Reshuffle the Deck Act

Take all assets above $100 million and redistribute the wealth

Wealth, distributed by birth lottery and luck

A man buys Bitcoin to pay for child porn but ends up a millionaire on accident when the value of the asset skyrockets. A guy inherits billions and makes ridiculous shirts. The idea that someone can start with nothing but rise to the top in a fair system of market rewards is a myth. Entrepreneurs are not a special breed: they are mostly just rich kids.

If you are in the right place, at the right time, with the right idea and the right ability set, you can make billions. Congratulations. People should be rewarded for their risks and ideas. I agree. You should be rich. But there is just no reason to let someone get THAT rich. So much wealth accumulation serves absolutely no purpose.

An opprotunity for the rich to prove their money skills

Is the tech billionaire is really special, or just a little special and a lot lucky? Let’s find out. Let’s take away all but $100 million dollars and see if he can re-build his fortune. $100 is not pocket change: plenty to invest. If you love to invest, create and build value, then, great, you get a new chance to prove how good you are at it.

Why do you get a new chance? Because we the people should pass a new law: the Shuffle the Deck Act. Under this act, the government would quickly step in and redistribute the wealth.

Under my proposal, no one would be allowed to have more than $100 million dollars in wealth. That is a shit load of money and no one needs more than that. If the people took all the wealth of the super rich beyond $100 million, that would be at least $100,000 per man, woman and child in America. Just the top 160 individuals control 2 trillion dollars. Two trillion / 320 million =six thousand two hundred fifty, that is $62,250 per person. And that’s just the top 160 people. There are several thousand people between $100 million and the least wealthy of the top 160.

The rich aren’t better. They don’t deserve the money. Rich people hoarding money is not good for the economy or the environment or anything that might be considered “good.” Philanthropy is a con game. Rich people giving away money makes them feel good and almost nothing else worthwhile.

If the Shuffle the Deck Act were passed, as below, the economy would boom. True, it might be hard to get people to show up for a $20 an hour job when they have $400,000 in the bank, but they wouldn’t have the money in the bank… they would have stocks and shares in entities. And there are many other public needs, such as infrastructure and education, retooling our green economy, that would not be served by simple redistribution. But I think the two sets of issues — societal needs and inequality — might be addressed best separately. Money for infrastructure can come through taxation, more or less as the government collects taxes now. In the law below, I attempt to make a quick re-shuffle without empowering the government or facilitating anyone skimming off a cut.

I can’t see why anyone who has $100 million could possible howl how unfair the world is to them or how they are oppressed or mistreated. That’s enough.

Reshuffle the deck.

Preamble:

Whereas, excessive wealth is deleterious to a democratic society, and, whereas, most wealth acquisition is arbitrary, the Shuffle the Deck Act (SDA) aims to redistribute the nation’s wealth.

Definitions:

“Subjects:” The subjects of this act include any individual who was a citizen of the United States, regardless of residency, and any individual who was a permanent resident of the United States at any time within 150 days of the execution of the act.

“Assets:” For the purposes of this legislation an asset in any form of wealth controlled for the benefit of a subject, including financial instruments, real property, shares or other personal interests in corporations, trusts, etc.

“Service provider:” Any person who performs accounting, legal, banking, asset management, or any other service pertaining to the assets of a subject.

“Units:” A unit is an asset or part of an asset worth $10,000 within the period between the execution of this act and 60 days after the execution of SDA.

“Agency:” The office dedicated to the execution of this act.

“Recipients:” Every American citizen or permanent resident with a social security number 1) as of 60 days prior to the execution of this act or 2) born within 60 of the execution of the SDA.

Part one: Asset requisition

Article 1: Starting thirty (30) days after this act is signed into law, no subject person may own or control for his or her benefit more than $100 million in assets. Total assets of a subject person may again exceed $100 starting one year after the date this law takes effect.

Article 2: Any subject person him or herself or any service provider found guilty of aiding or abetting a subject person in the circumvention of Article 1 shall be imprisoned for not less than five (5) years and subject to a fine not less than $100,000.

Article 3: Any subject person who attempt to renounce their US citizenship or otherwise attempts to avoid the provisions of this law by physical flight from the territory of the United States will be considered an enemy combatant subject to extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation techniques in Guantanamo Bay.

Article 4: Assets of a subject person that may be transferred to another person or other entity after this law takes effect will be subject to a 100% tax.

Part two: Asset distribution

Article 5: All assets will be divided into units within 60 days by the agency.

Article 6: Units will be distributed to recipients randomly within 120 days of the execution of the SDA.

Article 7: The agency will establish governing assets with multiple receipts holding varying numbers of units.

Article 8: One year after the execution of the SDA, the agency will dissolve and no further acts of redistribution modeled on the SDA will be permitted in the United States for 25 years from the date of execution.