We’ve made a terrible mess of things.
Let me explain.
I thought there were two universes: one that voted for Kamala and one that voted for Trump. I was going to write a whole thing about how we live in the moral universe and they live somewhere else.
And as I wrote, I realized. This is what they want me to think.
You see, they lie to people on the right and people on the right believe those lies. I mean, if everything they said was true, we’d all be demons. So people on the right hate people on the left.
The people on the left are harder to trick. They don’t believe the lies. They’re all about critical thinking skills. But here’s the rub: they value knowledge. And then half the country rejects knowledge and it makes them so angry. They call people on the right dumb. So people on the left hate people on the right.
I’m one of them. I hated Trump supporters. Yes, I was tricked, too.
People on the left don’t want to hear this, but Trump supporters aren’t your enemy. In fact they’re on your team. Trump is your enemy. Elon Musk is your enemy. Jeff Bezos is your enemy.
Our enemy is billionaires.
Here we are, gasping for air on a boiling planet, surrounded by crumbling schools, roads full of potholes, and exhausted workers using their last bit of energy on anger. And we’re all wasting our energy hating each other. We need to hate each other, because if we realized the enemy of both sides is billionaires, we could actually make this country better.
This manifesto is a plea for something better—a saner, kinder world where billionaires cease to exist.
1. TAX THE HELL OUT OF WEALTH
Here’s the plan: If you have more than $50 million, we’re going to take a chunk. If you have more than a billion dollars, we’ll take an even bigger chunk. This is Elizabeth Warren's proposed 2% tax on wealth above $50 million and 3% on wealth over $1 billion.
But don’t worry. You’ll still have more money than you could ever spend but not so much that you start thinking you’re a god. This is not a punishment. It is a correction.
Money is not like love or laughter. There is only so much of it, and if you hoard too much, somebody else goes hungry.
2. CLOSE THE TAX HAVENS WHERE BILLIONAIRES HIDE
No more secret islands where you bury your treasure like pirates. No more shell companies in places I can’t pronounce. End loopholes like carried interest, tax deferrals, and corporate inversions that allow billionaires and corporations to avoid taxes. Crack down on offshore accounts and tax havens.
We are taking back what is ours, and we will use it to build hospitals, libraries, and bridges. Not a single one of you will die from this. It might sting, but you’ll survive.
3. TAX CAPITAL GAINS LIKE ACTUAL WORK
Billionaires like to pretend that the money they make from stocks and bonds is somehow holier than the money a janitor earns scrubbing floors. It isn’t. From now on, if you make a killing off the stock market, you’ll pay taxes like everybody else. Tax capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income.
If you inherit a fortune, we’ll tax that too. We’ll eliminate the stepped-up basis at death.
Dynasties belong in history books, not in 21st-century America.
4. BREAK UP THE MONOPOLIES THAT TURN US INTO PEASANTS
A handful of billionaires own everything—your internet, your food, your homes, your ability to find joy in anything. This is feudalism with better branding.
We’ll break up these monopolies like a piñata at a child’s birthday party. Everyone gets a piece. Everyone wins.
5. MAKE POLITICS IMPOSSIBLE TO BUY
Billionaires buy politicians the way we buy a cup of coffee. They spend millions on campaigns, dark money PACs, and little favors that become big horrors.
Enough is enough. Overturn Citizens United. Implement publicly funded elections. Let’s make elections a game billionaires can’t play. Let the janitor run for office. Let the nurse run. Let democracy mean something again.
6. LIMIT CEO PAY AND SHARE THE PIE
If a CEO makes 500 times what their workers make, we’ll call that a crime against decency. From now on, workers will get a share of the profits they helped create. We’ll mandate that large corporations share profits with workers and promote employee stock ownership programs (ESOPs).
Billionaires can still have cake, but they can’t eat the whole thing.
7. NO MORE HOUSING FOR BILLIONAIRES WHILE EVERYONE ELSE SLEEPS IN THEIR CARS
Billionaires buy penthouses they don’t live in and skyscrapers they don’t need. Meanwhile, teachers and nurses sleep in shelters. We’ll implement taxes on luxury vacant properties and curb speculative real estate investments by billionaires. We’ll invest in affordable housing.
We’ll tax their empty mansions until they become homes for families. Everyone deserves a roof over their heads. Even billionaires, though they may feel less comfortable when they aren’t dragons sleeping on piles of gold.
8. INVEST IN THE FUTURE INSTEAD OF BILLIONAIRES’ EGOS
Every dollar we claw back from billionaires will go to the things that make life worth living: universal healthcare, public schools, childcare, clean energy, and smooth roads we all drive on.
9. PUT A STOP TO DYNASTIC WEALTH
The billionaires of today are raising the billionaires of tomorrow. They call it “legacy.” I call it a catastrophe. We’ll implement a high and progressive estate tax on billion-dollar inheritances.
Inheritances will no longer create kings and queens. Children of billionaires will still be fine, I promise. They might even learn how to live like the rest of us.
10. A SIMPLE TRUTH TO END THIS MADNESS
Billionaires are not evil. They are human beings who got lost. This manifesto is not about revenge. It’s about remembering that the world belongs to all of us.
If you are a billionaire reading this, take comfort: You do not need a private jet to be loved. You do not need a yacht to feel joy. You do not need more money to matter.
And to the rest of you, I say: Let’s fix this mess together. Let’s build a world where the working class isn’t owned by the rich.
If you care about freedom, we have a moral imperative to be free from billionaires.
- Nick Jack Pappas, Dec. 2024