In the 1966 movie Harper starring Paul Newman, there is a line that ranks as one of the all-time best—”You’ve got a way of starting conversation that ends conversation!” That’s what it feels like when I try to talk to someone about taxes, the subject scares people off because taxes and tax policy seem too complicated.

Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers? I grew up enjoying the Passover celebration: it brought our family together, and included good food, wine and fun. Reform Synagogues made changes to the ceremony to keep the content relevant. But this is the April Fool’s version, with my thoughts on–and suggestions for– this celebration of the Israelites escaping slavery in Egypt.

I have been so repulsed by the Epstein revelations that I was certain I wouldn’t write about them. But how could I not add my voice to the chorus of people pointing to this as one of the best (worst) examples of the consequences of greed and extreme wealth.

If billionaires have some unique skill in being billionaires, it is not related to innovation but rather to tax avoidance, including devising tax loopholes and undermining enforcement. The California Wealth Tax has brought billionaire greed into the open, as these uber-wealthy announce they are leaving California to avoid paying the tax.

For many of us, Christmas conjures up “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, a tale of society’s moral obligation to provide for those in need, with Scrooge’s character embodying the selfishness, heartlessness and indifference of that era’s upper-class. We’ve referred to this Scrooge-like behavior as excessive wealth disorder, but I recently came across another term for it: “sociopathic greed.”

We all have status anxiety. Wealth inequality significantly exacerbates people’s status anxiety, which explains the near-perfect correlation between unequal societies and what are called negative social indicators. The U.S., the most unequal country, has the worst scores on infant mortality, health and education outcomes, incarceration rates, opioid use, and trust in our fellow citizens.

I’m writing this blog in a jetlagged state, having just returned from Europe. The trip started in Amsterdam where I had lunch with the most impressive Ingrid Robeyns, author of the book Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Her book makes a compelling case for limiting the amount of wealth any one person can accumulate.

Recent polling by Tax the Greedy Billionaires confirms what pollsters have been telling us for years: the public overwhelmingly believes, when it comes to taxes, that we have a fairness problem. But what is “fair?”

Heightened status anxiety, caused by extreme wealth and the resulting inequality, has led to many, probably most, of the problems our nation faces. As I read about the horrors and cruelty emanating from the Oval office, I am reminded of–and haunted by–a New York Times piece I read after the 2024 election.

Extreme Wealth is arguably the central cause of most of the serious problems our nation faces as our dysfunctional democracy allows the ultra-rich to line their own pockets to the detriment of our society.

What exactly are the co-Presidents planning to cut in order to pay for trillions in tax giveaways to the ultra-rich?! It is somewhat painful to be reminded of Presidents with a different world view. In 1937 Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Did Trump say: Make America Greedy Again?