Bezos, Gates, and Buffett own as much as the bottom half of Americans
Bezos, Gates, and Buffett own as much as the bottom half of Americans
Bezos, Gates, and Buffett own as much as the bottom half of Americans
The graphic is quite outdated (2019 for top 3) and the situation got much worse. The latest datapoint on the website I could find was from 2021, indicating a wealth of 683 billions of the top 5 US citizens.
This is also wealth that is kind of known about.
For instance the way ol musky had Tesla engineers do work for Twitter is a wealth I don't think you can quantify.
How the fuck does bill gates still have that much money
Because despite the reputation he's managed to build for himself as a "great philanthropist", he still only gives around 5% of his wealth to charity (which he must do to maintain the "charity" status of his reputation laundering foundation, which clearly does a fantastic job at distracting people from the other 95% of his hoard).
He earns it quicker than he can spend or give it away. Money makes money ain’t a lie bruh.
He earns it quicker than he can spend or give it away
Lol, he could give it all away in a matter of minutes, if he wanted to.
I don't doubt he still gets enough active income to keep him living more comfortably than 95% of society, and if he really really must, he could keep a few mil in the bank to keep living comfortably on the interest until he dies, so the lazy fucker still won't ever have to -shock horror- work for a living!
But there is absolutely nothing stopping him giving a significant chunk of his money away other than his own personal greed.
The idea that these people have "too much money to give away" is the most ridiculous take on why they don't I've ever heard..
Please consider referring to the income of billionaires not as earnings.
Earning is based on achievement or merit. Profits are appropriated, claimed, or stolen, but not earned.
Neocolonialism of Africa and patenting the COVID vaccine (which has resulted in countless unnecessary deaths and creation of forever-COVID)
Yeah, money makes money. Its a feedback loop thats been running rampant for centuries.
And that’s why a progressive tax system makes sense, unless you want wealth to become concentrated.
The US’s tax rate was once truly progressive, with top marginal rates well over 70%, even reaching over 90%. And guess what happened during that time. The middle class exploded and so did the economy overall.
Now the wealthiest pay a LOWER effective rate than most taxpayers. This is a regressive system, favoring the rich and creating more inequality. Allowing for increasing concentration of wealth and a devastation of the middle class.
Money making money does not have to result in the insane concentrations of wealth we see today. People can still get rich and be rich. But effective tax policy and regulations can be used to create a society that’s better for most.
I feel uncomfortable with "money makes money".
Those with money use money to make those without money make money for those with money.
Reading Kapital be like
And, of course, their taxes are "too high" and need to be reduced.
Don't worry, they'll trickle down out of the goodness of their heart and not hoard it all for themselves. Trust me, bro.
Aaany minute now...
Wait! I think I hear it! Like you said!.......................... oops. nope. sorry, my bad. Turns out that was another forest fire.
Around the same time, crypto will make traditional money worthless. The only wealthy ones will be those who invested early. Trust me.
We don't need guillotines. Just account numbers and PINs.
I'm sure there is no such amount of money on there accounts. All this digits are counted on the price of shares
We could say, *We don't need to seize the means of production. We just need to seize the shares from the shareholders."
Such comments seem to sidestep the deeper analysis.
Beheadings are permanent.
Well I'm sure if they can make themselves billionaires once they can do it again, so clearly the real answer is to just let them grow infinitely and prune their profits every few years.
The good old days when it was the top 3, instead of just Musk alone, who own more than the bottom half combined...
You're really going to be unhappy when Musk becomes crowned as king.
However, for those under certain illusions, exposing that the illusions fail on their merits helps some advance beyond them.
More than, even.
Create a delivery cooperative and let Jeff's fortune crumble.
Make Linux gaming a thing and see Bill's fortune decline.
Create competition for the top consumer brands and Warren's money is gone.
These men are rich because the free time fought for with strikes and such is spent watching TV.
It's joever
May i have 50 dollars more this year?
No there is no budget.
Oh OK.
This is fucking insane.
It’s fucking disgusting. Little more than a manifestation of greed mixed with sociopathic and narcissistic behavior.
The worst part is that there are people who think these deserve that money. This is all on the backs of actual workers. And from a society that they aren’t paying their fair share of.
Should these three individuals be wealthy? Sure. Should they have ever been allowed to accumulate anywhere near this much personal wealth on the backs of literally millions of other people? Fuck no.
This money should have been forcefully spread around to those workers over the course of decades. And a good chunk back to the society that made it all possible.
Instead, these sycophants hoarded more than they could ever need or even want, while keeping wages far too low and paying very little (effective rate) in taxes.