Letter to the Editor:

Billionaires Buying National Elections

Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican, announced his candidacy for the Democratic election late in the game. Why? Because he could make money whether winning or losing.

Bloomberg has a personal fortune worth $52 billion. Trump won the last national election with just under 63 million votes. If Bloomberg could pull in the same 63 million votes at a cost of about $100 per vote (his usual estimated cost to win past elections) it would cost him just $6.3 billion. Yet, whether winning or losing, it would be a business investment that could pay off well for him.

Simply by running, Bloomberg intends to get his message out that completely undermines Democratic candidates who want to tax the wealthy. Thus, even failing to win he could discourage strong support for those more progressive candidates calling for a wealth tax. If successful in sidetracking that effort, he would save over $6 billion in taxes in simply two years and recover his investment quickly. In contrast, if the wealth tax does pass, he could well lose more than $3 billion via taxes during just next year, by one estimate, and even more thereafter.

It’s all about the wealthy buying elections.

Mary McBee

Tama