I would argue there is no such thing as an ethical billionaire. So yes, above a certain point, all rich people are bad. They hold an unusably vast hoard of resources. They elect to retain these resources rather than help others. Granted this is a subjective argument, but a sound one.
As for not being able to prove the danger of poverty, and my statistics you can rrad the research paper I pulled them from ar you leisure: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2804032
We already have people without incentive, and who make everyone poorer as a result. They’re called billionaires. They have no incentive to improve the world, because it’s being broken is what they benefit most from. Bezos doesn’t benefit from happy healthy employees, he benefits from desperate, powerless employees. They can’t fight back if they’re terrified of losing their job.
The combined net worth of the 2020 class of the 400 richest Americans was $3.2 trillion, up from $2.7 trillion in 2017. As of March 2023, there were 735 billionaires in the United States.
Meanwhile, poverty is the 4th leading cause of death in the United States. Killing 10 times as many people as homicide in 2019.
As far as the evils of socialism, why is the life expectancy 7 years better for men and 5 years better for women in Canada vs the United States? Could it be socialized medicine and ready access to healthcare perhaps?
Only just now?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools
We’ve had freedom of religion perhaps, but never freedom from religion. Christian gobbledygook is baked into America’s DNA, and deviation from that has always resulted in a paddling.
Take Trump for example. A dyed in the wool contrarian. The walking talking embodiment of cutting off ones nose to spite their face. Refuses to acknowledge any authority but his own, often at the hazard of himself and others. And even he feigns to bend the knee to religion, and play act at being a Christian. That’s how truly compulsory it is.
The 2024 presidential election was like a really hairy credit card bill. Republicans ran on a platform of ignoring the debt all together and not making any payment at all, letting it get further out of hand. Democrats got blasted for proposing to make a minimum payment that did nothing toward interest. Neither choice was going to get us out of debt. But one of the choices is definitely going to bankrupt us. We could have made a payment. Now we’re in way over our head instead.
At company, we’re lke family. This is your home and family now. Who needs to retire when you’re with your family? And a family doesn’t unionize.
My personal rule, in broadest terms is that if I cancel someone, they are released upon death.
What warrants cancelling is pretty wishy washy, and I’m sure I’m hypocritical at times. But generally speaking, if the person is dead, I feel free to enjoy their body of work.
If the person is ruined, or in jail, it’s a grey area.
And if the person is continuing to work, with little to no repercussions. They’re banned.
Correct, but thats the real reason for the back to office push. No one cares where you are, so long as someone has to pay for you to be there.
You put on your work clothes, which are basically the same as regular clothes but more expensive. You commute to work, you consume radio/podcast/whatever, you consume ads. You get into the lobby of your building and get a coffee from the stand that pays rent. You take the elevator to the rented offices you work at. You get exploited as much as is legally allowable for 4 hours. You go back downstairs and buy food from another rent payer. You go back upstairs and get exploited some more. You consume more advertising on the way home. You get home too tired and too late to disrupt anything that makes rich guys richer.
None of the real reasons are productivity related.
Commercial real estate isn’t worth nearly as much without people going to and from work everyday.
Sure why not, and lets kill a couple goats and shit for good measure too while we’re at it.
Two words: mother issues. It’s a self perpetuating problem. Conservatives belittle their women, their women take it out on their kids. Their kids grow up warped. Their warped kids belittle women.
Washington D.C.
No, I’m dead serious. I believe an exposed pie would survive on the ground long enough for a whole bush to grow around it and then subsequently be eaten by a dog. I am in no way being humorous.
Maybe the pie was there first and the bush grew around it.
What the fuck. Source please.
Just to chime in a little. I don’t think the implication was “my nan never worked”, I think it was more “she never had a 9 to 5”. No one in this conversation was trying to say being a mom is easy, so much as they’re saying working a desk job is harmful to the soul. While more demanding than a desk job, raising children is also a truly meaningful occupation; like, deep down, meaning of life type meaningful. You don’t get “paid”, but no amount of pay is worth more than watching your child learn and become a person either. Ultimately I don’t think the ease or difficulty of jobs is whats enabling or preventing these people from living a long time. It probably has more to do with a sense of purpose. The article is disingenuous because an overwhelming majority of jobs do not provide a sense of purpose.
You’re right. If the dems split their vote and Trump wins he will definitely behave in a calm and moral fashion. It’s not like Trump is a vindictive and shortsighted tyrant. He’s an ethical, scholarly gentleman. He never behaves impulsively or in a cruel and mean spirited way. And if there’s one thing Trump is passionate about, it’s protecting the weak and downtrodden. He believes in the equality of all nations, and doesn’t consider any of them to be shit holes. And he’s definitely not recently on record saying that Israel should just go in and “finish the job”.
Same thing any “in group” feeds on: self esteem. If you feel powerless, or worthless, or rudderless, any group that makes you feel powerful, valuable, and effective is going to be very appealing. Conservatives (read: fascists) prey on this. They make it seem like joining them is brave, and important. And since their followers lack identity and purpose, their self worth becomes entangled with [in group], be it closeted fascism such as the American GOP, or flaming such as Q/proud boys/whatever. And since their identity and value depends on the perpetuation and proliferation of their in group, they willingly accept lies and falsehood. Pretty easy to gaslight someone who’s encouraging it.
Then when they wear their symbols of hate, or make shocking claims, or in anyway troll and grief society, up to and including dismantling democracy, they get a reaction. They’ve exerted their will on the world around them, and as such they feel powerful. The insidious bit is, even if the good guys win, with all their high falutin factual arguments and social programs, it just makes these sad people angier and feel worthless again. So they go right back to their pimps for some more sweet lies and marching orders.
Comparing “most people” to billionaires is ludicrous in terms of spreading the wealth. The average American makes between 1 and 2 million over the course of their entire life. So if you have 1 billion, you have 1000 lifetimes worth of money. Musk is worth 342 billion. The amount of wealth trapped in the 1% is absolutely preposterous.
As for your villainizing of “drug addicts”, try to tell me wealthy people don’t abuse alcohol and prescription drugs, and cocaine. The only difference is when they kill a cyclist while driving drunk they get a reduced sentence and it doesn’t ruin their lives.