Dalio’s comments follow from similar pronouncements by other wealthy, successful men, including BlackRock’s Larry Fink. Morris Pearl, a former BlackRock managing director who chairs the group Patriotic Millionaires, has also been lobbying for higher taxes on the rich for years. “Given the choice between pitchforks and taxes, I choose taxes” was his pithy conclusion.
(May 6): The flames that tore through the famed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris not only exposed how vulnerable historic icons are to fire, it also revealed how the jarring divide between rich and poor threatens to bring down the system of capitalism. The ostentatious pledges of hundreds of millions of euros by France’s elite to restore the cathedral sparked outcry; France had already witnessed months of protests, some of which turned violent, led by the so-called Yellow Vests. The movement started in November 2018 after an online petition was posted in May in response to impending hikes in fuel taxes, but escalated to widespread expressions of discontent against France’s socioeconomic inequality.
The protests in France are not the only signs of growing disenchantment with the current economic system. Tellingly, Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund manager and one of the world’s richest men, has declared growing wealth inequality in the US as a national emergency. Capitalism was not working anymore for the majority of Americans, he says. What is needed is accountability at the top, and reform in policies, including taxes on the wealthy.
