"It's time for a wealth tax in America," the woman calls on stage, the wall behind her is imposed with an oversized American flag. The camera lingers briefly on Elizabeth Warren, then swings her from the stage to the crowded hall. You can see young women of different colors, who applaud enthusiastically.
"I've heard there are a few billionaires who do not support this plan," Warren calls in the slightly sarcastic tone with which the Democratic presidential candidate at her election campaigns is always modifying her radical plans to rebuild America.
Cut - and then an old white man appears in the picture, who is excited about "the denigration of the billionaires". "Leon Cooperman" is in black letters next to it. "Net Assets: $ 3.2 Billion."
The scene comes from Warren's latest TV ad, which made its debut on CNBC on Wednesday. His title: "Elizabeth Warren Faces Billionaires."
Four bad guys and a master plan
While American politicians usually vilify their electorate with pictures of their happy family and praises of the American dream, the left-wing Democrat in the clip explains the war that has made it to the clip.
The role of the villains in their film falls to four men who have publicly criticized Warren's plans:
- Wall Street legend Leon "Lee" Cooperman, who has become rich with his former hedge fund Omega Advisors, and who closed a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017 for insider trading.
- The founder of broker TD Ameritrade, Joe Ricketts, whom Warren accuses of filling the Republican cash registers. Net wealth of the family: 2.3 billion dollars.
- The former Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein, who had paid a salary of 70 million dollars during the financial crisis. Net worth 1.3 billion dollars.
- The venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who sits on the Facebook board and donor Donald Trumps. Net assets: $ 2.3 billion.
The battle between Warren and Wall Street is on fire. The former Harvard professor has made the attack on America's elite the hallmark of her campaign. It demands what once seemed unimaginable in the heartland of capitalism: massive redistribution from top to bottom. Especially in young people that hits a nerve.
Warren wants to ask the rich to pay
The lawyer and former special education teacher has a plan for every problem of society - and each one costs. She wants to spend $ 2.9 trillion in education and childcare over the next ten years. $ 3.1 trillion in old-age insurance. Three trillion dollars in climate protection. $ 20.5 trillion in health insurance for all Americans.
Including a few more items, the New York Times calculation adds up to more than $ 30 trillion in a decade. That is more than half of all government spending so far planned for the period.
Who should pay? Warren also has a plan for that: Higher corporate taxes, savings, capital gains taxes, closing loopholes. And: the rich tax. "I want the ultra-rich to pay a wealth tax on their diamonds, their yachts, and their rembrandts," says the 70-year-old Massachusetts senator, who can compete with any 20-year-old.
Their proposal is to tax assets in excess of $ 50 million annually at two percent. If you have more than a billion dollars, you want to give six percent - it has now doubled the originally proposed rate of three percent.
Panic-like fear in the establishment
Calculation of Berkeley economists According to Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez, the tax would affect around 75,000 households, less than 0.1 percent of all taxpayers. The revenue estimated the experts for the first draft with $ 2.75 trillion over ten years.
Ever since Warren pushed forward in the polls, the economic establishment has been racked with panic-stricken fear of the candidate who blends sharp intelligence with relentless populism.
The Democrats lived through a similar situation with the Republicans with Trump, said a Wall Street donor who raises money for one of Warren's competitors, the political magazine Politico. "What she's going to do is terrible for the country, but if you say anything you just make her stronger."
Criticism and anger
Yet a few still dare, ironically, especially those who worry about growing inequality in America. "I think you should demonize Nazis, but you should not demonize people who have worked hard to achieve something," joked the head of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon.
Even the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates dared a public defense of his class. "I've paid more than $ 10 billion in taxes, more than anyone else," Gates said, adding he also paid $ 20 billion. "But if you say I should pay $ 100 billion, okay, then I'll figure out a little bit of what's left to me," he warned jokingly.
But one of them lets his anger run free: Leon Cooperman, the anti-bald and bull's-eye anti-hero from her TV ad. "She shits on the fucking American dream," scolds the 76-year-old veteran of Wall Street, whose funds now manages only his private assets.
His parents had immigrated from Poland, the father toiled as a plumber in the Bronx. His career began according to Cooperman's own admission, without a penny on the bench. He has signed Bill Gates' donation initiative "Giving Pledge" and wants to spend all his fortune after his death good purposes.
Two cents or a fortune
Warren's clip was barely broadcast, as was a fuming Cooperman already on the air. He accepted that rich people would have to pay higher taxes, he told the interviewer. But Warren's proposal is aimed at the "lower instincts," criticized the fund manager, who has also been involved with President Donald Trump.
"In the past, people in America did not hate the rich, but wanted to become themselves." If the Democrat invades the White House, stock prices will plummet by 25 percent, he warned, "and many still tell me I'm too optimistic."
Warren does not stop that. On the contrary, the resistance of Wall Street fueled the story she wants to tell: The rich owe America their rise, now it's time to repay.
It demands of the millionaires only two cents for every dollar fortune. "Put two cents in, so that everyone else gets a chance," she calls in the spot their supporters. It's a real scene from one of their Townhall meetings a few weeks ago. The hall breaks into enthusiastic cheers.