re: #58 sagehen

They wouldn’t have had to sell any stock; they’d just have issued dividends every year (which they haven’t always). Those dividends would have spread the wealth more broadly, and increased a bunch of other people’s taxes too.

possibly, but that also means those businesses likely grow slower, meaning potentially fewer jobs within those companies and/or contracts with other companies for goods and/or services.

You’re right that it would spread the wealth around a bit more, which would likely be a good thing. But then the question becomes what do those investors do with the money?

Which is why I think it’s way too complicated to just say “oh, they’d only be worth this much”