3 ms·

The absurdity of athletes taking on the burden of billionaires amid pandemic

23 points by clairity 7y ago

Ancalagon 7y ago
Wow, I had no idea all the money pledged to the rebuilding of the Notre Dame was reneged on...
- clairity 7y ago
  yes, just to be clear, the linked article[0] calls out french billionaires for reneging, but the article is from last june, so who knows what's happned regarding funding since then. they say small french donors and the government is providing funding though. it's interesting that one foundation president estimates that 90% of rebuild funding is from american donors (big and small, presumably). [0] https://apnews.com/d69824caa68b4d24b13e91fed77dd953 https://apnews.com/d69824caa68b4d24b13e91fed77dd953
ornornor 7y ago
Isn’t that solved by taxes where rich people pay more taxes than others to help eliminate inequalities in society?? Of course, none of that works when the rich make up loopholes for themselves so that they and their corporations can dodge most or all taxes.
- clairity 7y ago
  we all need to do our part for our neighbors and colleagues. taking care of employees who depend heavily on the company for their lives (the regular employees) is the duty of a company and its wealthy owners. it's not the responsibility of the highly-paid employees (the players) to take care of the low-paid ones, even though some players are going above and beyond in that regard. it's also not right to shirk that responsibility onto the public via social programs (what walmart does in many places).
  - ornornor 7y ago
    I think it is. Not in terms of employees but in terms of population: how do you pay for employment insurance? People working pay for people who are out of work so they get a chance to find work again without getting evicted. And so the more you earn the more you should pay in taxes which go to those who earn much less or nothing. If you don’t have that, it’s worse for everyone: more crime, less opportunity, more diseases, etc. These are things that impact everyone, rich or poor. And when you get high enough up the food chain, yes it sucks to pay 50% tax on your highest bracket but really what is it you can’t do with 5 millions that you can do with 10? What Walmart does is shameful, and they’re not the only ones underpaying employees and relying on public programs to top it up. But that’s something that could be legislated away: force companies to pay living wages.

23 points by clairity 7y ago

Ancalagon 7y ago

Wow, I had no idea all the money pledged to the rebuilding of the Notre Dame was reneged on...

clairity 7y ago
yes, just to be clear, the linked article[0] calls out french billionaires for reneging, but the article is from last june, so who knows what's happned regarding funding since then. they say small french donors and the government is providing funding though. it's interesting that one foundation president estimates that 90% of rebuild funding is from american donors (big and small, presumably). [0] https://apnews.com/d69824caa68b4d24b13e91fed77dd953 https://apnews.com/d69824caa68b4d24b13e91fed77dd953

ornornor 7y ago

Isn’t that solved by taxes where rich people pay more taxes than others to help eliminate inequalities in society?? Of course, none of that works when the rich make up loopholes for themselves so that they and their corporations can dodge most or all taxes.

clairity 7y ago
we all need to do our part for our neighbors and colleagues. taking care of employees who depend heavily on the company for their lives (the regular employees) is the duty of a company and its wealthy owners. it's not the responsibility of the highly-paid employees (the players) to take care of the low-paid ones, even though some players are going above and beyond in that regard. it's also not right to shirk that responsibility onto the public via social programs (what walmart does in many places).
- ornornor 7y ago
  I think it is. Not in terms of employees but in terms of population: how do you pay for employment insurance? People working pay for people who are out of work so they get a chance to find work again without getting evicted. And so the more you earn the more you should pay in taxes which go to those who earn much less or nothing. If you don’t have that, it’s worse for everyone: more crime, less opportunity, more diseases, etc. These are things that impact everyone, rich or poor. And when you get high enough up the food chain, yes it sucks to pay 50% tax on your highest bracket but really what is it you can’t do with 5 millions that you can do with 10? What Walmart does is shameful, and they’re not the only ones underpaying employees and relying on public programs to top it up. But that’s something that could be legislated away: force companies to pay living wages.