CMV: Most wealthy people in the US today will have their wealth seized or massively redistributed by 2030

I believe that owing to the growing wealth gap and the changing politics globally, the USA will have some sort of massive wealth reallocation by the end of 2030. The US will have some sort of large land redistribution, nationalization of select industries, massive tax overhaul, or possibly a full on revolution, with that wealth and land being redistributed to the wealthy. <br><br>Now by wealthy, I’m not talking about your upper middle class neighbors with a 1 million dollar house, your friend with a successful small business, or your distant cousin who made it big in real estate. I mean the Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, owners of Walmart, etc.<br><br>This isn’t just some random prediction, here are my reasons:<br><br>1) Extreme wealth inequality.<br><br>The amount of wealth held in so few hands by the richest people in this country, and the end trails of the middle class are indicators of an unstable economy. The extreme wealth gap in the US is unsustainable in the long run, and there isn’t an indication that this is improving. You cannot have a democracy where so much wealth is held by so few people, and the majority of the country can’t afford basic necessities.<br><br>The scary thing about the modern-day wealth gap is that the modern wealthy don’t hide their wealth in silos. They reinvest it in more lucrative assets, making their wealth grow exponentially. The reason that Elon Musk, for example, was able to become the richest man in the world in such a short period of time was because he invested his wealth aggressively into high risk high reward ventures that multiplied his wealth by 10 fold in a year. The middle class earns interest with their money, the wealthy grow their wealth exponentially through investments. This mindset is a ticking time bomb for the wealthy because they view their assets as a way to make more wealth. But there needs to be an adjustment. There’s only so much wealth to be made.<br><br>2) They are the ones that have created this system by buying politicians and have benefited from it…. But times are a changing.<br><br>The 400 richest people in this country have amassed more wealth than the bottom 150 million people. They have made their wealth off of the backs of millions. They have only continued to grow their wealth because they have and continue to lobby Congress to pass laws that help them and only them.<br><br>But the winds of change are coming. The politics of the US are shifting massively in favor of progressive ideas and candidates. This is not only because of Bernie, but the massive amount of media coverage that billionaires have gotten in the past five years, and the general global shift towards more liberal politicians. There’s been a light shone on how billionaires have been able to exploit the tax system to pay little to no taxes. They have exploited a system that *they themselves have created.* They will soon be held accountable.<br><br>3) The IRS is underfunded, and audits are very rare for the ultra-rich.<br><br>The IRS is severely underfunded. They have been given a fixed budget for the past decade, and with inflation, it’s like they’re losing money every year. With the lack of funding, they have to budget their audits. I.e. they need to pick and choose who gets audited.<br><br>The ultra-rich are the least likely to get audited. This is because the IRS generally only audits the ultra-rich when there’s a very clear discrepancy in their tax returns. The US tax system hinges on the idea that people will report their income and pay their taxes without any issues, because the IRS doesn’t really have the bandwidth to audit everyone. The ultra-rich have armies of tax accountants and lawyers that find every little loophole that exists to avoid paying taxes. This is so profitable because the wealthy don’t have to pay their fair share of taxes, that they have an incentive to hire entire departments to get out of paying taxes.<br><br>4) Increased tax revenue and audits are not going to be enough to pay off the national debt<br><br>The US national debt is approximately $23 trillion USD. Let’s just round this down to $20 trillion USD for simplicity. If every single dollar that the ultra-rich had accumulated was seized by the government, it would barely cover a fraction of the national debt.<br><br>I believe the US has so much debt, and the rich have so much wealth that I believe there is an event in the near future where the US government has to seize some of the rich’s wealth to pay off the national debt.<br><br>5) “The Event”<br><br>There’s going to be some catalyzing event that causes this to happen. It could be the aftermath of the next big recession, a revolution, climate crisis, or a war. The event needs to be big enough to give the government permission to seize the assets. It will be a massive event that requires the government to step in and start doing whatever they can to protect their citizens.<br><br>6) Governments all around the world are already doing this.<br><br>India just seized billions in cash from wealthy corporations. France has frozen all the assets of the French billionaires that are currently living abroad. China has been auditing and seizing the wealth of their wealthiest citizens for years now.<br><br>7) The global economic system is unsustainable.<br><br>The global economic system as it is today is unsustainable. Capitalism is based on competition, and corporations’ ability to exploit loopholes in the system to save costs and gain a competitive advantage. The global economic system needs some sort of shake-up in order to right the ship.<br><br>So in conclusion, I think by 2030, there will be some kind of event that causes the US government to crack down on the wealthy elites that are hoarding billions.<br><br>**Why I think that this is so important**<br><br>I’m only 19, but the more I learn about the way the world is organized, the more I realize that isn’t a system for everyone, but a system for a select few. The growing wealth gap is a ticking time bomb. I believe that we need a massive overhaul of our system, and that overhaul will come in the form of redistribution of wealth.<br><br>I also believe that this will only be the beginning. The government will seize whatever wealth they can, only to discover that it was only a fraction of what was needed. Then what?<br><br>**Why I think that this needs to happen**<br><br>I believe that this needs to happen to correct the massive wealth imbalance. I think this is the first step of a many step process that will take decades, but will lead to a more just and equal society.<br><br>**Why I think that this will happen.**<br><br>I’ve listed my 7 points above.<br><br>**Why you should change my view**<br><br>I think that this is a very important topic, and I believe that the best way to learn is to get your ideas shot down.<br><br>I’m a college student, and while I do have a lot of experience being right, I’m by no means an economics expert. There may be flaws in my reasoning that I haven’t yet seen.<br><br>Thank you for reading, and I’m excited to hear your thoughts.<br><br>Edit: Hey guys, I'm really glad this blew up overnight. I've been following and liking comments, but I might not be able to respond to all the comments going forward. I'm gonna take the weekend to think of all the things that you've said, and on Monday I'll write up some additional thoughts.