6 ms·

Life for us masses has never been better. Lots of crooks in power, sure, but if you know history that's how it's always been. How human societies typically wor

• maybelsyrup 5y ago
  > The numbers look big, but in terms of dollars per citizen, how much money are we really talking about? I'm not sure what you intended with this, but it's a really good empirical question. Since we have no reason to believe any one of these "leaks" is exhaustive, we don't ever know the true denominator, so we can't estimate dollars-per-citizen with any confidence. But we do know the realities of being poor. So if the true dollars-per-citizen-per-year figure turns out to be as little as, say a thousand dollars, I think a lot of people would be justified in eyeing their pitchforks. Hell, an extra fifty dollars a month in the developed world would make a massive difference for millions who struggle. Personally, I believe that the true number is very plausibly in this range.
  • BurningFrog 5y ago
    > I'm not sure what you intended with this, but it's a really good empirical question. It's an honest question, and I am genuinely curious of the numbers in these revelations. How much bigger the real number is we can only guess. > Hell, an extra fifty dollars a month in the developed world would make a massive difference for millions who struggle. Sure, but that assumes such a system is possible, and that it is desirable. I'm doubtful on both.