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I much more trust the billionaires to solve the world's problems than the politicians. I know it's popular to rain crap on rich people (just see Hollywood's lo

by nickpp 7y ago

I much more trust the billionaires to solve the world's problems than the politicians. I know it's popular to rain crap on rich people (just see Hollywood's long list of well moneyed villains) but in the Real World I have many billionaires I respect and admire (from Gates to Musk and Bezos) and ZERO politicians.

csunbird 7y ago
While your approach is valid, the problems arise when the billionaires are the politicians. That is how you get corrupt governments.
- nickpp 7y ago
  Oh, but you don't need billionaires to get corrupt governments. You just need politicians. Who then become corrupt billionaires. But they were politicians first.
adrianN 7y ago
Benevolent dictators are the most effective may to govern, but it's really hard to prevent malicious dictators from rising in such a system.
- nickpp 7y ago
  All the dictators I know were non-billionaire politicians first.
- cryptica 7y ago
  I think even malicious dictators are OK. They don't last forever and they give the system a good cleanup.
osdiab 7y ago
While I detest the enormous wealth inequality in our world today, governments aren’t shaping up to be an appealing alternative. I can’t speak for other countries but US government seems to systematically undervalue making and executing decisions efficiently. To me, the biggest failure of US-style democracy - often touted as a strength in the form of checks and balances (admittedly, thankfully because Trump has been slowed down quite a bit) - is its inefficiency - so many social problems root from that alone. (I’m of the camp that issues like immigration are less of a “dumb racist conservatives” problem as the American left puts it, and more of a “convenient scapegoats for hopelessly low opportunity” problem, I say as someone who leans liberal but feels repelled by the way the party acts) I got tired of SF government being so thoroughly useless at improving day to day life for its citizens, that I moved out to Tokyo now. They’re not perfect by any means, but the feeling that systems actually seem to work well, is revolutionary for me in a time of intense political disillusionment.

by nickpp 7y ago

csunbird 7y ago

While your approach is valid, the problems arise when the billionaires are the politicians. That is how you get corrupt governments.

nickpp 7y ago
Oh, but you don't need billionaires to get corrupt governments. You just need politicians. Who then become corrupt billionaires. But they were politicians first.

adrianN 7y ago

Benevolent dictators are the most effective may to govern, but it's really hard to prevent malicious dictators from rising in such a system.

nickpp 7y ago
All the dictators I know were non-billionaire politicians first.
cryptica 7y ago
I think even malicious dictators are OK. They don't last forever and they give the system a good cleanup.

osdiab 7y ago

While I detest the enormous wealth inequality in our world today, governments aren’t shaping up to be an appealing alternative. I can’t speak for other countries but US government seems to systematically undervalue making and executing decisions efficiently. To me, the biggest failure of US-style democracy - often touted as a strength in the form of checks and balances (admittedly, thankfully because Trump has been slowed down quite a bit) - is its inefficiency - so many social problems root from that alone. (I’m of the camp that issues like immigration are less of a “dumb racist conservatives” problem as the American left puts it, and more of a “convenient scapegoats for hopelessly low opportunity” problem, I say as someone who leans liberal but feels repelled by the way the party acts) I got tired of SF government being so thoroughly useless at improving day to day life for its citizens, that I moved out to Tokyo now. They’re not perfect by any means, but the feeling that systems actually seem to work well, is revolutionary for me in a time of intense political disillusionment.