Damned Billionaires

[AFTT47]

I can't agree with this sentiment. People who succeed suck? That sounds like a philosophy of failure.

The system (at least in the US) may be too skewed towards rewarding the successful at the expense of the not so successful and particularly at the expense of the unsuccessful. I believe we need to be much more compassionate. But that is the fault of the system itself, not the people who benefit from it.

Before anyone claims that billionaires use their power to maintain the status quo, well yeah, that's a general problem with human beings in general, not billionaires in particular. People may be generally well intentioned but most are susceptible to temptation. Locks are a minor deterrent to determined thieves. They are mostly there to keep honest people honest.

Warren Buffett has been saying for years that it's a travesty that he pays less taxes than his secretary. He's a liberal. But a guy doesn't become a multi-billionaire by paying more taxes than he is assessed. The problem is the system - not the billionaires.

I don't disagree that the system, not the ultra-rich, is the issue. Even Adam Smith argued that the wealthy should pay proportionately more in taxes - those who benefit the most from society would be obligated to do more to support that society. But when you've got Musk money (or Bezos money or Zuckerberg money), then the billionaires become a significant part of the problem because money = political influence. Anyone who thinks policy makers aren't for sale hasn't been paying attention.

Boru

Well that's another problem with the system. Great wealth should not afford one political influence. Obviously, Citizens United was a horrible thing allowing the ultra-rich to essentially buy elections but it goes deeper. IMO, lobbyists should be forbidden. There should be severe penalties for policy makers whoring themselves out and such should be vigorously prosecuted.

[Jackalope]

I say eat the rich.

Nah, that'll just leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[Mister Agenda]

https://www.reddit.com/r/lostgeneration/...wealthier/

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't disagree that the system, not the ultra-rich, is the issue. Even Adam Smith argued that the wealthy should pay proportionately more in taxes - those who benefit the most from society would be obligated to do more to support that society. But when you've got Musk money (or Bezos money or Zuckerberg money), then the billionaires become a significant part of the problem because money = political influence. Anyone who thinks policy makers aren't for sale hasn't been paying attention.

Boru

Well that's another problem with the system. Great wealth should not afford one political influence. Obviously, Citizens United was a horrible thing allowing the ultra-rich to essentially buy elections but it goes deeper. IMO, lobbyists should be forbidden. There should be severe penalties for policy makers whoring themselves out and such should be vigorously prosecuted.

System enjoyers and beneficiaries tell us the problem isn't them, but the system....but ofc they literally are the system.  It's the contemporary incarnation of jeffersons wolf by the ear bit.

[Fake Messiah]

The billioniares' vision of the world is a vision without humanity.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says human water consumption is limiting AI’s potential

Speaking at the VivaTech 2026, Bezos weighed in on the ongoing debate around AI and its possible labour shortages. He argued that AI will boost human creativity. Giving the example of his latest venture, Prometheus, an AI startup, which aims to build an “artificial general engineer”, Bezos argued that the project speeds up innovation and creates new industries, ultimately leading to a labour shortage rather than mass unemployment.

Bezos also said that in order for AI to reach that potential, certain resources must be allocated and prioritised for the technology rather than for human consumption.

AI data centres’ use of large quantities of water has been a point of contention and concern for many people around the world. But Bezos argued that “we have to look at the macro-picture of our planet’s future.”

“Biological limits are real, but digital potential is infinite. If we starve our data infrastructure of cooling resources just to sustain baseline human comfort, we are actively delaying the birth of a super-intelligence that could solve all of our resource problems in the first place.

Sometimes you have to prioritise the intelligence that will save us over the biology that slows us down,” he added.

source

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

^I’ll bet a shiny shilling that the man worth a quarter of a trillion dollars isn’t going to curb his own consumption of clean, potable water.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

I totally had the real world villain calculus wrong...but Jeff's coming up from behind so there's time yet.

[Fake Messiah]

Jared & Ivanka are already destroying endangered natural habitats just so billionaires can have some place to park their yachts

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Jared & Ivanka are already destroying endangered natural habitats just so billionaires can have some place to park their yachts

It appears the site was illegally purchased. The Albanian property magnate who sold the land to Kushner's company didn't actually own it. He's a cocaine dealer/money launderer who sold the property using forged ownership documents. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/...f405&ei=35

Kushner has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding the deal, but if you lie down with dogs, etc.

Boru

[Leonardo17]

The problem with getting rich is this:
 
There is something inside all of us that seeks to expand, to do more, to be more. In spirituality we call this God-Realization. Only when we get there can we be truly satisfied. Until then, body-identification causes us to always be on the lookout for the next best thing, the next promotion, the next incredible man or woman, marriage, children, the next new house, the next new car etc…
 
Billionaires are no different. Usually they are smarter than average humans, but if left unchecked, even this intelligence becomes their curse. So this is why smarter billionaires like Bill Gates will become great philanthropists and less smart billionaires like Michael Jackson or Elon Musk will get involved in gigantic projects like “Neverland” or “Colonize Mars”.
 
Most billionaires are not even that smart and the result is that the richest 1% in this planet contribute more than the poorest 50% to the warming of our planet. So at this point (and this is not “eat the rich” stuff, they say that it is “eat the rich” because they want to keep doing things the same way and avoid any type of change in their business models) we need to adopt a “polluters must pay” principle.
 
Just like there is the charter of human rights since the 18th century, we need to adopt the concept that nature and environment and all living creatures in that environment have inalienable rights too. To this we must add the rights of us + future generations to live in a world that is at least at a similar level of wellbeing as the generations before us.
 
So I’m ok with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos etc. but I think that time has come for BP, Shell, Chevron to start paying for all the climate crimes that they have committed. See this article about Total Energy:

Le Monde