I think part of the problem is that people genuinely have no conception how much larger “billion” is than “million” (one thousand x million)
Phonetically they sound similar and they’re both a larger sum of money than most people will ever see in their lifetime.
A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 33 years. A million minutes is 2 years ago. A billion minutes is the Roman Empire.
Presuming most people would be financially secure at 10 million for several generations (invested that’s 700k per year give or take doing nothing but sitting on your ass)
10 billion is 700 times that total amount just in interest earnings. You would be earning the GDP of some small nations doing nothing but letting your money sit. Bezos and Musk have a 100x larger factor than that. B
It makes me so mad that billionaires get tax breaks. They have so much money they can’t possibly spend it all, yet they are constantly accumulating more.
"Money is power, and billionaires are impossibly powerful. "
And John Roberts opened the gates wide in 2010 with Citizen's United and the complete takeover of political campaigns by money and billionaire controlled corporations.
The Roosevelts came along before there was such a thing as billionaires, but both TR and FDR were millionaires. Yet, they were progressive on many issues, and helped the non-millionaire Americans enjoy a better standard of living. FDR helped my Grandpa get his dignity back, thanks to FDR's policies, Grandpa got a job (it was the Depression) and was able to provide for his family, which had just increased with the birth of my mother.
It's too bad that today's GOP doesn't have the likes of TR, or even of Eisenhower, in its ranks.
The Democrats have few who are like FDR, or even Eisenhower, in their ranks. Clinton and Obama were mostly conservative and neither rolled back tax cuts. Biden maybe a half step to the left. We've been cowed that liberal, woke and progressives are pejorative. Overton window keeps moving right.
My grandfather and uncles, who were master carpenters, were saved during the Depression by Civilian Conservation Corps projects. Biden brought it back, but I can only assume it was sent to the chopping block very early on.
I imagine part of this feteing of billionaires is to avoid getting buried by billionaire funding threats (after all the rightwing media human centipede is funded by millionaire/billionaire pocket change). They saw what happened to Joe Biden when the money people knife him and voters were happy to follow along.
Mr Mamdani is the new online hotness for now. But municipal governance is great at dashing dreams because unlike at federal and state levels there is nowhere to pass the fiduciary buck. And being a mayor is a great way to expose one's feet of clay.
video tours of Manhattan homes only billionaires can afford
This shit, going back to Robin Leach is part of why we are here. People watch this wealth porn with stars in their eyes and think its good. Its not. We should be a society where people who do good are celebrated, not psychopaths who hoard resources to the detriment of millions. And which rich asshole was right there at the begining with his golden toilets on the Lifestyles bullshit show? I have hated that man forever.
Some guy said something about hoarded wealth 2000 years ago. Hint: he was against it, but was all for helping the needy. Spoiler, that guy was crucified, because you just can't have people going around telling the wealthy that they should help others. It might give people ideas detrimental to the wealthy.
The 80s were ALL about worshipping the rich. I remember the media being thrilled that Reagan was "bringing glamor back to the White House" after the austere Carter years. Reagan schmoozed the hell out of the press corps, threw huge parties for them, and they loved him for it.
I think part of the problem is that people genuinely have no conception how much larger “billion” is than “million” (one thousand x million)
Phonetically they sound similar and they’re both a larger sum of money than most people will ever see in their lifetime.
A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 33 years. A million minutes is 2 years ago. A billion minutes is the Roman Empire.
Presuming most people would be financially secure at 10 million for several generations (invested that’s 700k per year give or take doing nothing but sitting on your ass)
10 billion is 700 times that total amount just in interest earnings. You would be earning the GDP of some small nations doing nothing but letting your money sit. Bezos and Musk have a 100x larger factor than that. B
It makes me so mad that billionaires get tax breaks. They have so much money they can’t possibly spend it all, yet they are constantly accumulating more.
"Money is power, and billionaires are impossibly powerful. "
And John Roberts opened the gates wide in 2010 with Citizen's United and the complete takeover of political campaigns by money and billionaire controlled corporations.
The Roosevelts came along before there was such a thing as billionaires, but both TR and FDR were millionaires. Yet, they were progressive on many issues, and helped the non-millionaire Americans enjoy a better standard of living. FDR helped my Grandpa get his dignity back, thanks to FDR's policies, Grandpa got a job (it was the Depression) and was able to provide for his family, which had just increased with the birth of my mother.
It's too bad that today's GOP doesn't have the likes of TR, or even of Eisenhower, in its ranks.
The Democrats have few who are like FDR, or even Eisenhower, in their ranks. Clinton and Obama were mostly conservative and neither rolled back tax cuts. Biden maybe a half step to the left. We've been cowed that liberal, woke and progressives are pejorative. Overton window keeps moving right.
My grandfather and uncles, who were master carpenters, were saved during the Depression by Civilian Conservation Corps projects. Biden brought it back, but I can only assume it was sent to the chopping block very early on.
I imagine part of this feteing of billionaires is to avoid getting buried by billionaire funding threats (after all the rightwing media human centipede is funded by millionaire/billionaire pocket change). They saw what happened to Joe Biden when the money people knife him and voters were happy to follow along.
Mr Mamdani is the new online hotness for now. But municipal governance is great at dashing dreams because unlike at federal and state levels there is nowhere to pass the fiduciary buck. And being a mayor is a great way to expose one's feet of clay.
NYC has plenty of lampposts, is all I'm sayin'...
video tours of Manhattan homes only billionaires can afford
This shit, going back to Robin Leach is part of why we are here. People watch this wealth porn with stars in their eyes and think its good. Its not. We should be a society where people who do good are celebrated, not psychopaths who hoard resources to the detriment of millions. And which rich asshole was right there at the begining with his golden toilets on the Lifestyles bullshit show? I have hated that man forever.
Communism looks good on paper but doesn't work in real life.
Capitalism doesn't even look good on paper...
Some guy said something about hoarded wealth 2000 years ago. Hint: he was against it, but was all for helping the needy. Spoiler, that guy was crucified, because you just can't have people going around telling the wealthy that they should help others. It might give people ideas detrimental to the wealthy.
The 80s were ALL about worshipping the rich. I remember the media being thrilled that Reagan was "bringing glamor back to the White House" after the austere Carter years. Reagan schmoozed the hell out of the press corps, threw huge parties for them, and they loved him for it.
"Greed is good" sums it all up.