A Few Ways in which the Warren/Sanders Assaults on Billionaires would Backfire

Billionaires have lawyers and tax accountants FAR smarter than I am, but here are a couple of ways they would defeat the assault on their wealth by Warren/Sanders...

Transaction Tax:  The answer to a transaction tax is to stop having any transactions. Form or join an offshore entity whose function is to buy/sell/hold US securities, as a mutual fund does. The ultra-wealthy American simply buys and holds an interest in the offshore entity, so no transaction tax. The offshore entity is free to buy and sell stocks and bonds with no transaction tax as long as the transactions don't go through a US exchange.  --  The real burden of a transaction tax would fall on ordinary workers whose 401K retirement plans currently make a fair number of transactions.

Wealth Tax: The ultra-wealthy American moves themself and their wealth to another country and renounces US citizenship. Yes, it would be a significant inconvenience for them, but their contribution to the US Treasury would be completely gone. Yes, Warren/Sanders propose to tax Americans renouncing their citizenship (which may or may not be legal), but there is always a window between when a law is enacted and when it takes effect, so those wanting to leave would just do so quickly.

I wish Warren/Sanders would approach the issue of taxes on the ultra-wealthy as a logical issue, rather than trying to create a campaign issue by inciting hatred of billionaires in the way Trump incites hatred of migrants. We can greatly increase the tax revenue our US Treasury receives from the ultra-wealthy, if the issue is addressed as an optimization problem rather than through hate mongering.

Further reading:  Billionaire Bill Gates doesn't oppose the idea of a wealth tax, but points out the fatal flaws in the absence of global cooperation.  https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/bill-gates-us-wealth-tax

The Real Numbers Don't Support Sanders' Assault On Insurance Companies

Sanders and Warren and some of the other candidates are trying to pull the wool over our eyes on health care costs by trying to make insurance companies the boogie man. The administration costs plus profit of health insurance is only 6.4% of total health care costs. Even if those costs could be eliminated (which of course they can't, there is always an administrative cost whether private or government), it would barely move the needle of overall health care costs.

While the 8-figure salaries for the CEOs of the largest insurers might be considered some kind of moral issue, financially it has zero impact on national health costs.

To make any meaningful reduction in overall costs, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals and other components would need to be addressed. Those reductions would be hard, and more important for this discussion, any reductions in those areas could be made equally well whether health care is administered publicly or privately.

Sanders etc. could have proposed a system like the Veterans Administration health care system where the government owns the hospitals, and the doctors are government employees, but that is not their proposal. Their proposal (fortunately) does not nationalize doctors or hospitals, so there are no inherent savings in these areas (and the Veterans Administration health care system certainly has its own scandals, and cost overrun issues).

Sanders and Warren also have proposals to force the pharmaceutical companies to lower prices (which also has some very complex issues), but again this is completely divorced from their assault on insurance companies.

Bottom line, Sanders et al are inciting hatred toward insurance companies as a political tool in the same way that Trump incites hatred toward immigrants as a political tool.

and no, I am not an employee of an insurance company or have any financial interest.