How Much Bill Gates Would Have To Spend Per Day To Go Broke In A Year
2019 has been the year of billionaire tears. The waterworks started on Wall Street amid fears that a progressive Democrat like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders could become president in 2020. Both candidates advocate taxing the rich, and Warren made headlines and wealthy enemies with her proposal to impose a two-cent tax "on every dollar above $50 million and" a three-cent tax "on every dollar above $1 billion."
Billionaire Leon Cooperman warned that if Warren were to win the presidency, Wall Street "won't open the stock market." In November, Cooperman nearly cried on live television over the prospect of a President Warren, declaring, "I care" as his eyes welled with salty dismay and his bottom lip quivered. Furthermore, the weepy billionaire complained that the ultra-wealthy were being ultra-vilified and insisted that people like Bill Gates "[make] the world a better place." Days later, Gates offered his two cents on Warren's wealth tax idea, asserting, "I've paid more than anyone in taxes, but I'm glad to — if I'd had to pay $20 billion, it's fine. But when you say I should pay $100 billion, then I'm starting to do a little math about what I have left over. ... I'm just kidding.'" But what's not a joke is that he could spend $100 billion and only go from being a billion to being ... still a billionaire. So you might wonder how much money he would have to spend each day to, say, go broke in a year.
What if Bill Gates offered more than his two cents?
In fairness to Bill Gates, he gives away tons of money and wants to save the world's collective butt from disease with high-tech toilets. Of course, it's easy to save the world when you have enough money to buy most things in it all at once. He's so absurdly rich that according to Business Insider, in May 2019, the average American spending $1 was the equivalent of Gates spending $1.06 million. Forbes reports that as of November 6, 2019, Bill Gates had a net worth of $106.8 billion. Based on that figure, in order for Gates to go totally broke in a year, he would have to spend about $292,602,739.73 every day. So clearly he's in danger of running out of money... just kidding.