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April 10, 2019
Mark Schmitt wrote for Vox on why millionaires are not the enemy.
Not only are millionaires less blameworthy for inequality than billionaires, I’d go even further: A reasonable long-term goal of public policy would be to create fewer billionaires and more millionaires. Where would the additional millionaires come from? Some would come from above, as billion dollar fortunes would be taxed and economic structures reformed. Entrepreneurs would still be amply rewarded for ingenuity and risk-taking, but those rewards would come with two commas, not three. A suitable motto for Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax — and for the new wave of democratic socialists — might be, “What if all the billionaires became just multimillionaires?” which is hardly a revolutionary chant.
But policy should also make it possible for many more people and families to move up to that threshold, by their mid-60s, where they have enough savings and security to enjoy a stress-free retirement and help their children and grandchildren. Retirement savings calculators likely overstate things, but a standard one indicates that a 35-year-old in a household making the median income of $56,500 should aim to save $1.6 million in order to retire at 67.