“Eat the rich” may be an attractive idea to some, but let’s face it: the rich are just too few to go around. Their wealth, on the other hand, offers plenty for all.
Instead of fretting about a minimum wage for the poor, let’s set a maximum wage for the rich. Call it a million dollars a year, salary or investment income, with any excess income going straight into tax revenues.
It’s a sign of our oligarchs’ power that such an idea is almost unthinkable. But Ingrid Robeyns, a philosopher and economist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, explores in detail the idea of limiting private wealth. In her new book Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, she makes a persuasive case and raises some very serious moral, political and economic problems.