How can you be concerned about something like government spending when rich fat cats like Jeff Bezos get to have $159 billion while the rest of us starve?

當像 Jeff Beaos 這樣的大亨擁有 1,590 億美元、我們其他人都在捱餓時，你怎麼還能關心政府開銷這樣的問題呢？

If anything, we need the government to confiscate their wealth and spread it around.

其實我們反而需要政府沒收他們的財富，並將其分發。

- Actually, ... - Ah...

- 其實⋯⋯ - 啊⋯⋯

- ... that might be a little bit short-sighted, Bob. - How so?

- ⋯⋯那可能是有點短淺的目光，Bob。 - 怎麼說呢？

Well, first of all, to take the example of Jeff Bezos, that 159 billion he has isn't liquid wealth.

首先，以 Jeff Bezos 為例，他擁有的 1,590 億美元並不是流動財富。

Not liquid wealth?

不是流動財富？

You mean, like, he can't dive into his safe and swim in it?

你的意思是，他不能跳進保險箱裡游泳嗎？（譯註：liquid 為一字多義，表示「流動的」，也可以表示「液體」）

No, liquid wealth is the amount of cash you have, whereas your net worth is the value of everything you own, including assets.

不，流動財富是你擁有的現金，而淨資產則是你所有物的總價值，包括資產。

So, if you have a house which is worth $100,000, own a business which is worth $50,000, and have a quarter in your pocket,

也就是說，如果你有一間價值 10 萬美元的房子、擁有一間價值 5 萬美元的公司，口袋裡有 25 分錢，

your liquid wealth is 25 cents, and your net worth is $150,000 and 25 cents.

那你的流動財富就是 25 分錢，而你的淨資產則是 15 萬又 25 分美元。

Oh.

喔。

Jeff Bezos is doing incredibly well, but it's not as if he has $159 billion in the bank.

Jeff Bezos 很成功，但他的帳戶裡並沒有 1,590 億美元。

He owns shares in a company which are worth about that much.

他擁有一間公司大約價值那麼多的股份。

So, in order to seize his wealth, you would basically have to sell off Amazon.

所以說，如果要奪取他的財富，你基本上必須賣掉亞馬遜。

But selling all of his shares at once would lead to a massive devaluing of the company, and all of the stock would be worth less.

但是，一次性賣掉他所有的股份會導致公司大幅貶值，所有的股票都會更不值錢。

So, you'd end up bankrupting him only to get a fraction of his initial wealth.

所以你最終會讓他破產，為的只得到他初始財富的一小部分。

It would also result in massive layoffs, and, in all likelihood, kill the company along with all of the value it's adding to the economy.

這還會導致大規模裁員，很有可能連同公司為經濟創造的所有價值一起毀於一旦。

I don't care; being a billionaire is a crime!

我不在乎！身為億萬富翁就是一種罪！

They only make their money by exploiting others!

他們只是透過剝削他人來賺錢！

Can't you see?

你不明白嗎？

We could fix our economy if we rounded them up and confiscated their wealth!

如果我們聚集他們並沒收他們的財富，就能拯救我們的經濟！

Well, there are about 550 billionaires in the US.

嗯，美國大約有 550 名億萬富翁。

If we lived in a magical world where we could liquidate all of their assets without devaluing any of them or throwing the economy off of its very delicate balance,

如果我們生活在一個神奇的世界裡，可以在不使任何資產貶值或使經濟失去微妙平衡的情況下清算它們的所有資產，

we would shut down, virtually, all of the most profitable companies in America, and the world for that matter, for a one-time lump sum of $2.5 trillion.

那麼我們就會關閉美國乃至全世界幾乎所有最賺錢的公司，一次性支付 2.5 萬億美元。

$2.5 trillion? Woohoo!

2.5 萬億美元？嗚呼！

Imagine what we could do with that!

想想我們能用那些錢做什麼！

Run the federal government for under 8 months.

讓聯邦政府運作不到 8 個月。

Man! The government really has to get spending under control, huh?

天啊，政府真的改好好控制支出了，對吧？

Hey, folks, thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed this, please check out FEE.org for more educational content.

嗨，大家，非常感謝你們的觀看。如果你們看得開心，請前往 FEE.org 取得更多教育性內容。

Thank you.

謝謝你們。