Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) says it's "wrong" that billionaires exist in a country where there's extreme poverty. Unsurprisingly, one massive gathering of international billionaires isn't thrilled.
Ocasio-Cortez is among a wave of progressives proposing big changes to fight economic inequality, notably mentioning a "60 or 70 percent" marginal tax rate on America's top earners. That proposal has drawn harsh criticism from conservatives, and got similar feedback when posed to the super-rich gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
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But Scott Minerd, investment head for Guggenheim Partners, called the freshman Democrat's proposal "scary" in an interview with CNBC. What some call a liberal fantasy is "going to gain more momentum" by the 2020 presidential election, Minerd said, adding there's "very real" possibility it'll become a real policy.
Anand Giridharadas, an author who's known for progressive economic ideas like Ocasio-Cortez's, got a laugh from former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair for suggesting rich elites "broke the modern world." Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates suggested those same ideas were reminiscent of "communism." And when all was Davosed and done, Ocasio-Cortez fired back with her signature Twitter sass. Kathryn Krawczyk
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