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Poverty and the enmiseration of the poor is a policy choice. It’s also short term beneficial for the wealthy, but long term deeply detrimental to all members o
by freen 2y ago
Poverty and the enmiseration of the poor is a policy choice.
It’s also short term beneficial for the wealthy, but long term deeply detrimental to all members of society: killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, a large, highly educated, culturally engaged population able to survive opportunity costs of taking economic risk.
A lone multibillionaire in a society of impoverished people has a deeply boring and dangerous life.
The lower your GINI coefficient, the more people can create culture, luxury, and the sorts of things the wealthy enjoy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_economic_inequality https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_economic_inequali...
- dfxm12 2y agoA lone multibillionaire in a society of impoverished people has a deeply boring and dangerous life. This is why, among other things, our multibillionaire are buying their way into the highest levels of government and media distribution. In their boredom, they are playing kings and manufacturing consent.
- Aromasin 2y agoWe've seen for centuries what bored oligarchs do - they lead crusades across nations states for one bullshit reason or another with an legion of people who need to work with them for money, entering into indebted servitude agreements. They get bored and go to war. Apparently building and inventing isn't another - I suppose because most of them are incabable of doing that due to a lack of talent. It's not so fulfilling being the moneybank with other people do the hard and interesting work. Probably why billionaires like Gates are midly normal compared to most - he's talented enough to do the building himself if needed. Same can't be same for Musk and Trump.
- engineer_22 2y agoTrump is ostensibly attempting to end America's favorite ongoing wars. His methods are hotly debated, but his tack is not in alignment with your message.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoBuilding hotels in Gaza and indebting Ukraine are the actions of somebody who is setting up America for future wars.
- ponector 2y agoAs well as sending big bombs to Israel instead of Ukraine. His politics looks like done by mafia boss. Russia invaded Ukraine so Ukraine should pay reparations to USA. And forget about international documents like Budapest memorandum
- engineer_22 2y agobryanlarsen: that's speculation. Hard to agree or disagree without any basis in fact.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoWhether he's doing it deliberately or not is speculation. I'm not sure what's worse -- whether he's too stupid to realize he's setting up the US for future wars or whether he's doing it deliberately.
- engineer_22 2y agoWith powers of clairvoyance like yours, you should trade the market!
- bryanlarsen 2y agoI've made 7 figures trading Tesla stock. Currently I don't own any.
- dfxm12 2y ago"Ostensibly" is doing a lot of work there. What the guy says and does are often very different, his claims about being a peaceful dove compared to his war hawk actions are no different: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/01/20/trump-the-anti-war-president-was-always-a-myth/ https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/01/20/trump-the-anti-...
- TacticalCoder 2y ago[dead]
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago>A lone multibillionaire in a society of impoverished people has a deeply boring and dangerous life. 1. Multibillionaires don't live amongst impoverished people and aren't in any danger anytime soon. The homeless tents don't affect Zuck, Musk or Bezos, and there's very few resourceful Luigis out there willing to destroy their lives to put billionaires in danger. They're more likely to be hit by lightning than be in any danger from the poor. Not to mention they're always surrounded by private security in public. 2. Any statistics you look at, the median and average american citizen is far from being impoverished even by rich developed country western standards. I recommend people visit some developing countries to get a perspective on what true poverty looks like.
- blitzar 2y agoIf you average Musk, Bezos, me and 997 other people, we are all billionaires with 0.004 private jets each.
- FirmwareBurner 2y agoLook at medians then. Both income and wealth. Only ones richer would be Swiss, Norwegians, Luxembourgians.
- dfxm12 2y agoMost Americans don't have enough savings to cover an unexpected $1000 bill [0], and poverty is increasingly becoming criminalized, as evidenced by the recent SCOTUS rulings outlawing sleeping outside. If you aren't already financially stable, the system is already actively working against you. Having to compare America, one of the richest nations in the world, to a generic developing nation is proof enough that something is very imbalanced. Compare the USA to Switzerland or New Zealand? 0 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-money-emergency-expenses-2025/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-money-emergency-expenses...
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago>Most Americans don't have enough savings to cover an unexpected $1000 bill Do you think the poor in your average western country have a lot more liquidity than Americans? Especially after inflation and increased CoL with stagnating wages. >Having to compare America, one of the richest nations in the world, to a generic developing nation is proof enough that something is very imbalanced. Who is making that comparison? I'm telling you to look at statistics. And statistically American citizens are wealthier than most developed nations. And the poor american citizens pose no thereat to the rich American citizens in order to be a problem for them as the OP makes it seem.