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It's not about jealousy or unhappiness; it's about the fact that wealth buys power, and significant power differentials are dangerous for the people on the shor
by marssaxman 2y ago
It's not about jealousy or unhappiness; it's about the fact that wealth buys power, and significant power differentials are dangerous for the people on the short end. If Bezos can afford to buy a rocketship every minute, he can afford to rearrange the society you live in such that he will get to siphon off most of the million dollars a minute you've been enjoying, and there will be nothing you can do about it. This is what rich people do: this is what it means to be that rich.
- WalterBright 2y agoThe siphoning off of the money is what the government does. Just have a look at our government, and how much of the GDP it consumes (and that consumption is accelerating every day).
- criddell 2y agoSure, but the government is made up of our neighbours that we choose to represent us. Like Lincoln said, our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Bezos only represents himself.
- WalterBright 2y agoWho do you represent, besides yourself?
- criddell 2y agoMy elected representative represents me along with all the other people in the district. I'm part of a constituency.
- WalterBright 2y agoBezos has an elected representative, too.
- pdonis 2y ago> wealth buys power Actually, it does so a lot less in our current world than it did in the past. > If Bezos can afford to buy a rocketship every minute, he can afford to rearrange the society you live in No, he can't, because in a society that can supply him with a rocketship a minute, the wealth that allows him to buy them will be a very small fraction of the total wealth that exists, just as it is now. Whereas in, say, the Middle Ages, the wealth of feudal lords and rulers was a significant fraction of the total wealth that existed, and that is why that wealth bought them so much power.