Quote:
Originally Posted by Reach
I almost feel as if this would deserve a separate thread, but could you elaborate on this? More specifically, that it is immoral to have wealth, and that billionaires by definition are evil.
I disagree with both statements, but I would need to hear more from you to really get into this.
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It's relatively simple in application: There is a certain amount of money/resources that are required to live comfortably. An amount that is required to live well. An amount that is sufficient for you to live well, and one or more generations that come after you to live just as well. All of those are well below being a billionaire.
A billionaire, by definition, has more money than they could possibly use to have even a luxurious lifestyle for themselves, their children, and their children. To hold that kind of wealth and use it to just grow itself and evade paying even the legally mandated taxes to the government under which you live for the betterment of others makes you evil.
Somebody with a billion dollars could lose 0.1% of their wealth and that is a MILLION DOLLARS. That million dollars could pay for 20 people's 50k university educations, or fund 100 classrooms with 10k each for supplies and better teacher compensation.
Somebody like Jeff Bezos is worth 140 times that much. The same 0.1% of his wealth ratchets those 20/100 up to 2,800 people or 14,000 classrooms, for 0.1% of his wealth.
In a year where I made say, 40,000 dollars, 0.1% of that wealth is 40 bucks. If I could spend 40 bucks to give a university education to 2800 people, or cover supplies and a several thousand dollar a year raise for teachers in 14,000 classrooms, I would absolutely consider myself evil to withhold that pittance, that irrelevant amount of my wealth.
When you have more than you need, I believe it is a moral imperative to use the excess to help people who need it. I've been flush, and I helped those who were bust. Heck, I've been bust, and helped those who were more bust.
When you have the ability to fix major national crises for an amount of money so small you would literally not be able to notice it was missing, and you don't, I think you need to answer for that.
Hey look a very timely example of what I mean:
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/...93604243128320