Qasim Rashid, Esq.Jul 11, 2023

EIon Musk’s Wealth
2009: $.6B
2023: $249B

Jeff Bezos’s Wealth
2009: $6B
2023: $153B

Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth
2009: $.6B
2023: $105B

Federal Minimum Wage
2009: $7.25
2023: $7.25

Billionaire tax rate: 8.2%
Worker tax rate: 13%

Pay workers.
Tax Billionaires.
Save our economy.

Show threadgeobeckJul 11, 2023

@QasimRashid
I immediately thought ot the typical counter-argument: "But they create jobs!"

However, immediately under this was a post about layoffs by a mega-corp.

Show threadAaronJul 13, 2023
@geobeck @QasimRashid The companies they own create jobs. The billionaires that own them do not.
Show threadgeobeckJul 13, 2023

@hosford42 @QasimRashid
Even that's limited. The primary mission of a corporation is to serve the interests of its shareholders. If a company is young and expanding, that creates jobs. But if revenue isn't increasing as quickly as shareholders demand, the usual recourse is to cut expenses, including jobs.

Increasing demand creates jobs. Companies may or may not, depending on demand.

Show threadAaronJul 13, 2023
@geobeck @QasimRashid I like to point out the very reason for the existence of for-profit corporations, which you just touched upon: They exist for profit -- the extraction of money changing hands between workers and customers. They do this by acting as middle men between them. Couched in different terminology, for-profit corporations are parasitic by design. As long as our economy is built around for-profit corporations, this will continue to be a problem. We need to support the replacement of for-profit corporations with cooperatives, both individually and in government.
Show threadgeobeck

@hosford42 @QasimRashid
An extreme example is US health insurance. Americans pay more taxes per capita toward health care than Canadians do, but still pay a ridiculous amount in premiums and fees.

Put another way, *every penny* of US health premiums and user fees is profit for parasitic insurance companies.

Jul 13, 2023 at 10:03pmWeb