All the worry over Elizabeth Warren’s plans to tax the rich makes me think, of course, of a place like Russia. 1/ nyti.ms/2CtMPRN?smid=n…
From studying Russia, I’ve seen how entrenched inequality and strong resistance by the elite to make even the slightest change in a system that benefits them drive increasingly radical proposals to take their wealth away. 2/
The longer elites push off change, the harsher the proposals get. If, in the 19th century, liberals wanted land reform and a constitutional monarchy, by 1917, revolutionaries were seizing power and shooting the artistocracy. 3/
In 2011, Russian liberals wanted free and fair elections. Today, when Russia has the largest wealth gap in the world, the talk is of tribunals and stringing the elite up on lamp posts. 4/
Russia is not America, but they have more in common than you think. And if you look at other world revolutions, there is one striking similarity: resistance by the elite to allow change and share their wealth leads to increasingly radical—and violent—outcomes. 5/
Maybe slashing a billionaire’s wealth from $160 billion to $49 billion sounds rash, but it’s worth thinking about why we’ve gotten to a point where these proposals resonate—and how mild they might seem in retrospect. /end
