‘They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold’: Richard II and Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax
Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax would do as much damage to this country as the feckless and self-absorbed Richard II did to his. Shakespeare depicts the king as having neglected the proper governance of his realm. When he found the royal treasury nearly empty, he leased out his royal estates to wealthy landowners whose intentions were, of course, not aligned with the national interest: Richard II: “We will ourself in person to this war: And, for our coffers, with too great a court And liberal largess, are grown somewhat light, …
