Mayor Bloomberg responded to the latest reports about rising poverty in New York City with a plea for more billionaires to move to the city. Presumably that would create new jobs for chauffeurs, maids, gardeners, personal chefs, butlers, and others to serve the needs of the powerful and wealthy. They might even endow some more of the charter schools that are on the drawing boards in the waning days of the Bloomberg administration.

Remember the poem by Emma Lazarus that is mounted on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. It is called “The New Colossus,” and it says, in part,

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Bloomberg thinks that Lazarus got it wrong. Send us the billionaires!

Here is the article as it appears in the Wall Street Journal:

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  • September 20, 2013, 9:26 p.m. ET

Mayor Says More Billionaires Would Ease City’s Economic Situation

Mayor Says Increase in Wealthy Residents Provides Tax Revenue to Benefit the Poor

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday it would be a “godsend” if every other billionaire around the globe moved to New York City, a clarion call for the rich just days after new U.S. Census figures showed an increase in the city’s poverty rate and a wide gap between the wealthy and poor.

On his weekly radio show, Mr. Bloomberg, who has been accused over the years of being out of touch, suggested New Yorkers would benefit if the income gap were even wider because the wealthy pay for a big portion of city services.

ReutersMichael Bloomberg said billionaires in the city are why there is such a sizable gap between the rich and poor.

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Mr. Bloomberg said his administration has spent most of the past 12 years trying to help decrease poverty in the city. But he suggested New York could benefit if the income gap grew even more, saying the problem isn’t at the low-end.

“The reason it’s so big is at the higher end we’ve been able to do something that none of these other cities can do, and that is attract a lot of the very wealthy from around the country and around the world,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

“They are the ones that pay a lot of the taxes. They’re the ones that spend a lot of money in the stores and restaurants and create a big chunk of our economy,” he said. “And we take tax revenues from those people to help people throughout the entire rest of the spectrum.”

Mr. Bloomberg said billionaires in the city are why there is such a sizable gap between the rich and poor. But “if we could get every billionaire around the world to move here it would be a godsend—that would create a much bigger income gap.”

Forbes recently estimated Mr. Bloomberg’s net worth at $31 billion. Mr. Bloomberg’s 12-year tenure at City Hall ends Dec. 31.

According to new Census figures, the city’s poverty rate rose to 21.2% last year, up from 20.9% in 2011 and 20.1% in 2010. The figures also showed the mean household income of the lowest fifth at $8,993, compared with $222,871 for the highest fifth.

Income inequality in the city has become a flashpoint in the race to succeed Mr. Bloomberg. Bill de Blasio, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has said addressing the gap will be a centerpiece of his administration. He’s repeatedly described New York as a “tale of two cities.” Mr. Bloomberg and GOP mayoral nominee Joe Lhota have accused Mr. de Blasio of engaging in class warfare.

Mr. de Blasio said the city welcomes “everyone” but that city government needs “to focus not on the few but on the many.”

“The mayor needs to understand that beyond his social circle are millions of New Yorkers who are struggling and are looking to contribute to this economy if they could only get a job to contribute to it with,” he said.

Mr. Lhota said the conversation needs to be about creating jobs. “Jobs are the only way known to mankind that will deal with income inequality,” he said.

City Comptroller John Liu—who ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor and lost to Mr. de Blasio—said it would “only be a godsend” if the city’s wealthiest residents paid an equitable income tax rate. He pointed out that families making $50,000 are paying the same rate as a family making nearly $50 million.

“The mayor’s comment shows once again just how out of touch he is with the average New Yorker,” Mr. Liu said.

—Andrew Grossman and Joe Jackson contributed to this article.Write to Michael Howard Saul at michael.saul@wsj.com