Elizabeth Warren releases calculator for billionaires (Updated)

[Rollo]

29. Just for fun, I ran the calculator for someone worth one billion $$$

Had to leave off the decimal point, though.

Here is the result:

Wow — you’ve got a lot of money!

Your wealth puts you in the top 0.0002% of Americans.

Now you have the opportunity to invest some of it back into our society so everyone has a chance to succeed.

You’d pay $19 million next year under Elizabeth’s wealth tax. This amount, which you likely won’t even feel, will help us invest in education from birth through college and help finance health care for everyone.

Good news - you’ll still be extraordinarily rich! And if history is any guide, if you do nothing other than invest your wealth in the stock market, it’s likely that your wealth will continue to grow.

Now, that 19 million in the first year would work out to about 1.9% of their total wealth. Since the stock market historically produces returns of about 4% annually, the wealth of my hypothetical billionaire would continue to grow despite this wealth tax. Over ten years, it would be a 19% total bite, or about 190 million, but again, invested even half-heartedly, their capital would still be preserved, on average.

So what is Bill Gates whining about?