Mastodawn

ArneBab Feb 8, 2023

@Jedigirl I think that makes billionaires appear more harmless than they are.

They do not hoard those resources. They control them.

Many of them put them to use to reshape society according to their wishes — which often are not democracy, because only rare people will become billionaires while believing in distributing power as it is done in democracy.

The extreme right cries about the rare exceptions, but we should worry about the common case: billionaires working to expand their power.

Francesco Orsenigo (he/him)Feb 8, 2023

Agreed, with one nitpick: what would be these rare exceptions?

ArneBab Feb 8, 2023

@xarvh see other answers … there are people who want to spend all their wealth (some of it on useful things) before they die to avoid starting a dynasty. That’s at least a start.

And some want all rich people to actually pay their taxes. Though I’m not sure whether those breached the millionaire—billionaire barrier.
@Jedigirl

@ArneBab @Jedigirl Thing is, I don't think you don't get to be a billionaire without being greedy as fuck.
This is why I asked for specific examples.
The problem is that when you have that kind of money 1) there is no way you can spend it before you die without 2) using that money to shape the world the way YOU want and 3) buy some very good propaganda to legitimize that kind of obscene wealth ("I earned it!", "I'm a genius!", "I'm a philanthropist!")

ArneBab Feb 9, 2023

@xarvh You can use the money to shape the world in a way that the majority of people want. Or you could just give it to the UN or UNHCR or … @Jedigirl

Or you could convince the majority that the world they want is the one YOU want.

Thing is, if you are a billionaire, you think you understand everything (how else could you have made so much money!?) so you don't need the unwashed rabble to tell you what they want, because **YOU KNOW BETTER WHAT IS BEST FOR THEM**.

Also, if you give it away you are not a billionaire any more.

ArneBab Feb 9, 2023

@xarvh If you try to make the world think they want what you want, then you are not shaping the world for their benefit.

I don’t know how all billionaires think, so I don’t want to claim something.

And yes, not being a billionaire after giving away the money is the point. It’s what society needs to stay stable.
@Jedigirl

It is more subtle than that.

Imagine you are wildly "successful": you have this Great Understanding Of The World, which only coincidentally is self-serving, and the masses don't understand it, but wait! You also happen to have the means to push your ideas on a lot of people!
So that's what you do, by pushing these ideas you make the world a better place!

This is exactly what for example, Musk and Gates are doing BTW.

1/2

You don't need to know how billionaires think, you just need to know how humans think.

The only good billionaire (or millionaire) is the one that is not a billionaire any more.

Is the one that has refused to have so much power, so much influence, so much control on their fellow humans.

A society that allows such insane concentration of power has given up on being a democracy.

2/2

ArneBab

@xarvh But here’s a devils advocate: If you’re a good billionaire and you know that there are many bad billionaires, can you give up your power and allow the bad billionaires to continue to wield theirs?

😈
@Jedigirl

Francesco Orsenigo (he/him)Feb 10, 2023

@ArneBab @Jedigirl
Thought experiment: what would I do if I suddenly found myself with an obscene amount of money?

1) I'd probably buy a home and a good retirement insurance for me & my family. It's tricky not to get greedy here.
2) I'd try to talk with the communities in Chiapas and Rojava to see how the rest of the money can be used to help them & make their projects known and appreciated by the rest of the world, spreading the money so that it's not concentrated in any single entity.