MSNBC analyst claims billionaires exists as a 'policy' in the U.S.
MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas made a case for abolishing billionaires like Twitter CEO Elon Musk for the sake of democracy on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday.
MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas claimed that billionaires are "inconsistent" with democracy and could be outlawed while appearing on Monday’s "Morning Joe."
Giridharadas discussed Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s latest policy changes to the social media site, including firing several employees and allowing former President Trump’s account to be reinstated. Giridharadas penned an opinion piece for the New York Times on Saturday that argued billionaires like Musk "made a strong case for abolishing themselves."
He further made his case on the MSNBC program by insisting that billionaires only exist in the U.S. "at our collective pleasure," suggesting it is a "policy choice" to "allow" the accumulation of such wealth.
MSNBC analyst Anand Giridharadas suggested billionaires should be abolished on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Monday. (MSNBC)
"I think something we often forget as Americans is that billionaires exist as a class of people who have that much money at our collective pleasure, right? It is a policy choice to allow some people to accumulate that much money, hundreds of billions of dollars, in the case of people in the United States before everybody has the chance to live with dignity, right? Other countries make that choice very differently. We have chosen historically to heavily prioritize having billionaires over having dignity for all people. And that’s a choice, I would just start by saying that we could make differently in the future," Giridharadas said.
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He added, "And so I wrote the piece to try to remind people of that choice we have. And last week was remarkable. I mean, I’ve written about billionaires for years and talked about these issues on this show. But it was hard to imagine a week when there was so many spectacular reminders of the way in which this kind of billionaire classes is inconsistent with democracy as we live it."
He reiterated, "Their existence as billionaires is sort of antithetical to our flourishing as a democracy."
His New York Times piece more specifically called for policies that could tax or limit billionaires from existing in the first place.
Many on the left are sounding the alarm about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. (FOX)
"One after another, four of our best-known billionaires laid waste to the image of benevolent saviors carefully cultivated by their class," he wrote about Musk, Trump, Jeff Bezos and Sam Bankman-Fried.
"It is a commendable sacrifice on their part, because billionaires, remember, exist at our collective pleasure. If enough of us decided to, we could enact labor, tax, antitrust and regulatory policies to make it hard for anyone to amass that much wealth while so many beg for scraps. It is not only the vast political power of billionaires that keeps us keeping them around, it’s also the popular embrace of certain myths — about the generosity, the genius, the renegade spirit, the above-it-ness of billionaires, to name a few," he wrote.
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Giridharadas has attacked Musk for his Twitter purchase since April. He had previously referred to Musk as a "sociopath," claiming the CEO is "nostalgic" for apartheid South Africa and wants to limit nonwhite users.
Anand Girridharadas called Elon Musk a "sociopath" who was "nostalgic" for apartheid South Africa. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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He continued on Monday to insult Musk’s leadership by attacking it as a "sausage fest."
"He’s gutted the company. Photos of him from the company at a so-called code meeting show that there’s basically like no women left working around him. It’s just a big sausage fest in there working — you know, in the team that he has remaining around him," Giridharadas said.
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