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I like how these articles like to focus on the yacht and houses that represent at most 1% of their net worths, and don't focus on the 99% of it that is being pu

by kolbe 10y ago

I like how these articles like to focus on the yacht and houses that represent at most 1% of their net worths, and don't focus on the 99% of it that is being put to use as investment capital. Also, there's no doubt in my mind that the King of Saudi Arabia and Vladimir Putin have these 8 beat soundly in net worth, too.

sremani 10y ago
Vladimir Putin and King of Suadi Arabia will actually run for their lives if they are not in Power. They cling to power because that is the only way to enjoy their billions. All the money Putin or Sauds have put aside literally becomes void the day, they cede power to others.
jondubois 10y ago
Inequality causes society as a whole to increasingly serve the rich at the expense of the poor. In fact, 'investment capital', unless properly allocated, is indistinguishable from frivolous spending. If you buy a super-yacht; those hundreds of engineers and technicians who built it for you could instead have spent their time building airplanes for 'regular' people (and made international travel cheaper for everyone). In the same way, if you invest in a crappy startup (which makes a product that nobody needs), you are taking hundreds of engineers away from building something useful and making them work on something useless. At first glance, this doesn't seem too bad - After all, if you make a bad investment, the system will punish you by not giving you any ROI, right? So you'd lose your money and will cease to be a nuisance to society. In reality, however; because of social factors and economies of scale (lots of money in relatively few hands), it's actually possible (and extremely common) for people to make terrible investments and still get a return on it. If you have enough people in the system who know how to talk the talk and are good at manipulating others, then eventually, the waste builds up and becomes a significant burden on all of society (especially the poor). Soon enough, everyone in the world will be working on some useless trendy start-up to cater to the whims of a few wealthy investors - Nobody will be able to afford to work on a revolutionary HIV vaccine, world-changing education software or automated farming machines.

by kolbe 10y ago

sremani 10y ago

Vladimir Putin and King of Suadi Arabia will actually run for their lives if they are not in Power. They cling to power because that is the only way to enjoy their billions. All the money Putin or Sauds have put aside literally becomes void the day, they cede power to others.

jondubois 10y ago

Inequality causes society as a whole to increasingly serve the rich at the expense of the poor. In fact, 'investment capital', unless properly allocated, is indistinguishable from frivolous spending. If you buy a super-yacht; those hundreds of engineers and technicians who built it for you could instead have spent their time building airplanes for 'regular' people (and made international travel cheaper for everyone). In the same way, if you invest in a crappy startup (which makes a product that nobody needs), you are taking hundreds of engineers away from building something useful and making them work on something useless. At first glance, this doesn't seem too bad - After all, if you make a bad investment, the system will punish you by not giving you any ROI, right? So you'd lose your money and will cease to be a nuisance to society. In reality, however; because of social factors and economies of scale (lots of money in relatively few hands), it's actually possible (and extremely common) for people to make terrible investments and still get a return on it. If you have enough people in the system who know how to talk the talk and are good at manipulating others, then eventually, the waste builds up and becomes a significant burden on all of society (especially the poor). Soon enough, everyone in the world will be working on some useless trendy start-up to cater to the whims of a few wealthy investors - Nobody will be able to afford to work on a revolutionary HIV vaccine, world-changing education software or automated farming machines.