744. New York City has a liberal city council. It thinks that the poor are too poor and the rich are too rich. It doesn't think anything about the middle class, because in NYC there isn't any middle class. The council had a plan. It would tax the rich and distribute the money to help the poor. The mayor told the council speaker, "That's a great idea. The rich should help their fellow New Yorkers." So, the council passed a new tax law. It worked very well for ten years. Then it stopped working. The liberal rich were all broke; the conservative rich had all moved to Connecticut. The only people still living in NYC were the poor. The mayor and the city council members had to take a 99‐percent pay cut. The mayor told the council speaker, "Your tax law was a stupid idea." She said, "We're repealing it tomorrow!" 3.9