I think it comes down to a basic question. What is America? And my kind of economic role

model is Peter Drucker. I think an economy in America exists to create a robust middle class.

The most ascendant countries over the last 20 years have been China and India. And it's a one basic

litmus test. How many people are you bringing into the middle class? The greatest innovation

in history is not the iPhone or the semiconductor. It's the American middle class.

The beatback fascism in the middle of World War II has financed and built the greatest

innovations, whether it's radar, whether it's the internet, whether it's vaccines. The middle

class in America is the greatest innovation in history. And people like to fall back into this

right-wing notion that it's naturally self-healing. It's not. It's an accident in history. And people like to fall back into this right-wing notion that it's naturally self-healing.

It's not.

It's an accident in history.

Typically throughout history, you have a small number of people who weaponize government.

They're very talented.

They aggregate power.

They weaponize government.

And they aggregate more and more spoils.

And then the good news is it's self-correcting.

This level of income inequality is's self-correcting. This level of income and equality is usually self-correcting. The bad news is the means of self-correction are typically

war, famine, or revolution. And if you want to talk about tax policy, the myth and tax policy

is that the rich don't pay their taxes. That's just not true. The fulcrum is the following.

They're super earners and super owners. The folks around your table are probably considered superowners. You make exceptional livings, but it's all current income reported on a W-2. And if you live in New Jersey or New York, you're probably paying 48 to 52% tax rates. But if you're a super owner, I make my living starting and selling businesses.

My last business, which was sold for $160 million, I'm very transparent about money.

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