Appearing on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers Thursday, aired early Friday morning, left-wing film maker Michael Moore promised viewers that if he ever ran for president his first agenda item would be “outlawing billionaires.” Asked about socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushing for a 70% marginal tax rate for the wealthy, Moore endorsed the radical proposal.
Gushing over Moore, liberal host Seth Meyers wondered: “If you were running, what would be your platforms? What would be the things that Michael Moore would promise to the American people?” The Fahrenheit 11/9 director proclaimed: “Well, I have a number of things I would do. First of all, I love the idea of just outlawing billionaires. It really is immoral.”
He went on to exploit the death of a young mother who fell down the stairs in a New York City subway station as evidence of America’s “immoral” capitalist system:
Two nights ago, a young mother, 22 years old, at the subway stop one block over on 7th Avenue and 50th Street, trying to take her baby down the stairs in the stroller and she falls and she dies. The mother dies....And I’m like, this is the richest country on the planet, and we’re in the richest city, and we have a subway system that is over 100 years old and feels like it’s 200 years old. And the fact that we can’t even provide what you have in other cities in this country, but also throughout the world, mass transit, modern mass transit, and she has to die struggling to take a stroller down the stairs.....How could we...have that and allow this woman to die because of an infrastructure that has crumbled and doesn’t work?
Meyers followed up by promoting Ocasio-Cortez demanding a massive tax increase: “You know, one of the things we’ve seen happen, in sort of the last month or so, is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had proposed this 70% marginal tax rate.” Moore eagerly embraced the idea: “Yeah, you get to have your first $10 million taxed like normal people. After that, you gotta pay a little more.”
After touting polls showing Americans supported the idea, Moore argued that it was because people no longer believed in the “myth” of the American dream: “...people realize that this myth that we were raised on, the Horatio Alger story that anybody can make it in America. Anybody could be a millionaire....I think people now know that, no, because everybody is living from paycheck to paycheck.”
Ironically, earlier in the discussion, Moore actually dismissed such a rags-to-riches story for former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, angry that the liberal billionaire was considering an independent presidential run:
The self-made Howard Schultz....in the same sentence, he goes, “I’m a self-made billionaire. I grew up in the projects in Brooklyn.” Right away, by admitting that you had subsidized public housing, paid for by the tax dollars of the American people, you aren’t self-made. You got a hand up from us....It’s a form of socialism, public housing....And yet, he’s saying, “I’m all self-made.” He went to public universities. He went to Northern Michigan University, actually. And, you know, again, financed by taxpayers’ dollars. And then, he sells coffee, which is essentially water, using city water systems, municipal water systems....You got to be a billionaire because we’re paying for the water!
So either it’s impossible for anyone to rise up from humble beginnings, or if they do, the government deserves all the credit – how convenient.
Later in the softball exchange, Moore ranted: “And I’ll tell you, the rich, the Howard Schultz’s and the Michael Bloomberg’s, they better get a clue, because they are tone deaf to the fact that people have had it....This has to stop. And I hope – look, we’ve got good candidates that are running, some of them are running on this.”
During a friendly CNN town hall on Monday, newly-announced 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris was asked by one far-left questioner if “the existence of multi-billionaires” was “morally defensible.” Clearly Moore was on the same page.
Here are portions of Moore’s January 31 exchange with Meyers, aired early on February 1:
12:57 AM ET
(...)
SETH MEYERS: You know, we were obviously mentioning Howard Schultz at the top of the show. How do you feel about –
MICHAEL MOORE: The self-made Howard Schultz.
MEYERS: Well now, explain this.
MOORE: Yes, yes.
MEYERS: You take issue with “self-made.”
MOORE: Well, in the same sentence, he goes, “I’m a self-made billionaire. I grew up in the projects in Brooklyn.” Right away, by admitting that you had subsidized public housing, paid for by the tax dollars of the American people, you aren’t self-made. You got a hand up from us. Like, we want to do. We want to help our fellow Americans. It’s a form of socialism, public housing.
MEYERS: Yeah.
MOORE: And yet, he’s saying, “I’m all self-made.” He went to public universities. He went to Northern Michigan University, actually. And, you know, again, financed by taxpayers’ dollars. And then, he sells coffee, which is essentially water, using city water systems [Laughter], municipal water systems.
MEYERS: Right.
(...)
12:59 PM
MOORE: You got to be a billionaire because we’re paying for the water!
MEYERS: Yeah.
(...)
MEYERS: You have a way – you have an idea to pressure him not to run. What’s your idea?
MOORE: Well, my idea, first of all, is none of us should go to Starbucks until he announces he’s not running.
MEYERS: Gotcha. Okay. [Applause]
MOORE: Then go back and buy a $5 cup of coffee. But in the meantime, I was thinking that those of us who would support such a boycott, we could set up, like, a little table in front of Starbucks, like a lemonade stand, and provide coffee, because people need their coffee, I understand that. [Laughter]
MEYERS: Yeah.
MOORE: So we’ll have coffee there at Starbucks, but in front of Starbucks, with city-owned water!
MEYERS: There you go, there you go. [Cheers and applause] Again, we’re starting to see – you know, it’s still early days, there’s sort of a trickle of candidates that I think is gonna only increase in size. We’re starting to see platforms. What – if you were running, what would be your platforms? What would be the things that Michael Moore would promise to the American people?
MOORE: Well, I have a number of things I would do. First of all, I love the idea of just outlawing billionaires. It really is immoral. I mean, I understand, you know, you can make $900 million and get through the year with that.
MEYERS: Right.
MOORE: As your income.
MEYERS: Uh-huh.
MOORE: But the idea of a billionaire – I mean, I was just – I was thinking about – we were talking backstage here, you know, we’re on 50th Street and 6th Avenue here in New York City. Two nights ago, a young mother, 22 years old, at the subway stop one block over on 7th Avenue and 50th Street, trying to take her baby down the stairs in the stroller and she falls and she dies. The mother dies. The baby lived, but the mother died. And I’m like, this is the richest country on the planet, and we’re in the richest city, and we have a subway system that is over 100 years old and feels like it’s 200 years old. And the fact that we can’t even provide what you have in other cities in this country, but also throughout the world, mass transit, modern mass transit, and she has to die struggling to take a stroller down the stairs.
Six – nine blocks from us right here. Go the other direction, on 59th and 6th Avenue, a man just bought the most expensive home, dwelling, in America. He spent $238 million on his penthouse.
MEYERS: Yeah.
MOORE: On Central Park South. How could we, just nine blocks away, have that and allow this woman to die because of an infrastructure that has crumbled and doesn’t work? This, if I were president, I would fix that immediately. I would not allow this kind of disparity to continue. [Cheers and applause].
MEYERS: You know, one of the things we’ve seen happen, in sort of the last month or so, is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had proposed this 70% marginal tax rate.
MOORE: Right.
MEYERS: So, you know, and then, you know, people – so it’s the money you make over $10 million that gets taxed.
MOORE: Yeah, you get to have your first $10 million taxed like normal people.
MEYERS: Yeah.
MOORE After that, you gotta pay a little more. And 70% of the country says now, in a Fox News poll, by the way...
MEYERS: Yeah. [Laughter]
MOORE: ...that they support her plan to tax, at the 70% rate, those over $10 million.
MEYERS: And what do you think that shift has been? Because I don’t think it would have been 70% even five years ago? Is it the stories you were just talking about? Is it that people see their infrastructure is crumbling and people are also buying homes for, you know, $200-plus-million?
MOORE: It’s all of that, but it’s also that people realize that this myth that we were raised on, the Horatio Alger story that anybody can make it in America. Anybody could be a millionaire. Anybody could be President of the United States – well, we already – we know that one’s true now. [Laughter]
MEYERS: Yeah, that one – that’s definitely true now, yeah.
MOORE: But I think people now know that, no, because everybody is living from paycheck to paycheck.
(...)
MOORE: And I’ll tell you, the rich, the Howard Schultz’s and the Michael Bloomberg’s, they better get a clue, because they are tone deaf to the fact that people have had it. And I think people – that’s why they support taxing the rich. They support – they see other countries have free health care and we are still paying through the nose and going through all this rigmarole. This has to stop. And I hope – look, we’ve got good candidates that are running, some of them are running on this.
(...)
