If you took a ten dollar bill for each year the *entire universe has existed since the big bang* and put them all into a single pile... Elon Musk's pile would still be almost twice as big.
🇳🇱
And this is a problem why? Yes he has a lot of money, people having a lot of money isnt a problem, other peoples fortune is not your misfortune.
@freemo The ever-widening wealth inequality gap would challenge that notion.
@louis those are just fancy words for saying some people have alot and over time they have more.. it doesnt suggest a problem. Again someone having more doesnt mean you have less.
@freemo To an extent, I'd agree with you. But above a certain point, it's impossible to amass that much money without exploiting people. Obscene wealth itself is smoke that points to a fire that may or may not be hidden from view.
Disagree, no amount of wealth is exploitative on its own. If you have a world that allows people to manipulate people via money you have an inherent problem and again it has nothing to do with how much money people have. Address corruption in politics so money cant buy politicians instead.
@freemo The wealth itself is not exploitative, but rather how it was made.
People can get to "own a couple of car dealerships" rich on the basis of their own work, but as income increases past that point, the chances of exploitation being involved in its production approach 1 on an asymptote. No human being is actually worth a million dollars a year, and those who think they are are usually selling some other bullshit too.
@louis If there is nepotism then you dont have a free market now do you?
@freemo Why not? Does a free market not allow for inheritance?
@louis A free market would not allow inheritance as a free market relies on supply and demand, if your qualification is who your parents are there isnt demand for you, its artificial value.
@freemo Then we do not, and will never have, a free market in this country. Therefore, we need to rein in the wealth inequality that does demonstrable harms to the people on the bottom of the scale.
@louis I never claimed we do have a free market.
@freemo No, but you did use the free market as a defense against why obscene wealth isn't indicative of exploitation.
@louis if you have a problem with wealth being exploitative you should be fixing the market so it isnt exploitative as then its an issue at every wealth level anyway. So the issue still is unrelated to magnitude of wealth.
@freemo Sounds like a great idea! Sadly, though, my movement's underfunded and none of the billionaires want to donate to it 🤔
@louis Quite a few billionaires, most notably gates, invests in movements meant to address wealth exploitation.
@freemo ...which pales in comparison to the money spent keeping the current systems in place.
@louis Perhaps, though that would probably be hard to quantify.
@freemo I mean, just look at how much crypto PACs are putting into this election, lol
OK but how is that specifically being used to promote a system where wealth is kept exploitative? I cant say i specifically looked out what specifically those donations lobbied for, if anything.
@freemo They're almost entirely for Trump and other laissez faire types whose tax plans are blatantly designed to widen wealth inequality (specifically by lowering corporate taxes while increasing tariffs).
There's also a strong overlap between the "deregulation is freedom" crypto folks, and the "use the lack of regulations to exploit poor people" scammer folks.
Again wealth inequality is not the problem, so supporting wealth gaining is not a valid example.
You claimed there were donations intended to keep the markets unfree, last i checked Trump generally is not pushing for an unfree market, though maybe he is, he is a moron so he might have something like that... The democrats generally push price fixing, minimum wage, and other things that make for non-free markets.
@freemo My argument is that wealth inequality is only "not a problem" in a meritocracy. In our broken system, it is a problem. So long as we have people who are hungry and homeless, we shouldn't have billionaires.
Also, how exactly do you define "free market"? Because it would take some very Democrat-esque heavy-handed regulation to prevent the aforementioned nepotism and inheritance problems.
@louis@ingenthron.sociaSure and im saying instead of wasting time trying to addreas nonproblema you should instead e trying to make sure people get value for the utility they provide (a metrocity) rather than trying tonaddress something that isnt the underlying problem.
If pepple can buy themselves into positions ofnpower tbensokition iant to try to eliminate anyonr with excess mk ey who can exploiit tbat. If you did you qouldnt be solving anything just adding a new problem. Instead you fix the issues that let money buy positions and actually fix the problem.
@freemo In a *meritocracy*, you'd always be worth exactly what you make. But we don't live in a meritocracy.
@freemo Then explain nepotism.