Of Wishes and Wanta Claus

While I have received many positive comments on the posts I have done on this story, I have also received a fair amount of criticism. The critics seem to think I am in a state of denial, that my furtive desire to disbelieve this story is causing cognitive dissonance which compels me to overlook the obvious truth.

On the contrary, I would love for this story to be true. Chocolates would fall from the sky, angels would play Mozart... Let me explain:

Leo Wanta claims that the US will receive $92 billion a day in tax income from his stash of cash. Even if we assume that he is only talking about trading days, that is over $23 trillion a year. The entire US Federal budget, however, is only a relatively puny $2.8 trillion.

So this means, that not only could the federal government completely eliminate taxes on everyone not named Leo Emil Wanta, but they then could issue a yearly refund of $67,000 to every man, woman, and child in the country, even those who have never paid taxes in the first place.

That would be wonderful! I could buy a boat, sail the South Pacific, lie on the beach while nubile young native girls bring me pina coladas. But alas, a wish for something does not make it true. I gave up believing in Santa Claus a long time ago, and Wanta Claus is not a more convincing myth.