Charles Hugh Smith – The 2020 election cycle has begun, and a popular campaign promise is “free everything” paid for by new taxes on the super-wealthy. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Who will vote for whomever offers them free stuff? No wonder it’s a popular campaign promise.

As even the most self-absorbed American voter has a latent street-savvy awareness that nothing is truly free, the other popular campaign promise is to “tax the rich” to pay for the proposed “free” programs. Proposals to “Tax the rich” feed off the growing awareness that the financial wealth created since 2000 has largely flowed to the very top of the wealth-power pyramid, and so it’s payback time: tax those who have pocketed the lion’s share of income and wealth gains. Continue reading →