Wealth of Elon Musk
2012: $2,000,000,000
2024: $204,500,000,000

Wealth of Jeff Bezos
2012: $18,400,000,000
2024: $196,000,000,000

Wealth of Mark Zuckerberg
2012: $17,500,000,000
2024: $170,400,000,000

Federal Minimum Wage
2012: $7.25
2024: $7.25

Three words: tax the rich.

@Strandjunker That's just wealth on papier as shares. This wealth ist also used to drive additional projects that feed many employers. With sone good ideas, hard work and some luck this is the way for everybody. Why this envy debate?

@CarKettner

> That's just wealth on papier as shares.

So are bank notes, and yet it is just as real as any other form of wealth. You say this like this money is less real than someone else.

@Strandjunker

@freemo @Strandjunker There is a difference between shares and bank notes. The notes are immediately and always ready to be spent, shares are not and often shareholders are allowed to sell them. So, that's just "money" for the gallery which also can loose much value within a short period of time.

@CarKettner

I can trade you a bank note immediately for food. I can similarly trade you a share immediately for food. Both are readily available. The difference is in how they are taxed, a share would be like trading gold or an asset, which has specific tax rules.

Both bank notes and shares can, in theory, loose money in short periods of time depending on the stability of the asset. Bank Notes are back on the stability of the US economy as a whole, securities are based on the stability of the security, which doesnt need to be in US dollars. As such a security can, in theory, be more stable (or less stable) than a bank note.

@Strandjunker

@freemo @CarKettner
Arguments about the "realness" of the wealth aside, most of the envy in the original thread is from (IMO) a zero-sum mentality, in other words the stock wealth is at the expense of the rest of us, like there's only so much pie and these guys are taking my piece too. I always find that idea amusing and wrong.
@Strandjunker