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Related: About this forumSparks Fly! Thom Hartmann vs. Austin Petersen...Ending Billionaire-ism?
Austin Petersen, FreedomWorks, joins Thom Hartmann. Consider this: The Forbes 400 richest billionaires in America have a combined wealth of over $1.7 trillion. Now imagine we took some of that wealth - leaving each billionaire with just one billion dollars - and theyre free to do whatever theyd like with it. Whats it matter, they couldnt even spend a billion dollars in their lifetime. That would suddenly free up 1.3 trillion dollars of wealth to be spent and invested in the economy.
With the average price of going to college at a state school pegged at roughly $22,000 a year, that 1.3 trillion could send 59 million young people - an entire generation - to school. Wed have an entire generation of college graduates whod have access to good paying jobs - whod stimulate the economy - whod pay taxes to lower our deficits - and whod make American once again the most educated and nation with the most sophisticated workforce on the planet. Or - what about those 150 million Americans who dont have savings and are one setback away from poverty? Imagine if they all had an extra $8,000 in their bank account. They wouldnt be so fearful of poverty - they could spend more money in the economy - and they could take more risks \\
Even the billionaires would earn more money now that they have more consumers spending more money at restaurants, at shopping malls, and on vacations. And whatd we sacrifice for this new prosperity for millions of Americans? We simply asked the billionaires - people like the Koch Brothers, the Walton family, and Sheldon Adelson - to get by with being simple billionaires rather than multi-billionaires. Something tells me theyll be ok. The NoBillionaires campaign is the best way to get out economy on track - and reverse thirty years of failed Neoliberal economics. Go to NoBillionaires.com
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings
WhoIsNumberNone
(7,875 posts)That's right, I said it. Go ahead and alert on me. But first riddle me this: What word better describes this asshole? From the first moment he opens his mouth he's spewing billionaire apologist talking points (Insert mocking tone here) "No poor person ever gave you a job" "The poor are getting rich faster than the rich are" "We need more billionaires". God what an asshole. What a snake oil selling shill. And yes, what a douchebag.
Response to thomhartmann (Original post)
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arcane1
(38,613 posts)Such myopic, monochrome thinking
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Apparently, it's troll the Internet day at Paul Ryan's Congressional Office. They must have realized the debt ceiling is going to be raised and they're not going to get their draconian spending cuts.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)crap
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Response to thomhartmann (Original post)
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smccarter
(145 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)supercats
(429 posts)All Peterson did was speed talk and muscle through the conversation. He didn't allow Thom to have a conversation with him. All he did was talk over and ignore Thom. They both were speaking at the same time, how boring and worthless which I believe was Petersons objective. Advice to Thom: Don't have him on again....nothing gets accomplished.