During an interview with Melinda Gates, wife of billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates, on Wednesday, MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle pushed the idea of a “wealth tax” and wondered if it was time to “revisit capitalism.” Amid advocating the left-wing policies, Ruhle largely dismissed the role of private philanthropy in addressing societal problems.
After noting the effort by Gates and her husband “to donate the majority of your wealth to philanthropic causes,” Ruhle turned to ideas advocated by 2020 Democratic contenders like Elizabeth Warren: “But we’re at this moment in time where there are people pushing back, saying philanthropy isn’t enough. You can encourage people to do it, but it’s optional. And there’s an idea for a wealth tax. What’s your take on this?”
While Gates declared that she, her husband, and their billionaire friend Warren Buffet “all believe you need to tax the wealthy more than you need to tax middle-income people and middle-income people more than you tax low-income people in this country,” she still stressed the importance of private charity: “...we have to all be cognizant of philanthropy’s role....It can take ideas and experiments that you wouldn’t want the government to do with taxpayer money.”
Ruhle interjected: “But it can also disappear. Taxes, they don’t disappear.”
Moments later, the host talked about the possibility of moving away from the capitalist economic system:
Should individuals be able to make – we know we live in a free-market capitalist society. And in this society, individuals, more today than ever, have been able to amass billions of dollars in personal wealth. Do we need to revisit capitalism, seeing that the disparity between the rich and the poor has become so exaggerated?
Gates called for an increase in “government regulations” but maintained: “...we believe a capitalistic system is absolutely the system most people – I travel all over to various countries around the world, people want to live in the United States and be in a capitalistic free environment, a democracy.”
As 2020 Democrats move farther left and preach socialism, MSNBC is happy to move with them.
Here is a transcript of the April 24 exchange:
9:40 AM ET
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STEPHANIE RUHLE: I want to talk for a moment about the Giving Pledge. You and your husband, Bill, started it with Warren Buffett, the idea to donate the majority of your wealth to philanthropic causes. You have pressed many, many other wealthy people to do the same. But we’re at this moment in time where there are people pushing back, saying philanthropy isn’t enough. You can encourage people to do it, but it’s optional. And there’s an idea for a wealth tax. What’s your take on this?
MELINDA GATES: Yeah, so this was Warren Buffett’s big idea, the Giving Pledge. And we believe, with Warren, that the right thing to do, if you have great wealth. Both Warren and Bill are clear they wouldn’t have – the couldn’t have started the companies they have in other countries. We are lucky to be in this country. But philanthropy is not enough. And so, Bill, Warren, and I all believe you need to tax the wealthy more than you need to tax middle-income people and middle-income people more than you tax low-income people in this country. And I think we have to all be cognizant of philanthropy’s role. All philanthropy can do is be that catalytic wedge. It can take ideas and experiments that you wouldn’t want the government to do with taxpayer money.
RUHLE: But it can also disappear. Taxes, they don’t disappear.
GATES: They don’t disappear, but it’s up to government to scale up those things that work, as Warren calls them, the gaps in capitalism, that doesn’t always serve all low-income people. So philanthropy has to know its role with private sector, with nonprofit, and it’s always up to government to scale up health and education, for instance.
RUHLE: Should individuals be able to make – we know we live in a free-market capitalist society. And in this society, individuals, more today than ever, have been able to amass billions of dollars in personal wealth. Do we need to revisit capitalism, seeing that the disparity between the rich and the poor has become so exaggerated?
GATES: So this inequity that exists in society should not exist. Bill, Warren, and I all believe that. And yet, we believe a capitalistic system is absolutely the system most people – I travel all over to various countries around the world, people want to live in the United States and be in a capitalistic free environment, a democracy. However, we need to look at the tax structure, we need to look at certain government regulations, and make sure that we don’t get these inequities in society. And I think it’s time to do that and I’m actually enthused to see more political candidates putting different ideas – there’s not one that I agree with, but I think that’s what moves the conversation forward.
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