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The rich aren't entrusted, they're entrenched. Despite their PR, they're an artifact of a glitchy system, they're not any more deserving or dedicated or dependa

by jdiff 3y ago

The rich aren't entrusted, they're entrenched. Despite their PR, they're an artifact of a glitchy system, they're not any more deserving or dedicated or dependable than anyone else. Very often they're much less.

1letterunixname 3y ago
Amen. Each billionaire is a policy failure and represents an excess concentration of power because they're allowed to buy the loyalties of politicians with "free $peech" who, in turn, loosen the regulations on them and make it easier for them to acquire even more treasure. As Sen. John McCain discovered, unrestrained corruption cannot be solved within a system that refuses to either admit it is a problem and when the participants refuse to act with a shred of integrity. There isn't any workable solution but nonviolent mass resistance from outside of it. Progress and leadership on addressing existential threats including antibiotic resistance, the global greenhouse emergency, and a functional single payer health and mental healthcare system can only be achieved when the billionaires lose their unjust grip on power. Attempting to address any issue that doesn't align with profiteering or the whims of the billionaires will be thwarted and diluted into futility.
- pauldenton 3y ago
  I would view each billionaire as being good at one thing. Nobody needs to be as good as basketball as Lebron James. Nobody needs to be as good at Baseball as Babe Ruth. The existence of these outliers doesn't diminish anyone else. They merely show what is possible. It's only because we are so used to it that we even suggest redistribution for the money of billionaires. Nobody is suggesting we redistribute the point achievements of the top 10% athletes to the bottom 20%. Nobody suggests redistributing the grades of the top of the class to those failing at the bottom of the class. After all nobody needs 100% on an exam, if you lower their grade to 80% and redistribute those grade points suddenly more people are graduating. Why is redistributing money right, but redistributing credit for grades games and culture wrong?
  - jdiff 3y ago
    There is no such thing as a good billionaire. Skill can only take you so far, and it's not to the billionaire level. This is money, not skill, not grades. The billionaires aren't skilled, they're exploiting a broken system.
    - inemesitaffia 3y ago
      Messi, Beckham etc. All labor rather than capital

by jdiff 3y ago

1letterunixname 3y ago

Amen. Each billionaire is a policy failure and represents an excess concentration of power because they're allowed to buy the loyalties of politicians with "free $peech" who, in turn, loosen the regulations on them and make it easier for them to acquire even more treasure. As Sen. John McCain discovered, unrestrained corruption cannot be solved within a system that refuses to either admit it is a problem and when the participants refuse to act with a shred of integrity. There isn't any workable solution but nonviolent mass resistance from outside of it. Progress and leadership on addressing existential threats including antibiotic resistance, the global greenhouse emergency, and a functional single payer health and mental healthcare system can only be achieved when the billionaires lose their unjust grip on power. Attempting to address any issue that doesn't align with profiteering or the whims of the billionaires will be thwarted and diluted into futility.

pauldenton 3y ago
I would view each billionaire as being good at one thing. Nobody needs to be as good as basketball as Lebron James. Nobody needs to be as good at Baseball as Babe Ruth. The existence of these outliers doesn't diminish anyone else. They merely show what is possible. It's only because we are so used to it that we even suggest redistribution for the money of billionaires. Nobody is suggesting we redistribute the point achievements of the top 10% athletes to the bottom 20%. Nobody suggests redistributing the grades of the top of the class to those failing at the bottom of the class. After all nobody needs 100% on an exam, if you lower their grade to 80% and redistribute those grade points suddenly more people are graduating. Why is redistributing money right, but redistributing credit for grades games and culture wrong?
- jdiff 3y ago
  There is no such thing as a good billionaire. Skill can only take you so far, and it's not to the billionaire level. This is money, not skill, not grades. The billionaires aren't skilled, they're exploiting a broken system.
  - inemesitaffia 3y ago
    Messi, Beckham etc. All labor rather than capital