“jUst wOrK hARdEr aNd yOU wiLL sTOp beING depRESsED!” -my parents every time I mention my depression
It’s funny, because you can argue that a rising tide carries all the ships. If we all pull together we will achieve a quality of life that our ancestors considered beyond luxurious. That was the appeal of the industrial revolution and then the computational/miniaturization revolution that followed.
At the same time, the idea of an egalitarian prosperous working class has been whittled away by bigotry, ageism, and regional resentments. We don’t work for the betterment of our community as a whole. Everyone’s a mercenary, pillaging for their own team or tribe.
Hard work in a socialist economy means working for everyone so we all get to enjoy the fruits of our labors. A collaborative game where we all work towards a high score.
Hard work in a capitalist economy means knee-capping your opposition to get to the top of an increasingly steep and treacherous pile. A hyper-competitive game where you’re endlessly aiming to leapfrog the person ahead of you and dodge the knife from the one behind.
Yup.
The system is working as intended.
If you don’t like it… Well, Luigi set an example there.
GL HF.
- Open the rich like tauntauns
- Live inside them
- Housing crisis solved
But we’re told Warren Buffet is the good kind.
He’s one of the best billionaires. He wants to be taxed more for the betterment of all. Bill Gates does a lot of good with his foundation.
#BUT.
That’s like referring to the “best” serial killer, and I mean that comparison. Billionaires shouldn’t even exist, much less be admired and have outsized fame and influence. Every single one is a policy failure and every single one was formed from exploited workers (who actually contribute to society). Billionaires are parasites…
That’s either not fair to serial killers, or highly complimentary to serial killers, considering the most “successful” serial killers in history can’t hold a candle to a single healthcare insurance corporation, for example.
I’m sure some of them would have loved to be mentioned in the same breath as those who industrialized murder.
Or do you think most would be offended, since they were hipster, artisinal murderers who took pride in the craft of murder only to be outdone by high volume mass production?
So many serial killers are actually doing it out of sexual frustration. They have a lot of emotions they can’t process properly and act on them in downright obscene ways. They are deeply sick and sad people who absolutely, without question, deserve to be removed from society but who I can, at least somewhat, understand.
People like healthcare CEOs and even just most any shitty business owner, on the other hand, are simply straight evil. They are the people who would be fine owning slaves, and essentially do, and who don’t really give a rat’s ass about anyone but themselves. They are the people who go for seconds when not everyone has had firsts and say “should been faster, loser.” They have all the tools to not be monsters, all the freedom in the world, and yet there they are.
Bill Gates Foundation does some good. His foundation is mostly a gigantic tax shelter though. For him, it’s like an unlimited IRA. Society would be better if he simply had less money, less influence, and less control.
He’s also one of the most highly associated with Epstein. His wife divorcing him after the Epstein records leaked.
He wants to be taxed more for the betterment of all.
That’s why all the biggest and most well-financed lobbyist firms are advocating for a high marginal tax rate. That’s why big think tanks have been churning out white papers and bombarding the airwaves with pro-tax policy. I can’t turn on my AM radio without some paid shill telling me my taxes aren’t high enough.
It’s so bizarre that none of this has worked. I thought for sure billionaires had more influence than this. I guess Mr. Buffet is just a small bean me.
Yeah but he’s so obviously fucking not. I have yet to see one Id consider “one of the good kind.” Every time I see one with what seems to be redeeming qualities it always turns out to be at best an outright lie or at worst a cover for tax evasion or a cover up for some kind of horror that’s caused mass death.
Yeah. I don’t believe it’s possible to make a billion dollars and not be/have been involved in shady shit. All billionaires are criminals IMO.
Arguably you could inherit it. Shady shit was done for the money still, sure, but not by the person with the money.
Then you just wait for them to do new shady shit because they probably will.
He is!
https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=177
There’s an Indian parable about a rich man. Every time a beggar asks for money, he gives it, until he has no more to give and is himself a beggar.
You can’t give it all up and expect to continue contributing.
Every time a beggar asks for money, he gives it, until he has no more to give
Why would the rich man ever run out? Wealth isn’t merely a pile of currency, it is a collection of wealth producing assets.
A man who collects $1000/day in rents will never have less than $1000/day to give to beggers.
The harder question to answer is why some of us pay others for the privilege of accessing public goods.