Billionaires are evil

[Crispy]

Seriously how is Musk a gifted individual?

He's CTO at SpaceX and by all reports is has detailed technical input at every level of design and manufacturing. He's got a physics degree and taught himself engineering. A colossal dickhead, but definitely a very smart and technically minded person.

I'm highly suspicious of "good" billionaires that redistribute their wealth to be honest.

Quite. They shouldn't have it to give away in the first place.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Don’t think they’re evil. Never met one but I’d guess they’re just normal people living in exceptional circumstances.

When I was working running events for a nonprofit, I met more than one. It seemed to me that the more money they had, the more personable they were in person. TBH, they don't have to be assholes in person. Everyone caters to their every need as a matter of course. They also tend to travel with managers who "smooth their way."

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Urban's favourite psychologist Jordan Peterson guessed at $150 million as the most a person could semi-sensibly spend in a lifetime.

One million seconds = 11.5 days. Say you devote half of each day to it, that's 23 days for every million, so 150m = 3450 days, just under 10 years. But the result of it is that you have more to do, just in ever decreasing numbers, so yeah, probably will take the best part of the rest of your life is middle-aged and live to a ripe old one.

 

[8ball]

One million seconds = 11.5 days. Say you devote half of each day to it, that's 23 days for every million, so 150m = 3450 days, just under 10 years. But the result of it is that you have more to do, just in ever decreasing numbers, so yeah, probably will take the best part of the rest of your life is middle-aged and live to a ripe old one.

I think this assumes you're working rather a lot and have a family too, so focusing on spending would take a back seat. Or maybe it assumes you would have to outsource the spending to some extent.

I find it interesting how very few people ever feel rich, especially among people who really have a lot. You may have a yacht, but you know someone who has a yacht with a staffed bar. Then the guy with a yacht with a staffed bar has a mate who has an Australian barman, whereas he had settle for a Bulgarian one...

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I think this assumes you're working

My work once I have £150m will be scratch cards, one per second, 12 hours a day.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I think this assumes you're working rather a lot and have a family too, so focusing on spending would take a back seat. Or maybe it assumes you would have to outsource the spending to some extent.

I find it interesting how very few people ever feel rich, especially among people who really have a lot. You may have a yacht, but you know someone who has a yacht with a staffed bar. Then the guy with a yacht with a staffed bar has a mate who has an Australian barman, whereas he had settle for a Bulgarian one...

I think a sure sign of needing to be taxed more, is owning more than one yacht or one larger than a football field. Betsy DeVos, has 10 or 11. This article says 10, but I think she added another one this last year:

Report Details Betsy DeVos's Lavis Lifestyle

Betsy DeVos's family has hired help for all their needs, even a Christmas present buyer.

www.newsweek.com

She'd probably feel pretty poor if she was taxed down to a single yacht. Meanwhile, people are dying because they can't afford basic shit like healthcare.

 

[8ball]

I think a sure sign of needing to be taxed more, is owning more than one yacht or one larger than a football field. Betsy DeVos, has 10 or 11. This article says 10, but I think she added another one this last year.

11 yachts is ridiculous.
Imagine the underground lair you could buy with that.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

11 yachts is ridiculous.
Imagine the underground lair you could buy with that.

A lot of people just can't budget because they have their priorities out of order. She should cut back on take-out coffee.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

My work once I have £150m will be scratch cards, one per second, 12 hours a day.

Naw, not for me. The more you scratch off, the more you'd win. The more you'd have to buy and scratch off, the more you'd win.....

 

[weltweit]

He's CTO at SpaceX and by all reports is has detailed technical input at every level of design and manufacturing. He's got a physics degree and taught himself engineering. A colossal dickhead, but definitely a very smart and technically minded person.
..

I have worked with a few physics graduates and they have all been very creative grounded and technically competent individuals.

 

[weltweit]

I don't think billionaires are evil. For every billionaire out there there are probably 1,000,000 lesser entrepreneurs who given different circs could (a couple at least) also have made it big.

But that amount of money gives them the possibility to do some good .. those that try are one type, those that don't bother another.

 

[weltweit]

Incidentally I came across a website today which claimed to be a living wage employer. It had a logo etc and a link to the living wage website.

First time I had seen it. A good claim one could make about a company!

 

[klang]

Naw, not for me. The more you scratch off, the more you'd win. The more you'd have to buy and scratch off, the more you'd win.....

those 'you've won another scratch card' lots would be particularly annoying.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Naw, not for me. The more you scratch off, the more you'd win. The more you'd have to buy and scratch off, the more you'd win.....

You could just give the winnings away to people who need it.

 

[klang]

You could just give the winnings away to people who need it.

you couldn't as you'd be too busy scratching cards.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

you couldn't as you'd be too busy scratching cards.

Don't be daft, you'd employ people to do that for you. £100k a year would be a reasonable salary for someone scratching scratchcards all day.

 

[8ball]

Don't be daft, you'd employ people to do that for you. £100k a year would be a reasonable salary for someone scratching scratchcards all day.

<raises hand>

 

[farmerbarleymow]

<raises hand>

Sorry to break it to you but I'm not a billionaire.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Don't be daft, you'd employ people to do that for you. £100k a year would be a reasonable salary for someone scratching scratchcards all day.

I've done worse for (much) less.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I've done worse for (much) less.

I remember stuffing envelopes with stuff when I was a student - it was massively less obviously, about a fiver for a few hours work. I could do it really fast so probably not too bad an hourly rate in those days. There were x thousand to do so going slower wasn't going to generate more income.

 

[8ball]

I remember stuffing envelopes with stuff when I was a student - it was massively less obviously, about a fiver for a few hours work. I could do it really fast so probably not too bad an hourly rate in those days. There were x thousand to do so going slower wasn't going to generate more income.

I had a job opening envelopes. Might have been in the room next to you...

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I don't think billionaires are evil. For every billionaire out there there are probably 1,000,000 lesser entrepreneurs who given different circs could (a couple at least) also have made it big.

But that amount of money gives them the possibility to do some good .. those that try are one type, those that don't bother another.

I think large amounts of money (or power) are a magnifier. Everyone is a mix of good and bad. If you're an asshole when you're poor, you're going to be a bigger asshole when you're rich. Its one of the reasons that I think too much money is bad for most people. When you're poor you have to make an effort to get on with other people to survive.

Being rich also gives you greater power to do good things too, but I think there's a threshold level that gets met where people think they've done their part and its "ok" to use the rest on themselves. Or, they justify it by saying "I earned all of this."

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I remember stuffing envelopes with stuff when I was a student - it was massively less obviously, about a fiver for a few hours work. I could do it really fast so probably not too bad an hourly rate in those days. There were x thousand to do so going slower wasn't going to generate more income.

I had a job opening envelopes. Might have been in the room next to you...

I used to have a job running a machine that stuffed envelopes. We should start our own company.

 

[weltweit]

Yuwipi Woman I think Gates is genuinely trying to do some good. Ironic though that when he and his wife are busy giving billions away they seem still to be getting richer.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Yuwipi Woman I think Gates is genuinely trying to do some good. Ironic though that when he and his wife are busy giving billions away they seem still to be getting richer.

That may be overstating it a bit, or I might just have gotten cynical in my old age. I think he's remaking the world in his image and to secure his legacy. If that happens to do some good, he's ok with that.

 

[8ball]

That may be overstating it a bit, or I might just have gotten cynical in my old age. I think he's remaking the world in his image and to secure his legacy. If that happens to do some good, he's ok with that.

Well, his image is very tied up with "not having malaria", so that's not all bad.
The billionaire who owns the company that owns my company is also planning to give it all away aside from leaving a pretty modest amount his for kids (his rule apparently being "leave them enough that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing"). Had to do a good bit of digging to find this out - even senior management at my company have never heard of him. His foundation bears no resemblance to his name or that of any if his companies.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I used to have a job running a machine that stuffed envelopes. We should start our own company.

A circular economy, even more so if we stuff the envelopes with memos.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

A circular economy, even more so if we stuff the envelopes with memos.

Its always been circular. You have to keep the poor busy somehow, or they'll be demanding things like social and economic justice.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Well, his image is very tied up with "not having malaria", so that's not all bad.
The billionaire who owns the company that owns my company is also planning to give it all away aside from leaving a pretty modest amount his for kids (his rule apparently being "leave them enough that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing"). Had to do a good bit of digging to find this out - even senior management at my company have never heard of him. His foundation bears no resemblance to his name or that of any if his companies.

Right. He could be buying eleven yachts or building a secret underground lair with it.

 

[Marty1]

all employers exploit their employees - do you think that profit just appears by magic?

Amazon are well reported as one of the worst exploiters of workers.

Nothing wrong with making profit (to which Amazon make huge amounts of) but they don’t have to go to the extremes they do - as I’ve already posted an in depth Buzzfeed article further up this thread - Amazon’s exploitation is literally costing innocent lives to be lost whilst the worlds richest billionaire Bezos laughs it up.