The issue I have with this sentiment is that some percentage of the rich made active pursuits to deny our freedoms and destroy democracy; while others were…just quiet and uninvolved in politics.
What’s more, much as it makes sense to change our hyper-capitalistic society, this is the society we’re working within in order to make change. Even printing a poster that explains why capitalism is bad costs money. By that token, we will likely need some support from some wealthy people to make change. And yes, that support exists to some degree, and no, we don’t literally need to have “more money” than the opposition.
So maybe you were just shortening sentiments for the sake of a snarky post, which is fine. We can pursue better tax rates for wealthier people, while also pursuing criminal investigations and metaphorical guillotines for the Heritage Foundation. Literally seize all their money. If I’m to make one point though, you don’t want those quiet wealthy people to feel that the Heritage Foundation are their only friends.
I know, man. There’s lots of people I dream about taking a crowbar to. But when I’m done with the violent rhetoric in my head, I think of the most practical actions.
The issue I have with this sentiment is that some percentage of the rich made active pursuits to deny our freedoms and destroy democracy; while others were…just quiet and uninvolved in politics.
The act of acquiring a billion dollars worth of financial assets is itself an attack. If you have a billion dollars, you have systematically overcharged your customers, underpaid your workers, and leveraged your wealth to do the same.
There is a term for a predator that remains “quiet” and “uninvolved” in its prey’s activities: “Parasite”.
I’d counter with examples like Gabe Newell and Steam.
Gabe’s estimated worth is around $6bil. Steam is commonly regarded as the cheapest source of games, and has some of the highest average pay at Valve. There are absolutely arguments to be made around exploitation within the CS:GO gambling market, but that’s still probably not a majority of Valve’s business and income, and they’d have similar numbers regardless. They made a good product, and have generated value from it.
Fine, one exception, right? Except with low visibility on their own internal practices, there’s probably many other wealthy people like them - who have contributed something valuable, which puts them on the first rung of a machine that will, almost through comparatively little effort on their part, catapult their wealth.
There’s something to be said about what happens naturally through inertia, rather than due to willful malice. We are seeing lots of willful malice, make no mistake - but quite a lot of it is simple indecisiveness. A CEO who is shown a study by his shareholders that if you offer one raise, everyone will want one - and decides to just go with the suggestion not to give any raises. A wealthy person whose accountant has the idea of hiding taxes offshore, just because “everyone is doing it”.
These people would not be harmed by tighter restrictions on investment opportunities, closing the loopholes letting people borrow from themselves in so many absurd ways. But many of them are not nearly so active in the exploitation as you seem to suggest.
To extend the example to someone like myself; I would generally say I make more income than I need to survive. I’m no millionaire, but to support myself I don’t need much. I also have no workers underneath me. In these current times, I have done my best to locate worthwhile causes to give up some of that money to. But that act takes time and energy I don’t always have, and given my habits I have a LOT of mailers and spam from less reputable charities of many kinds. Bill Gates founded a charity, but it’s easy to imagine many billionaires won’t bother.
And to further extend my own example: I would be okay with paying more in taxes if it meant a safer world for people with less means than myself - people who often do more valuable work for the world like teachers, nonprofits, and social workers. The task of allocating that distribution and sending checks myself just isn’t something I know how to do easily. I do my best, but it’s stressful and I often worry about whether I’m getting exploited by bad causes.
Again - I’ll emphasize that everything you’re saying is horrible about billionaires is very true about a sizable number of them - probably most we could name. And, I think in a fair future system, it would be much harder to become a billionaire due to tax nets redirecting wealth to better causes. But I also think some current billionaires have been riding a wave of a broken system without actively wanting it to be harmful.
The point, though, is not to garner sympathy for a small minority of a small minority. The point is that their capacity to effect change through their wealth is important enough for the act of change that we shouldn’t actively antagonize them all by incorrectly grouping them. We’re coming for their wealth, yes, but not for their heads (unless they’ve cheated or stolen their way up). And that wealth is meant to be put to good use.
That $6 billion came out of the hands of consumers, and didn’t go into the pockets of workers. That is exactly the kind of exploitation I’m talking about. I don’t have a problem with people being rich. This goes beyond “rich”. “Obscene” is the right word, but it has been used so often in this context that its meaning doesn’t even register anymore.
That we like his products, like him as a person, and recognize he’s far less exploitative than Jeff or Elon does not mean that his business practices are laudable. Gabe Newell is not an exception. He is part of the problem.
We’re coming for their wealth, yes, but not for their heads
It is not particularly difficult to get rid of wealth. Gabe could gift a good chunk of his wealth to the people who actually generated it. If he chooses to unload enough of wealth to stay under the head-chopping line, we won’t need to come for his (proverbial) head.
A lot of them make their money through exploiting labor via the stock market. That’s how Taylor swift became a billionaire. It’s the same thing you said but in a less direct way.
And newsflash, any of us with retirement accounts are making use of that same stock market.
It’s like blaming anyone with a smartphone for exploiting rare mineral mining. It is absolutely fair to hate the game instead of the players (even the successful ones), especially when so much of its designed to disconnect you from the elements of dehumanization.
The issue I have with this sentiment is that some percentage of the rich made active pursuits to deny our freedoms and destroy democracy; while others were…just quiet and uninvolved in politics.
What’s more, much as it makes sense to change our hyper-capitalistic society, this is the society we’re working within in order to make change. Even printing a poster that explains why capitalism is bad costs money. By that token, we will likely need some support from some wealthy people to make change. And yes, that support exists to some degree, and no, we don’t literally need to have “more money” than the opposition.
So maybe you were just shortening sentiments for the sake of a snarky post, which is fine. We can pursue better tax rates for wealthier people, while also pursuing criminal investigations and metaphorical guillotines for the Heritage Foundation. Literally seize all their money. If I’m to make one point though, you don’t want those quiet wealthy people to feel that the Heritage Foundation are their only friends.
I know, man. There’s lots of people I dream about taking a crowbar to. But when I’m done with the violent rhetoric in my head, I think of the most practical actions.
The act of acquiring a billion dollars worth of financial assets is itself an attack. If you have a billion dollars, you have systematically overcharged your customers, underpaid your workers, and leveraged your wealth to do the same.
There is a term for a predator that remains “quiet” and “uninvolved” in its prey’s activities: “Parasite”.
I’d counter with examples like Gabe Newell and Steam.
Gabe’s estimated worth is around $6bil. Steam is commonly regarded as the cheapest source of games, and has some of the highest average pay at Valve. There are absolutely arguments to be made around exploitation within the CS:GO gambling market, but that’s still probably not a majority of Valve’s business and income, and they’d have similar numbers regardless. They made a good product, and have generated value from it.
Fine, one exception, right? Except with low visibility on their own internal practices, there’s probably many other wealthy people like them - who have contributed something valuable, which puts them on the first rung of a machine that will, almost through comparatively little effort on their part, catapult their wealth.
There’s something to be said about what happens naturally through inertia, rather than due to willful malice. We are seeing lots of willful malice, make no mistake - but quite a lot of it is simple indecisiveness. A CEO who is shown a study by his shareholders that if you offer one raise, everyone will want one - and decides to just go with the suggestion not to give any raises. A wealthy person whose accountant has the idea of hiding taxes offshore, just because “everyone is doing it”.
These people would not be harmed by tighter restrictions on investment opportunities, closing the loopholes letting people borrow from themselves in so many absurd ways. But many of them are not nearly so active in the exploitation as you seem to suggest.
To extend the example to someone like myself; I would generally say I make more income than I need to survive. I’m no millionaire, but to support myself I don’t need much. I also have no workers underneath me. In these current times, I have done my best to locate worthwhile causes to give up some of that money to. But that act takes time and energy I don’t always have, and given my habits I have a LOT of mailers and spam from less reputable charities of many kinds. Bill Gates founded a charity, but it’s easy to imagine many billionaires won’t bother.
And to further extend my own example: I would be okay with paying more in taxes if it meant a safer world for people with less means than myself - people who often do more valuable work for the world like teachers, nonprofits, and social workers. The task of allocating that distribution and sending checks myself just isn’t something I know how to do easily. I do my best, but it’s stressful and I often worry about whether I’m getting exploited by bad causes.
Again - I’ll emphasize that everything you’re saying is horrible about billionaires is very true about a sizable number of them - probably most we could name. And, I think in a fair future system, it would be much harder to become a billionaire due to tax nets redirecting wealth to better causes. But I also think some current billionaires have been riding a wave of a broken system without actively wanting it to be harmful.
The point, though, is not to garner sympathy for a small minority of a small minority. The point is that their capacity to effect change through their wealth is important enough for the act of change that we shouldn’t actively antagonize them all by incorrectly grouping them. We’re coming for their wealth, yes, but not for their heads (unless they’ve cheated or stolen their way up). And that wealth is meant to be put to good use.
That $6 billion came out of the hands of consumers, and didn’t go into the pockets of workers. That is exactly the kind of exploitation I’m talking about. I don’t have a problem with people being rich. This goes beyond “rich”. “Obscene” is the right word, but it has been used so often in this context that its meaning doesn’t even register anymore.
That we like his products, like him as a person, and recognize he’s far less exploitative than Jeff or Elon does not mean that his business practices are laudable. Gabe Newell is not an exception. He is part of the problem.
It is not particularly difficult to get rid of wealth. Gabe could gift a good chunk of his wealth to the people who actually generated it. If he chooses to unload enough of wealth to stay under the head-chopping line, we won’t need to come for his (proverbial) head.
A lot of them make their money through exploiting labor via the stock market. That’s how Taylor swift became a billionaire. It’s the same thing you said but in a less direct way.
And newsflash, any of us with retirement accounts are making use of that same stock market.
It’s like blaming anyone with a smartphone for exploiting rare mineral mining. It is absolutely fair to hate the game instead of the players (even the successful ones), especially when so much of its designed to disconnect you from the elements of dehumanization.