Reply #59: So make yourself rich and loan yourself $1,000,000 [View All]

[NoNothing]

First point - Federal securities are of no value *to the federal government* because they own both the asset and the liability. They are of value to other entities because then the other entity owns the asset but NOT the liability. They could conceivably sell those bonds to other entities for cash, but then they'd have to pay them back with interest, really no different than just borrowing the money to pay back the bonds. Remember that bonds have no *intrinsic* value - their entire value is premised on the Treasury buying them back, for the full value plus interest.

Second point - a tax on income is an income tax. It's classified differently for administrative purposes, but I'm just talking about what it actually is, because ultimately these taxes are limited by what people earn. Now it may very well be that a 34% income tax hike is the best way to solve the problem, or it may not be. I'm just trying to push back against this idea that it's easy and painless and only stupidity prevents it from happening.

We're not talking about the "uber" wealthy as you are implying, we're talking about lots of upper-middle-class families and small business owners.