The libertarian economics professor argues that even if President Obama confiscated 100% of rich folks' money, it wouldn't begin to cover America's debts due to massive government spending: "The U.S. Treasury's 'balance sheet' does list liabilities such as public debt, but it does not
include the massive unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and
other federal future obligations. A conservative estimate of Washington's
unfunded liabilities for the year ending in 2011 is $87 trillion. That's
more than 500 percent of our 2011 GDP of $15 trillion."
More commentary from Dr. Williams: "Households earning $250,000 and above account for 25 percent, or
$1.97 trillion, of the nearly $8 trillion of total household income. If
Congress imposed a 100 percent tax, taking all earnings above $250,000 per
year, it would bring in about $1.9 trillion. That would keep Washington
running for 190 days, but there's a problem because there are 175 more
days left in the year. The profits of the Fortune 500 richest companies come to $400
billion. That would keep the government running for another 40 days, to
mid-July. America has 400 billionaires with a combined net worth of $1.3
trillion. If Congress fleeced them of their assets, stocks, bonds, yachts,
airplanes, mansions and jewelry, it would get us to at least late fall."
Walter Williams: "Obama's 'Tax The Rich' Rhetoric To Solve America's Budget Problems Is Fraudulent"
