Name: Billionaires' wealth gain could fund $3.9K stimulus checks—Obama economist
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Billionaires' wealth gain could fund $3.9K stimulus checks—Obama economist

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ShareThe $1.3 trillion wealth gain by America's billionaires since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic could pay for a stimulus check of $3,900 for every U.S. citizen, the former Labour Secretary under and Economic Advisor to former President has said.Professor Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 1997, made the comments on . Reich also served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald and Jimmy Carter, and was a member of Former President Barrack Obama's economic transition advisory board.Corruption and Tax Abuse Slow Action on Poverty and Climate ChangeRead more"The $1.3 trillion wealth gain by America's 660 billionaires since the pandemic began could pay for a stimulus check of $3,900 for every one of the 331 million people in the U.S.," said Reich."And the billionaires would be as rich as they were before the pandemic. Tax the billionaires," he added.President is proposing but Republicans in have criticized it, saying it is too costly. Republicans have also resisted sending families stimulus checks most of last year, claiming they were too expensive.However, conducted by Morning Consult, found that the majority of support Biden's coronavirus relief package. Sixty percent of GOP legislators said they supported it, compared to 89 percent of and 71 percent of independents.Overall 76 percent of Americans said they support the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which includes $1,400 direct payments to eligible Americans, extended unemployment benefits and funding to states and local governments.Reich, now a public policy professor at the , Berkeley, said U.S. is living through a "second gilded age" where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few at the top.The former government official told Newsweek: "We're in a Second Gilded Age which—just like the first—featured concentrated wealth in a few hands at the top, monopolistic practices, wage and voter suppression, wide inequality, and corruption (now called political donations). Then, it was steel magnates like Andrew Carnegie, railroad barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, and oil tycoons like John D. Rockefeller."Now, it's , , and a gaggle of Wall Street financiers. But the effects are similar. As the great jurist Louis Brandeis said, toward the end of the first Gilded Age, 'we have a choice. We can either have great wealth in the hands of a few, or we can have a democracy. But we cannot have both.'"The total wealth of America's 664 billionaires—$4.2 trillion—is also more than two-thirds higher than the $2.4 trillion in total wealth held by the bottom half of the population, 165 million Americans, according to Inequality.org, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.The richest 1 percent of the population in America pay an effective federal income tax rate of 24.7 percent, little more than 19.3 percent paid by someone making an average of $75,000.Reich also took aim at government military spending."For the cost of the $1.7 trillion failed fighter jet program, the government could have provided $5,135 survival checks for every one of the 331 million people in the U.S. today," he said on Twitter on Thursday.Robert Reich has contributed opinion columns to Newsweek., orVSCHOOSE YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONPREMIUMDIGITAL+ Ad FreeNEWSLETTERBEST OF NEWSWEEK VIA EMAILJoin half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters

ShareThe $1.3 trillion wealth gain by America's billionaires since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic could pay for a stimulus check of $3,900 for every U.S. citizen, the former Labour Secretary under and Economic Advisor to former President has said.Professor Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton between 1993 and 1997, made the comments on . Reich also served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald and Jimmy Carter, and was a member of Former President Barrack Obama's economic transition advisory board.Corruption and Tax Abuse Slow Action...

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Billionaires' wealth gain could fund $3.9K stimulus checks—Obama economist

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