Trillionaire: Our Money Chaos Mess (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781734439021)

A few individuals having wealth approaching one trillion dollars is symptomatic of a country off course. Money piled high is dangerous. The stacks are tippy-high partly because the extremely privileged are lightly taxed.

In addition to the crash down hazard, a fair contribution is missing for the funds needed for investment in public goods and property.

The shortfall is accompanied by policy that protects rent takers in health care delivery and energy delivery. Payment to the takers is a self-inflicted injury for the economy. The rent is money not available for needed, genuine, investment.

Government support of fossil fuels is a particularly foolish use of public funds because it delays the transition to lower cost renewable energy for most purposes, including transportation. That delay also ensures there will be more difficult and expensive adjustments for future generations due to climate change.

Extreme wealth disparity has led to violent social breakdowns in the past. This essay argues for measured policy adjustments to avoid the destructive effects of revolution that are an almost inevitable outcome when those deprived of their share become desperate enough to take to the streets.

Specific recommendations are offered here under the name "2027 Project." It recognizes the fact that other countries using something closer to a public utility model for health care enjoy better outcomes while spending significantly less money. A single payer system could save a trillion dollars a year. Similar magnitude savings will result from the transition to sun-produced electricity and its use for mobility.

Increased investment in public goods, especially in education, is recommended. Sixteen years of public education and training is a suggested new norm rather than the twelve years that might have been adequate when it was adopted 100 years ago.

Shifting the tax burden back toward the wealthy, who have ample ability to pay, and away from the very large portion of the population and workforce that is struggling financially is recommended.

It should be noted that the very wealthy enjoy exceptional benefit from the country's shared commons. Fair taxation is the goal, not radical confiscation. A burden distribution closer to what it was in 1970 or 1980 should be the goal.