maintain the infrastructure that generates and delivers the juice - way more of it to corporations. Like the Navy, the government provides domestic law and order services essential to the retail and other markets. Until goods or services are delivered, the rich benefit from the cops more because they have more goods to protect. Of course, transportation generally, be it rail, air, water, and road, benefits the rich far more too. So, why shouldn't Musk, whose wealth is derived mostly from government contracts, pay way more than you and me?
Tom, the individual wealthy may pay more in taxes than the individual common person, but as a percentage of income, no. Most pay no taxes, because of capital gains losses, write offs,and other tax dodges.
If you itemize deductions you can deduct donations to qualified 501c(3_ organizations. While you can't donate to a PAC,, a 527 organization, (which is not taxed) you can donate to a 501c(3) orgganization which then passes your donation through to a 527 organization.
For instance Musk could donate 10 million to Moms for Liberty, who then takes one million and passes on 9 million to a Trump PAC.
Not surprised that billionaires are scouting real estate on the moon and Mars, in order to keep governments' hands off their stash. They are a pox on society. Any people who fully expect us to pick through their manure and drink their trickle-down for survival have no place in this world.
As a native California I know who Newsom is and despise what he has done to garner support from the oligarchs/billionaires. No one I know in CA will vote for him for President, nor will we stay silent should he decide to run. During his first term and two recall efforts Newsom needed the grassroots activists support. He was dubbed the "climate czar" as he signed into law green protections for solar, alternative energy sources, land protection. That all changed in term two when he worked to undo our rooftop and solar support, when we saw him veto bills the billionaires were against, when he is willing to let our health care system disintegrate because the billionaires are against Prop 40. FFS...these billionaires could be funding healthcare with the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are spending to defeat Prop 40.
My hope is that the hell we are going through right now will prove that voting for someone who is "handsome" and presents a strong, independent vision isn't enough. What we see isn't always what we get. We have to vet all the candidates - yes, it's a daunting job. People need to Follow The Money because if a candidate an afford to run hundreds of ads across the spectrum someone is paying for him/her to do so. We must demand transparency and honesty from those running for office. And, once elected, we must hold their feet to the fire and demand they work for the people and not the oligarchs/billionaires.
Appeasing the morbidly rich is demonstrably counterproductive, a characteristic of appeasement. Newsom has effectively removed any lingering doubts about his potential candidacy while fueling that of any true progressive. Perhaps we should thank him.
The fact that we didn't, and still don't have the brains to fund our elections by ''We The People'' instead of warmongers and tax bandits is the root cause of just about all our problems, bad wars, bad trade deals, bad tax laws, starving our accounts receivable dept., have nobody watching our backs in all three branches of government, charging our kids to get an education, legalizing gambling that ''no good'' could come out of, destroyed our unions, etc.
Some people say we're in this mess because so many people don't vote.
On his Substack, British comedian Barry Fine discussed learned helplessness in a recent podcast. He shared a video featuring a classroom experiment: one group of students received three anagrams that were easy to solve, while the other group received two words that could not be unscrambled and a third word that was fairly easy to solve.
The students who solved the first two easy anagrams were also able to solve the third word quickly. In contrast, the students who struggled with the unsolvable words—and saw their classmates succeeding—were unable to solve the same third word, even though it was just as easy.
This demonstrates the concept of "learned helplessness." What does this mean for people born into low-income neighborhoods and educated in underfunded schools? These individuals are often blamed for their circumstances and may come to believe that their struggles are their own fault. As a result, they may not challenge the system, protest, or vote.
We lived through this once and now we're living through it again. Newsom was married to Kimberly Guifoile. What more do you need to know? He is acting for whatever audience will pay for his tickets, slicked back hair and all.
I sure miss Jerry Brown.
This is not the same fight. Newsom doesn't want CA to be deprived of the income taxes of its billionaires, because a wealth tax would cause them to move to another state. The national scene might be different (unless billionaires would leave to U.S. in response to a wealth tax). Would they leave the U.S. if there were a national wealth tax?
Studies have shown the wealthy don’t leave states where there are significant wealth taxes.
Right it is a vain threat. They live in those locations because of their amenities, conveniences, climate transportation.
Bill Gates was from Seattle, his Dad was a powerful lawyer in Seattle (he is the one that drew up the licensing agreements for Windows and which are the mainstay of the computer and internet world, versus selling the software.
His first location was in Federal Way, just north of Tacoma on I-5, but the campus was too small, so he negotiated with a town that had been a train stop, Redmond, and Redmond expanded it's borders to include incorporated areas, especially to the West, and gave him tax breaks.
Now the taxpayer has subsidized him and the computer industry, by expanding and improving SR 520, the Evergreen Floating bridge,and Bill owns a Mansion on Mercer Island on lake Washington.
The MS campus is surrounded by associated and dependent software companies
He and they are going nowhere, besides Gates owns property and islands all over the world, his father bought half of Shaw island in the Salish sea, just east of Vancouver Island, BC
Gates Sr died, but I am sure that he left his estate and mansion to his trust.
Good Point. The EU found that they don't move from country to country, either because of a wealth tax.
Perhaps instead of taxing a fixed percentage of wealth, billionaires should pay a tax equal to the amount they willingly contribute to politicians, PACs, and dark money funds to avoid paying taxes in the first place.
It’s not about the money, it’s about power and control. It should not be a wonder that monarchical ambitions is the elixir they imbibe leaving the rest of us to drink flat, piss-warm beer!
While worried about the wording and possible abuse of Prop 40, I will be voting for it and against 42 and 43. The scare tactic Newsom uses, and it is real, is a function of the fact that there are too many places in the world that would be happy to have billionaires there giving them crumbs. If we really wanted a fair world, there would be income and wealth caps in every country, and a tax rate close to 90% on incomes and wealth over a specified event. That would leave petulant billionaires no place to go but maybe Mars or the moon.
It won't happen though, so we will just have to take the risk and see what happens. It seems so obvious, but with this SCOTUS, the power of bribery is unparalleled, and too many people succumb to it. Greed and the love of money are indeed the root of all evil in this world.
My guess is that Prop 40 will fail, and even if it wins, the confusion all the money spent on this election has created will nullify it because Prop 42 or 43 or both will pass. Confusion is the friend of the morbidly rich and those who toady to them--like gruesome Newsom.
Further? We need to help people grok the impact of scrimping on — or improving! — public health. Using funds generated from this tax would help protect all; help prevent public health challenges. Proven prevention measures are so much less costly and painful than leaving a population wide open to disease and injury.
Covid taught us that even the rich get sick and die. While the poor died, in proportionally higher numbers, the rich couldn’t totally escape Covid even after the “aha” moment in April 2020 revealed that Black and poor people were dying in higher numbers/percentages and the administration pulled back on mask distribution. The entire population is not protected if we’re not all protected.
👉🏽We’re only as strong as the least protected among us.👈🏽
Hope this makes sense.
Point is that Newsom is pissing on the health of the entire State of California by sacrificing the health and wellbeing of millions to ensure the happiness of a few. A few who have benefitted greatly by being in a state where they likely have a richer, deeper pool of well-educated employees (an investment made by all of us to have an educated population); and an infrastructure supporting their commerce.
FYI - https://www.facebook.com/reel/1426467059000714
Suggestions for the Democratic messaging/slogan: Fair Play Plan; Back to Democracy; Balance & Equality for Prosperity. How about a contest for the most catchy and descriptive idea?