• naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    35·
    9 days ago

    Genuinely of the belief half the reason people permit billionares is mathematical iliteracy.

    If you aren’t filled with murderous rage at the idea of that much wealth being held back from those who need it you either don’t understand the scale or don’t have empathy.

    • Mika@sopuli.xyz
      328·
      9 days ago

      Billionaires don’t hold their assets in cash, those billions are generally some businesses that create goods and jobs. People need both.

        • Mika@sopuli.xyz
          220·
          9 days ago

          Everything I don’t like is neoliberalism.

          Anyway, should I block this sub or is it whole instance of wild takes?

          • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            9·
            9 days ago

            You should post your opinions about how anarchy is when no veggies and no bedtime. How life used to be nasty brutish and short, and how without men with guns everywhere it would be all against all.

            We could really stand to learn from more people who’s expertise is:

            • reads 5 different news outlets sometimes
            • went to highschool in the the anglosphere.
      • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        8·
        9 days ago

        Yeah, my best friend got his start doing lines of gunpowder-and-cocaine guarding a mine and making sure the workers didn’t escape, and yeah it didn’t ‘pay’ but after fifyeen years, at just the age of twenty three, he was leading his own machete weilding militia, carving apart undesirables and leaving morale-inspiring displays.

        Some people just hate the profoubd opportunity for marginalized populations that job creators provide.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    9 days ago

    I mean, the prognosis is correct. But I’m still waiting to hear the remedy.

    “Billionaires keep surrounding themselves with armed sociopaths every time they feel threatened” doesn’t explain how to get through the cushion of Joe Rogan fans shielding Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk from any kind of consequence for their criminality and callous obliteration of life and property.

    • Nougat@fedia.io
      14·
      9 days ago

      The cushion of Joe Rogan fans feel powerful by association, because they have no idea what actual power actually feels like. This is what happens when people’s power to affect their own destinies is gone; they’ll seek out the feeling of power in the easiest place it can be found.

        • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.netEnglish
          3·
          9 days ago

          And that’s why building mutual aid networks is so important. When people don’t have to sell themselves to acquire their basic necessities, they gain back the power over their own destiny, preventing them from turning into sycophants out of desperation.

          • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            4·
            8 days ago

            Those networks are far more effective as genuonely mutual aid though, when it’s not just a second power structure that while not useless is only alternates for the last couple links in a long supply chain.

            Creating new sources, replacing links farther up, and showing people their own agency to reduce alienation is such a big deal in making them capable independent peers, rather than just tools with a handle you can hold.

  • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    17·
    9 days ago

    I actually disagree with getting rid of billionaires or their ability to lobby governments; billionaires being able to lobby governments in a democracy is actually integral to the continued functioning efficacy of any country.

    Instead, America should become a direct democracy where people vote directly on the issues and the billionaires can lobby the entire population instead.

    Also lobbying isn’t bribery; here’s a reddit post explaining how unlike bribes which seeks to influence people in power, lobbying merely seeks to influence people in power:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1iyo1n/eli5_how_is_political_lobbying_not_bribery/cb9c9yw/

    Apparently unlike bribery where if you bribe them, they can decide not to side with you and you can simply not bribe them again, whereas with lobbying if you lobby them and they decide not to side with you, you can instead not lobby them again. Apparently with lobbying you can’t ask for your money back or threaten them because they didn’t do what you wanted, unlike bribery where instead you can’t ask for your money back or threaten them because they didn’t do what you wanted.

    Now it might seem on the face of it that these are entirely the same things, but lobbyists assure me they’re not!

    (I noticed some people here really can’t tell sarcasm, so for the record: yes, this is sarcasm; don’t be libby or I’ll lobby Dobby to lobby a libby at your snobby lobby)

  • pigup@lemmy.world
    12·
    9 days ago

    I’ve been hitting people with the following: Imagine I give you $100,000 today, tomorrow and every day thereafter. How long until you get tired of getting $100,000 each day? One year? Ten years? How long until money is meaningless to you? How long do you think it would take to reach the billion dollars? 27.4 years.

    A billion dollars is 10,000 $100,000s. Some people have hundreds of billions of dollars. It is an absolutely astronomical and stupid number. No one should ever even come anywhere near that level of money. It’s way too much power.