5 ms·

I'm not as wealthy as them but I have never, ever had this feeling: "It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts" Why does that hurt anyone? Doesn't it just help t

I'm not as wealthy as them but I have never, ever had this feeling: "It hurts to see Bezos and Musk in yachts" Why does that hurt anyone? Doesn't it just help the people that make yachts and work on them?

yellowapple 4y ago
> Why does that hurt anyone? Because those yachts were bought with money skimmed off our labor.
- IMTDb 4y ago
  Ah yes the famed 0 sum game. If that was the case, it should work both ways: when Bezos "lost" $20 billions of May 1st, how many skimmed labourers suddenly were able to afford $1 million houses ?
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    > If that was the case, it should work both ways Why would it? The notion that "it should work both ways" assumes that "both ways" are equally viable.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    The notion that employers are unfairly collecting economic rent from their employees doesn't require it to be a zero-sum game.
    - junofan 4y ago
      Who’s paying less than they expected in today’s market? If anything it’s the other way round right now—lots of people are taking jobs for more money than they expected.
      - int_19h 4y ago
        It doesn't matter what's "expected in today's market" from this perspective, either, since the market can be extremely skewed in terms of bargaining power. What matters is 1) how much wealth any given employee generates, and 2) how much of that generated wealth they retain. Anything that doesn't end up in their pockets, and is not a business expense otherwise, is economic rent collected by their employer.
        spullara 4y ago
        I don't think you want to go down this path. The majority of the workers would likely be a net loss with gains attributable to a much smaller set of workers. I don't think people would like their income clawed back because they didn't end up generate excess wealth for the company.
nickstinemates 4y ago
Some people are different than others. Some more so.
vitaflo 4y ago
My father worked for 35 years as a carpenter on mega yachts for insanely rich people. Yes it put food on our table in a rural area otherwise devoid of job opportunities. Rich people spending their money isn’t really the problem. It helped put me through college.
amusedcyclist 4y ago
The yachts aren't issue, i think the issue is more the insane amount of power that kind of money gives individual people (instead of institutions , which tend to have more checks and balances)
TheCoelacanth 4y ago
It's not the yachts that hurts. It's the vast amounts of political power that their wealth gives them and that they invariably use to further enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

yellowapple 4y ago

> Why does that hurt anyone? Because those yachts were bought with money skimmed off our labor.

IMTDb 4y ago
Ah yes the famed 0 sum game. If that was the case, it should work both ways: when Bezos "lost" $20 billions of May 1st, how many skimmed labourers suddenly were able to afford $1 million houses ?
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > If that was the case, it should work both ways Why would it? The notion that "it should work both ways" assumes that "both ways" are equally viable.
- int_19h 4y ago
  The notion that employers are unfairly collecting economic rent from their employees doesn't require it to be a zero-sum game.
  - junofan 4y ago
    Who’s paying less than they expected in today’s market? If anything it’s the other way round right now—lots of people are taking jobs for more money than they expected.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      It doesn't matter what's "expected in today's market" from this perspective, either, since the market can be extremely skewed in terms of bargaining power. What matters is 1) how much wealth any given employee generates, and 2) how much of that generated wealth they retain. Anything that doesn't end up in their pockets, and is not a business expense otherwise, is economic rent collected by their employer.
      - spullara 4y ago
        I don't think you want to go down this path. The majority of the workers would likely be a net loss with gains attributable to a much smaller set of workers. I don't think people would like their income clawed back because they didn't end up generate excess wealth for the company.

nickstinemates 4y ago

Some people are different than others. Some more so.

vitaflo 4y ago

My father worked for 35 years as a carpenter on mega yachts for insanely rich people. Yes it put food on our table in a rural area otherwise devoid of job opportunities. Rich people spending their money isn’t really the problem. It helped put me through college.

amusedcyclist 4y ago

The yachts aren't issue, i think the issue is more the insane amount of power that kind of money gives individual people (instead of institutions , which tend to have more checks and balances)

TheCoelacanth 4y ago

It's not the yachts that hurts. It's the vast amounts of political power that their wealth gives them and that they invariably use to further enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.