Where’s the Money?

Hoarding leads to recession. This is a hard and fast rule of economics. Hoarding results in removal of capital from the marketplace and thus the economy does not have that money to stimulate commerce. When you give money to rich people, they hoard it. It’s in their nature. The reason they are rich is because they hoarded to begin with. You can’t stay wealthy unless you hold onto what you’ve got. That being said, if we give more money to the people at the top, it’s going to do nothing to stimulate the economy.

So, if we can’t give it to those at the top it stands to reason we need to find another method of getting it into the economy. If top-down doesn’t work then maybe bottom-up might. Poor people spend their money. That’s in some measure why they’re poor. They don’t have enough to save so they use the money they have in the economy actively. Therefore, these are the people we need to get the money to. They will spend it and in spending help to create additional jobs to support their spending.

The burning question is how do we get the money from the vaults of the savers to the hands of the spenders? Well, there is this thing called redistribution of wealth. Government has the power to levy taxes and assessments in order to serve the needs of the larger public. In this case there are billions of dollars needed to get our economy moving again. It just so happens that about 5% of Americans are holding about 95% of the money in the nation. That just hasn’t been working out so well. The wealthy minority isn’t feeling the impact of the recession in a real way and the non-wealthy majority is getting hammered by it. The deck has gotten too stacked so it’s time to shuffle the deck and do a re-deal.

That’s where Congress comes in. Congress can pass laws and levy taxes leveling the playing field and getting our economy back to a place where average folks have a real chance at a decent life without hitting the lottery, robbing a bank, dealing drugs, playing sports, acting or playing music. Why not levy a one-time 5% assets assessment on those who have a net worth of over $20 million? We pay property taxes on our homes to pay for local services, why not have the wealthy pay an assessment for their assets. Call it a lack of usage penalty. Since they’ve chosen to remove their money from the economy, make them pay a penalty for non-use. Their non-use of assets damages the health of our economy so either force them to invest and give them a break on the assessment for doing so or pay an assessment for stagnant assets. It’s not rocket science and it’s not being unfair. It’s holding those who harm our economy by removing assets from it accountable for their actions.

This plan could also address the tax dodging done by the wealthy by hiding money in trusts, offshore accounts and foreign assets by making the assessment based on total net worth. Through forensic accounting and assets investigation the total net worth of individuals could be accurately determined. The assessment would also bring some accountability to the people like Paris Hilton who are handed millions and even billions of dollars without ever earning it by making them pay a percentage of their worth to support the economy that they have not worked to build but benefit immensely from. If the wealthy choose to renounce their American citizenship to live abroad they will likely face much higher taxes so there is not much likelihood of them leaving over this and if they do the bill could include a foreign funds transfer penalty that would charge 25% on all overseas funds transfers of $10,000 or more. These measures would assure that those who benefit the most from our economy do their share to keep it healthy.

You can scream socialism all you want but it is logical. If the money sitting in a vault is not being useful then it is no good to the American economy. If it is not actively participating in the preservation of our national well-being then it should be made to do so passively. They can sit on it all they want but if they sit on it too long, the government needs to step in and say “Enough is enough!” and get some of the money back to work in the economy. We all need to pull our weight if we are to have a strong society. If the wealthy are not doing their part to keep things moving then they need to be compelled to help out. Our economy is a living thing and needs to be fed capital on a regular basis. When the majority of our national capital is being held hostage by a few people we need to send in the legislative marines and liberate the captive cash. Greed is not good and trickle down doesn’t work. Now is the time for a new strategy before it’s too late.

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