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
153 Comments
shweddy@lemmy.world · 250 pts · 89d
Bitch, taxing the rich is the humane option
WYLD_STALLYNS@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 76 pts · 89d
I get the feeling we’re getting closer to starting to spit roast them.
SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 21 pts · 89d
WYLD_STALLYNS@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 19 pts · 89d
I actually meant it in the literal sense, but these days I’m sure there’s a few people who would. 🤮
SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 89d
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 88d
my dude it's been like 500, 600 years. there are better ways to get things doner

toiletobserver@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 89d
I'd be willing to accept the... Alternative
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 11 pts · 89d
Yeah, heading towards just taking it all, and leaving them destitute, and if they don't like it, they can think about it in prison, if they're lucky to survive that long.
They enjoy their wealth at the pleasure of the Citizens, and those who don't handle their wealth responsibly, will have it removed.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 88d
Leaving them destitute is much more polite than the alternative too. That basically requires them to comply, which I assume they won't. If it comes down to other actions being taken, because the systems aren't doing their job, it'll require some level of violence.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 4 pts · 88d
How easy or violent it has to be is entirely up to them. If they want violence, we can oblige them, but they'll still lose their money, and their family may not survive it.
Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 89d
Because of…..the implication.
MissJinx@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 88d
In france this would not work out
shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works · 140 pts · 89d
Guillotine the rich
Luci@lemmy.ca · 56 pts · 89d
I’d vote for you
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 40 pts · 89d
Shittydwarf for comptroller!
bcgm3@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 88d
Ooh, he's definitely not gonna like that one.
volore@scribe.disroot.org · 119 pts · 89d
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 · 16 pts · 89d
Yeah.. tax the rich is the nicest thing we could be saying.. they’ve definitely forgotten…
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 92 pts · 89d
Waaah wahh
These people are lucky. No ones eaten them yet.
crusa187@lemmy.ml · 80 pts · 89d
Perhaps he would prefer “Eradicate the rich.”
(Through even more taxation, of course.)
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 89d
Or guillitines. Or Luigi. Look, I'm not really picky on how we make the streets flow with a river of their blood. Dealers choice really.
oopsgodisdeadmybad@lemmy.zip · 23 pts · 89d
Yesss
I just said this in another thread but I'll repair it here.
Once no one is rich, everyone will be.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 78 pts · 89d
Translation: "we're still working on finding ways to make him do our bidding"
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 60 pts · 88d
Just to highlight that as a real estate magnate, his entire empire is built on rent-seeking, i.e. accumulating wealth by the hoarding of a limited resource, without having created anything of value.
This billionaire did not create a billion dollars of value for society, even indirectly; he only took it from others.
EvergreenGuru@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 89d
“I’m afraid of the poors!”
Boys, we have them right where we want them.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works · 44 pts · 89d
we’re gonna eat you, you rich motherfuckers
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world · 42 pts · 89d
He views the Rich as a separate ethnic group.
from wiki:
He's mostly right, but that doesn't invalidate criticisms of the Rich.
Agent641@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 89d
Finally, a morally and ethically acceptable group to do ethnic cleansing on!
TachyonTele@piefed.social · 11 pts · 89d
I was against genocide....
jonesey71@lemmus.org · 8 pts · 89d
Arguably it is immoral to NOT cleanse them.
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 89d
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.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 89d
For all intents and purposes, they have become Battlefield Earth aliens or Morlocks.
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 89d
The old vampire metaphor still works too.
edible_funk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 88d
Dragons.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 89d
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.
liuther9@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
I've met some people with this mindset of "i dont give a single fuk if it is not good for me". They also tend to praise billionares and bad dictators. Makes me really curios how their brain works
deadymouse@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 88d
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net · 39 pts · 89d
"TAX" is going to be the softest, most palateable verb that will be done to them, the alternatives are a little less polite.
proofchampionship184@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 89d
“Oh, would you prefer ‘torture and execute’ then?” Lmao
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 88d
My favourite phrase, or at least one that's given me a glimmer of hope for the future is "They will have to invent a new word for what the people are going to do to those responsible."
jestho@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 88d
Torture And eXecute
BaraCoded@literature.cafe · 1 pts · 88d
... "Torcute"?
jestho@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 88d
Needs an x to sound scary
BaraCoded@literature.cafe · 1 pts · 86d
"Execure"?
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 38 pts · 89d
"We want you to pay your fair share of taxes to maintain the system you enjoy the benefits and protection of." = slur?
Eat all of my shit and hair, Steve Roth. You sound like a real turd of a human being.
nonentity@sh.itjust.works · 35 pts · 89d
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
dustyData@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 89d
From the crowd that came up with gems as "bank accounts are citizenship", "transactions are free speech" and "attorney fees are justice". Comes the latest madness "tax is a hate crime".
yesman@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 89d
Tax that peckerwood until he starts singing spirituals.
Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip · 33 pts · 89d
"Tax the rich" is putting it very nicely.
They've dehumanized themselves with their monstrous exploitation.
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 89d
Bring back the tax brackets from the 1960's. That should solve the problems. Fucking Ronnie Reagan and his deregulation.
oldwoodenship@lemmus.org · 1 pts · 88d
Citizens United also has to go.
Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 32 pts · 89d
What a little pathetic bitch. Eat the rich
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 89d
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 · 2 pts · 88d
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
willmay apply, consult your therapist, your lawyer, your neighbour, and your dog’Microtonal_Banana@lemmy.zip · 29 pts · 88d
"Tax the rich" is the 99% being nice. We could go the France in 1792 route.
blindbunny@lemmy.ml · 27 pts · 89d
There's only 700 billionaires in America, and I think we should kill every single one.
Infinite@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 89d
Probably the married ones too.
bridgeburner@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
I think we can make an exception for Gaben
TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 89d
Eh...acceptable collateral
Oggyb@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
Someone could tip him off ahead of time so he can donate to charitable causes down to 900 million.
korazail@lemmy.myserv.one · 1 pts · 88d
I hear what you're saying, but counterpoint:
I'd prefer Steam's helpdesk staff were paid more, and their janitors, and their contractors, and anyone else involved in making that business work. Gabe doesn't NEED a new yacht. Some of the people working for him do NEED healthcare.
Gabe is definitely on the not-a-monster side of the billionaire spectrum, but you don't get that much money with purely your output. You get lucky and have a good idea at the right time, inherit, or rent-seek. Two of those are stupid reasons to have immense wealth, and I don't think getting lucky is worth the vast gulf between billionaire and struggling-to-get-by.
I think if we could have a wealth cap... say 10 billion right now, an absurd sum, where it's almost impossible to even spend it all... and after you pass that amount you get fed to a wood chipper; then we would see a lot fewer billionaires and a better world.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 89d
It's been entirely too long since there's been a tarring and feathering in these parts.
Sunflier@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
ceenote@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 89d
A wealth tax a day keeps the guillotine away.
Mulligrubs@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 89d
You're the best! Thank you so much for exploiting thousands of employees and customers to acquire a stupendous fortune!
He doesn't realize that this perspective proves exactly what he thinks of his employees and customers... to him they are nothing more than a despised, but necessary, resource to exploit ruthlessly.
Also, let's remember that his tax rate is much lower than that of an Arby's employee. Hateful and disgusting indeed
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 88d
Man with more money than he could possibly use in his life is upset at the suggestion that some portion of the money he will never used could be used to help other people.
Being a billionaire is a sign of mental illness and needs to start being treated as such.
WiredBrain@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 88d
Financial obesity
9point6@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 89d
Tax is the compromise
The French have a good historical case for what should happen if that fails
veroxii@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 89d
Something something cake
Clutter@sh.itjust.works · 23 pts · 88d
Mamdani is choosing the lesser evil here my dear rich person... The other options is: we kill you.
grte@lemmy.ca · 23 pts · 89d
It's true. I am bigoted against the wealthy. Proudly.
TherapyGary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 89d
We need actual slurs for rich people- that would be fun
boogiebored@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 89d
sure fine whatever
here’s another
kill em all
ramble81@lemmy.zip · 21 pts · 89d
Rich is not a race. It’s not a characteristic that you’re born with.
NABDad@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 89d
The worst often are born with it.
nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz · 13 pts · 89d
But it's a mutable attribute
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
I can see if we make this argument, they will then say the same thing about being poor. And then take it further to say the poor should not be a protected class and therefore should not receive extra benefits. (I know this is not what protected class typically refers to, but I can see them making these arguments.)
4am@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 89d
No need to hypothesize, they’ve been doing this since the New Deal
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 4 pts · 89d
That's not a good argument, most of them ARE born into it.
peaceful_world_view@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 88d
off with his head
SirHery@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 88d
Eat himmmmm.
Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 21 pts · 89d
I don’t understand why media prints stuff like this as if it’s a valid point that needs to be explored
HAL_9_TRILLION@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 19 pts · 89d
It's because parasites like this jackass are paying them to.
silverneedle@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 89d
Most media is spearheaded by people who own everything, ergo antilogical and demented shit like this.
JPSound@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 89d
Is "guillotine" a softer word? We could and should just use that instead. I'm all about catering to the elites' baby soft thin skin.
Sunflier@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
MrSulu@lemmy.ml · 19 pts · 89d
Quite unlikely that any of his ancestors worked the cotton fields. He probably thinks he's a self made man.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 89d
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.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 89d
It he prefers "eat the rich", I won't object.
nonentity@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 89d
Don’t eat shit.
Mulch the rich.
Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 89d
JFC, how out of touch can you be from reality?
WhyDoYouThinkThat@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 88d
lynch him
Mantzy81@aussie.zone · 16 pts · 89d
fodor@lemmy.zip · 15 pts · 88d
witheyeandclaw@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 89d
Won't someone think of poor Ken Griffin??
Sineljora@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 89d
Kenneth Cordelle Griffin is the new leader of the Epstein class, and he lied under oath to Congress. May he find out.
mycodesucks@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 88d
Longylonglong@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 89d
Maybe he should just go fuck himself
newtraditionalists@kbin.melroy.org · 13 pts · 89d
This sack of shit is a caricature, it's vomit inducing just to look at him
DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 88d
Oh rich please.
Etterra@discuss.online · 13 pts · 89d
How about "eat the rich" then, motherfucker? With BBQ sauce.
Tiger666@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 89d
Tax or eat, Steve, tax or eat!
Leather@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
Let's not get in a binary head space - there are tons of options in-between!
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 89d
Yeah. Some of us don't mind taxing and eating the rich.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 88d
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

homes@piefed.world · 13 pts · 89d
yeah. he's right. what's the problem with that?
I'm also bigoted against Nazis, which I suspect he might also have a problem with...
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 89d
ok.
if "tax the rich" isn't enough, maybe this will send a stronger message.
is this loud enough you old rich fuck?
or maybe this is more your speed?
backalleycoyote@lemmy.today · 13 pts · 89d
jonesey71@lemmus.org · 3 pts · 89d
Just take about 10-15% right off the top of the billionaires.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 12 pts · 88d
Add him to The List.
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 88d
We really should make a list. Not like in list format, something more durable like baking it into some type of meme.
BradleyUffner@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 89d
He looks like he enjoys a racial slur every now and then.
flandish@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 88d
how much proof do we need that the rich are a different species?
man_wtfhappenedtoyou@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 88d
They aren't, they are just sick. As with any sick animal, they should be put down.
Sunflier@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 88d
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 11 pts · 89d
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.
Sharkticon@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 89d
Well that's interesting because I liken billionaire real estate tycoons to war criminals that deserve to be brutally executed. What a coincidence.
Janx@piefed.social · 10 pts · 89d
This is like misogynistic incels complaining about "equality" being a slur against them.
aburrito@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 89d
Good, it’s getting under his skin cause he feels threatened by it. His ilk will be kicking and screaming about it till the grave, and that makes me feel some petty joy
Phantaloons@piefed.zip · 9 pts · 89d
Throw the rich off a cliff and liquidate their assets and net worth. was a bit too harsh, but whatever we have to do.
WandowsVista@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 88d
makes sense, rich people are the only truly protected class
Oofnik@kbin.earth · 9 pts · 89d
“I must say that I consider the phrase ‘tax the rich’ – quote tax the rich – spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs, and even the phrase from the ‘river to the sea’,” he said, referring to the controversial pro-Palestinian slogan.
A LOT to unpack here.
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 89d
Dude is lucky we said tax the rich. That's the socially agreed option. If they stop respecting the plebs, well...
BigTuffAl@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 89d
motherfucker is a literal Skeksis
Man_kind@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 88d
This is why the rich need to be taxed.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 88d
Ebenezer Scrooge, is that you?
Danarchy@lemmy.nz · 7 pts · 89d
Lol chop chop, guoillo-bait
Bloomcole@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 89d
losing only 8% sounds fair
HubertManne@piefed.social · 7 pts · 89d
every day someone doesn't suck my trump its racism.
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 89d
And much like racists using racial slurs to express how much they hate, we use “tax the rich” while hating you
RunawayFixer@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 88d
Source: https://www.moralambition.org/stories/tax-fairness-explainer
Also, the above graph compares averages vs averages. The average of the top bracket is made up of some very rich people who accept that paying taxes is a fair thing to do, and some who try to contribute as little as possible by evading as much as possible. Because he'd prefer us to not talk about this, I have the suspicion that Mr Steve Roth falls into the 2nd category.
jagermo@feddit.org · 6 pts · 89d
Gavin Belson
Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 89d
turdburglar@piefed.social · 5 pts · 89d
yeet the rich.
dan1101@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
The ultra-rich can be very ignorant.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 89d
eat the rich
DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 89d
Gee, would've been a shame if that rich snob is taxed and his money is redistributed to the poor and pious.
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
BillCheddar@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 89d
To quote Tony Soprano: OH, POOR YOU!
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 88d
I didn't know the rich were a race though at this point they've probably have been having their genes modified.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe · 4 pts · 89d
He's really not going like "Eat The Rich."
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 89d
wealth is not a racial sect.
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 88d
Okay, here's the politically correct version then:
silverneedle@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 89d
One day the masses will take everything from Steve Roth or his heirs. That is a fact of life and nothing can stop it. You can be sure that it doesn't stop at a little wealth tax.
Bluedragon012@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 88d
If that's true, then we are using it right. I'd only use a slur on beings that are less than human and ultra rich fit that pereftly. And as well read as the rich are, they know what happens when a being is considered less than human. >:D
CrowAirbrush@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 88d
Well he's not wrong, it's definitely hateful. We don't say it because we think it's fair they get billions and we have to scrape by while doing the actual work.
Photonic@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 88d
That doesn’t make it hateful in the sense that it has been used recently. It’s just a normal response to someone’s horrible behaviour.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 88d
Are both of the following hateful?
Tax the rich - at 1%
Tax the rich - at 99%
sportsjorts@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 89d
Eat the rich. This country is infested with wealthy parasites.
CptHacke@piefed.social · 3 pts · 89d
Vampires suck.
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 89d
There's nothing wrong with 'Tax the Rich'. It's no better or worse than the usual phrases 'Eat the Rich', or 'Suffocate the Rich by Stretching Their Scrotum Up Over Their Head'.
DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 89d
Ken Griffin should be taxed
FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 89d
Well,
He's a cunt then
resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe · 3 pts · 89d
He’s really not going to like what comes after “tax the rich,” then.
Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org · 3 pts · 89d
Alright. Normalize both then. And remember that "tax" is a euphemism.
Echolynx@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 89d
For whom? The mayor? Isn't that a threat?
libre_warrior@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 88d
I dont think it is a slur. To be rich is even to this day associated with good qualities.
in other words, the word rich doesnt reflect reality and we have to weed it out
I think grabber is more suitable, because they grab property away from the commons.
Release the grip!
webkitten@piefed.social · 2 pts · 89d
BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 88d
homes@piefed.world · 2 pts · 38d
CRY! CRY! CRY!
SPREAD IT! SPREAD IT FAR AND WIDE!
Phantaloons@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 89d
Sirdubdee@piefed.social · 1 pts · 88d
People that say that aren’t even rich.