this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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Political Memes

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[–] Cruxifux@lemmy.world 163 points 2 years ago (12 children)

No ethical billionaires. Nobody comes by that much money honestly.

[–] jpeps@lemmy.world 56 points 2 years ago (14 children)

While I don't think it's true, I could accept the idea that it were possible to make that much money ethically. However, having that much and not doing good with it? To me that's the bigger evil. Billionaires should be extincting themselves.

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Entertainers could be an exception to the evil billionaire rule, but even Swift was doing things like renting out her jet, and her shows have a huge carbon footprint as well.

If she were paying for the pollution, the profit margins wouldn’t be so high.

Also we just need to tax most of the income over $1 million a year. Like we did before the 80s greed is good bullshit started.

[–] rwhitisissle@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Also there's the whole "stealing the surplus labor" of the many people she employs thing.

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[–] TehBamski@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Here's a quick and simple example of how much $1 million ($1,000,000,000,) is compared to $1 billion ($1,000,000,000,000.)

1 million seconds equals 11.57 days. 1 billion seconds equals 31.71 years. Days v.s. YEARS!

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Nobody earns a billion dollars. Imagine it's October 12, 1492. One of your ancestors is so excited about Columbus landing in America, that he starts putting aside the equivalent of 5000 dollars every single day. And through good fortune, every heir continues to do the same. 5000 dollars added to a pile every single day for over 530 years. 5000 dollars is more than most people make in a month and it accrues every. single. day. There is no interest on the money, but at the same time there are no taxes and nobody spends it on frivolous stuff like food or shelter or education or healthcare. And now, after more than 531 years you inherit it all and realize you're not a billionaire. I know it's an unrealistic thought experiment, but to me it shows that no billionaire ever earned their money.

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[–] Fades@lemmy.world 104 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (37 children)

For those unaware

From 2022:

Taylor Swift’s plane was identified by the report as the “biggest celebrity CO2e polluter this year so far,” racking up 170 flights since January with emissions totaling more than 8,293 metric tons.

A report published last year by Transport & Environment, a major European clean transport campaign group, found that a single private jet can emit 2 metric tons of CO2 in just an hour. To put that in context, the average person in the E.U. produces about 8.2 tons of emissions over the course of an entire year, according to the report.

https://www.transportenvironment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021_05_private_jets_FINAL.pdf

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[–] SCB@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

This is, unironically, the best meme about leftists ever made.

In my experience, leftists are like Star Wars fans, in that no one hates leftists like other leftists.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (5 children)

The right, when issues arise, circle the wagons. The left, when issues arise, form a circular firing squad.

The let's fractured nature is both its greatest strength, allowing for innovation and new thinking, and its greatest weakness. We often fail to come together for good, when we all want perfect. We often end up with neither.

[–] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Eh, keep in mind that the right have been gridlocking each other in US Congress with the weird alt-right RINO stuff. There's infighting on both sides; the US essentially has multiple parties within each major party.

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[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Dunno about you all, though I'll take the slightly less villainess billionnaire that might have a positive impact for $500, Steven. Cause fuck if I won't side with the potential enemies of my enemies at this stage. Playing it cool and acting like we're doing fine doesn't seem to be doing much after all.

[–] 1847953620@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

nah, fuck em all. I don't trust that nepo baby psycho

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[–] crackajack@reddthat.com 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

There are ethical billionaires, but nobody would have heard of them because they do not advertise and show off how much of a good person they are for donating. A good person do not look for validation. Charles Feeney comes to mind who donated 90% of his wealth and died with net worth of $1 million. He also lived in a rented apartment despite having become a billionaire for managing Duty Free.

Edit: okay some have been pedantic on here about Charles Feeney and his wealth, and some of my figures have been wrong, but the overall point still stands. He was worth $8 billion, donated over 99% of his wealth and spent the rest of his remaining days with $2 million.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/nyregion/james-bond-of-philanthropy-gives-away-the-last-of-his-fortune.html,

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Incorrect. The only way to acquire a billion dollars in net worth is to exploit labor.

Doesnt matter if they donated to charity. Its a tax shelter for them. Im sure Feeneys employees would have preferred to be paid higher wages.

[–] crackajack@reddthat.com 6 points 2 years ago

Maybe. But we don't know how he managed his business. His wealth was, after all, came in the 1960s and 70s at the height of air travel which he sold his items to travellers, unions were also powerful and the world was operating under the Bretton Woods agreement.

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[–] JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 years ago

Fully extend right arm, lift arm 15 degrees, rotate wrist 90 degrees to the right. Resume.

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