The phrase “tax the rich” can be “just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs”, according to the New York City billionaire Steve Roth, who said that the top 1% should be “praised and thanked”.

Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, expressed his support for fellow billionaire and the CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin, who was singled out in the 15 April announcement by New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of the state’s first “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5m. In a video, Mamdani announced the policy in front of Griffin’s penthouse, which he said was purchased for $238m.

“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said. “This was both irresponsible and dangerous.”

Edit: Mamdani’s video that sparked this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKZnVB4F9k

  • volore@scribe.disroot.org
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    3 months ago

    I feel like Mr. Roth has forgotten that being taxed is the alternative we came up with to beheadings for the upper class when they got too rich and powerful.

    • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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      3 months ago

      Yeah… tax the rich is the nicest thing we could be saying… they’ve definitely forgotten…

  • Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zonedeleted by creator
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    3 months ago

    I don’t understand why media prints stuff like this as if it’s a valid point that needs to be explored

  • Mantzy81@aussie.zone
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    3 months ago
    1. Overwhelmingly rich isn’t a race
    2. There are ways to solve being rich
    3. There are other options if you don’t like those but bring a pillow for your head to land on.
    • finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Just got a weird Clayton Bigsby feel from your comment, only instead of him saying ‘white power’ quietly at the end of his shouting, I thought of someone ranting about the harm rich people do continually ending their bellowing with a short, fast, calm, “Eat the rich” as a contrast at the end of any sentence. For example:

      “BILLIONAIRES COULD BUILD A DOZEN STRAY ANIMAL SHELTERS FOR THE COST OF ONE OF THEIR YACHTS, BUT THEY’RE TOO SELFISH! THE ONLY ANIMAL THEY CARE ABOUT … IS THEMSELVES! Eat the rich”.

      “NINE DOLLARS FOR A CUP OF COFFEE?! NINE DOLLARS COULD PAY FOR A STUDENT’S BREAKFAST AND LUNCH! Eat the rich”.

      “OW! I STUBBED MY GODDAMN TOE! Eat the rich”.

      • captcha@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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        3 months ago

        The examples give a vibe of radio advertising, with a sped up text in the end telling you ‘we are not responsible for anything, terms and limitations will may apply, consult your therapist, your lawyer, your neighbour, and your dog’

      • k0e3@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Yeah. Some of us don’t mind taxing and eating the rich.

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          oh yeah? well some of us don’t mind taxing, cooking, and eating, the rich and then turning their skin into a bunch of canoes

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Bring back the tax brackets from the 1960’s. That should solve the problems. Fucking Ronnie Reagan and his deregulation.

  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    He views the Rich as a separate ethnic group.

    from wiki:

    An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of humans who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Attributes that ethnicities believe to share include language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment.

    He’s mostly right, but that doesn’t invalidate criticisms of the Rich.

    • StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      That’s like admitting they live in a completely different world. That’s what blows my mind. By implication, he’s admitting the wealthy exist in a completely separate reality. That the shadow economy is real, and that the average person is effectively a second-class citizen. It’s an acknowledgment that it is, and maybe always has been, us versus them. I’ve always said they exist in a completely different world, one that operates on different rules than the rest of us. More than just the obvious. Everything you posted, culture, norms, ancestry, history. They will never change to help you. They will always operate from a place of exploitation. It’s their culture. They made it so.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I think it’s more that he views anyone not rich as not human. Only him and his rich friends are actually people and the plebeian masses should defer to them as such.

  • Phantaloons@piefed.zip
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    3 months ago

    Throw the rich off a cliff and liquidate their assets and net worth. was a bit too harsh, but whatever we have to do.

  • MrSulu@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    Quite unlikely that any of his ancestors worked the cotton fields. He probably thinks he’s a self made man.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Of course he’s self-made. His ancestors didn’t even have those lucrative cotton field jobs. Probably had to survive off their capital and nothing else.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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    3 months ago

    Let’s make this Sociopathic Oligarch understand that his…sort…are the only group left for which BULLYING is totally allowed, and strongly encouraged.

    Fuck these loser snowflakes, all the money in the world, and they’re whining because we aren’t nice enough to them, poor people get all the breaks, it’s just not fair.