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this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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What specific thing(s) do Gates and Buffett deserve being cruelly killed over?
No one's suggesting cruelty (Okay probably some are, but). But you see what had happen was the planet is dying and 1% of the people have 45% of the money. So. Uh. There's a . . . it's . . . it's a math thing. Of course, they could give away a few billion to the Education department or the National Parks service or the EPA or Food Pantries around the - well, world really. A billion is a fantastic amount of money such that we really don't appreciate it.
Like, if someone were to count to one billion, allowing for 3 seconds per number (they get big, like, say, 295 million,111 thousand,433 dollars) it would take one ninety five years to count to one billion. And Gates is theoretically worth one hundred and forty six times ninety five years of counting. (Fine, that's 13,870 years)
And yet they're not doing anything with most of it. It just sits in a computer allowing them to buy governments and raze forests. Yes, yes, sometimes they give out free vaccines to some children which is a good thing. Kudos where due.
So TL;DR we're angry about it. The system created by the rich continues to make us fear going broke and destroy the planet. There's lots of people who know how to fix it, but they'll never be heard. And here we are, taking some schadenfreude from an exploded mini sub or whatever. Yes, it's true. Which group should be more ashamed.
You are thinking too much about this. No one deserves to be cruelly killed, especially not because of how much money they have. Them having money does not affect you directly. Don't take it so personally. Don't put those negative thoughts in your head.
I think it's pretty clear that a billion dollars is too much money for one person to manage correctly. That's why reasonable people like Warren Buffett are donating all their money to charity. Above $1 billion, people start buying giant yachts and relatively ugly houses that people will forget about in 20 years. Essentially, that money is wasted.
Buffett routinely talks about money as representing little "claim checks" on the productivity of American business. He clearly believes that he doesn't deserve the majority of his wealth because it's mostly an accident of fate, even though he has literally "earned it" by being one of the world's best investors. If he didn't have opportunity growing up, he says he would be an insurance actuary.
The real problem is that many billionaires are squandering the productivity of America on frivolous garbage. Small business loans or first time homebuyer loans would be a much better use of that money. Don't ask for them to die, that just passes the torch to their kids who may waste even more money. Ask for higher corporate taxes.