The Statements: It’s time for college to be free
It’s time for healthcare to be free
It’s time to guarantee housing to every single American Nina Turner 8/15/2022
Question: What tax rate would you suggest for the lower, middle and upper class to reach those results? -A Forum For Ideas
Suggested Answer: 70% tax rate for anyone making more than 10 million a year seems fair. -Sebby
Analysis:
All numbers used are based on 2016 data unless noted otherwise
I. The costs:
A. Universal Healthcare - $2.87 Trillion
In the United States healthcare costs were $3.3 Trillion. Medicare and Medicaid spending equaled $1.2376 trillion. A 2017 study conducted by University of Massachusetts suggests universal healthcare would reduce costs and should cost $2.93 trillion. I adjusted this number for inflation and that number becomes $2.87 trillion 2016 dollars.
Sources: https://peri.umass.edu/publication/item/1127-economic-analysis-of-medicare-for-all
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-report-idUSKBN1E031D
B. Free College - $65 Billion
There are numerous numbers outlining the cost of free college. A 2020 article suggested $70 Billion and a 2012 article suggested $62.4 billion Those numbers when adjusted for inflation are $64.5 and 65.4 billion respectively. For our purposes I took the middle position of $65 Billion
C. Guaranteed Housing - 71.9 Billion
I couldn’t find projections as to how much this would cost. In 2016 HUD spent $36 billion on housing. In 2023 HUD is requesting $71.9 for its budget. I decided to use the 2023 request as my number for 2016.
Sources: Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2017, Analytical Perspectives (Washington: Government Printing Office, 2016), Table 29-1.
D. Total Cost of New Programs - $3.0069 Trillion
E. 2016 Tax Situation:
Tax Revenue: $3.3 Trillion
Government Spending: $3.9 Trillion
Government Deficit: $587 Trillion
Sources: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/graphic/52408-budgetoverall.pdf
F. Impact of 70% Tax Rate - Additional $80 billion in tax revenue
Number of people affected: 16,000
Current collection: $90 Billion
After Tax Increase Collection: $170 Billion
Additional tax revenue: $80 billion
G. Current Government spending - $1.2736 Trillion
Medicare/Medicaid: $1.2376 Trillion
Housing: $36 Billion
Education: Above figures would be additional spending
Results: $2.2403 Trillion deficit for 2016.
Substantial additional tax increases would need to implemented or drastic government reduction in spending elsewhere would be necessary.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
