azz-tronaut:

fandomsandfeminism:

whenandwhereienter:

twodotsknowwhy:

fandomsandfeminism:

aflawedmind:

fandomsandfeminism:

caosdth:

fandomsandfeminism:

cardboardfacewoman:

So you are saying 0% of the world should be billionaires?

Yes.

Why shouldn’t their be billionaires? That makes no sense.

Because the existence of billionaires is predicated on the exploitation of human labor and unsustainable environmental harm.  That level of wealth hoarding is harmful to economies, as it reduces the amount of money in circulation. No one person, no family, could ever conceivably even SPEND a billion dollars anyway, and  it is inherently immoral to accumulate wealth so narrowly while so much of the world lives in abject poverty.  

Better then to create a wealth ceiling, a point at which all wealth over a certain point  is taxed at or very near 100% to incentivize people to actually spend their money rather than hoard it, stimulating the economy and bettering the lives of far more people. Better even still to create and regulate economic systems that protect workers and the environment in a way that such extreme levels of wealth accumulation aren’t even feasible. 

The problem with this is that it reduces the incentive to actually do fiscally well. What’s the point of starting a business if you can’t become wealthy?

There is a very real difference between “reasonably wealthy” and A BILLIONAIRE

No one is saying you shouldn’t have a nice house, we are saying that having multiple really, really ridiculously nice houses while your employees are either homeless or at serious risk of becoming homeless is immoral.

I’ll never understand why this concept is hard for people. I think it’s because they can’t actually fathom how much $1 Billion is.

Seriously.

Let’s say you have a badass job. A great job. You make $100 AN HOUR. You work 10 hours a day ($1000 A DAY), 5 days a week ($5000 a week!!!), every week ($20,000 A MONTH), thats $240,000 Every Year.

It would take you 4,167 years to make a billion dollars.

Remember in National Treasure when they finally find the room and it’s that tiny little alcove with some scrolls and statues and stuff. And then Nic Cage lights the lamp and it pans out to what the actual fortune looks like and it spans galaxies? The first room is what people think a billion dollars looks like, the rest of it is an actual representation.

important to note though when presenting an argument against obscene wealth: there’s a huge difference between total assets (total $ coming in), net worth (total $ coming in, minus liabilities such as debts and maintenance), and liquidity (assets that are cash ready to spend, or can be easily converted as such).

forgive the #notallrichpeople joke, but a millionaire isn’t always “wealthy”. plenty of small business owners who live like broke college students technically have a million or two to their name, with their total worth including things land and buildings/equipment they’ve bought over the years, even things as nebulous as a good reputation and large customer base. but all that money, those “millions”, are living inside the company to keep it alive and growing in hopes that eventually, they’ll be able to give themselves a reasonable paycheck.

you even have the rare kind soul who donates a huge portion of earnings to charity, or someone who supports many people in an extended family. earning a million technically makes someone a millionaire, even if they end up not having a million to spend on themselves.

best way to deduce how much a person is truly “wealthy” is to look at their frivolous spending, and how much liquidity they’re hoarding. buying a bit of luxury isn’t bad, it simulates the economy. buying a second mansion, multiple yachts, private jets, or holding millions inside a vault? billionaires?? those are the people we need to Eat.