this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 166 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Do you know what the difference is between a millionaire and a billionaire? About a billion.

[–] [email protected] 106 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A million seconds is 11.574 days, a billion seconds is 31.7 years

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

I always think it as the difference between a nice vacation and a whole generation.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

I'm saving this one 👍

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s interesting that the wealth bar of the 400 richest Americans is about 6-times as long as the author needs to say some interesting points.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’d argue that’s another good argument for seizing their assets and making them pay for their asshole behaviour.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 year ago

The owner's deluded peasants would never allow that.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Honestly, probably the only way to save the Environment and Democracy. Too much power in the hands of the few leads to perpetual effective monarchy. It's why the Founding Fathers were against large amounts of inherited wealth, particularly inherited wealth that creates dynasties in perpetuity.

I know people don't like the Founding Fathers that much lately, and I see why, but conservatives really don't understand them, and deliberately misrepresent them, because not doing so would undercut all conservative "policies".

World's a mess because of inequality and the concentration of almost all wealth and power into the hands of a small amount of sociopaths. I honestly think the only way to solve this permanently is to cap the amount of wealth and power any individual or family can have.

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[–] [email protected] 90 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Many years ago, I used to work in infosec. One of my employer's clients was a big and famous brand well-established in the luxury sector. One day, a colleague of mine was sent to test their POS. Inside one, he found a single transaction for around 6M € from a credit card swipe. It wasn't a payment made from a bank transfer or a check, just a single credit card swipe! At the time, I couldn't even dream a card with such a credit allowance would exist. I had a pretty good living then, with money for the rent, daily expenses, and even some savings. Still, for an instant, I remember feeling like a poor child living in a house made of mud.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When there are so many that don't have their needs met this is pretty disgusting

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've lost the will to live. Why do this place even exist?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's the best part!

None of this, anywhere, exists by any other means than chance. The entire universe has no reason to exist. It has no reason to not exist.

It also showcases the most unique thing about awareness of the human problem - If the meaning of life isn't a thing, what is it? Well, maybe it's not a question to be answered, but a journey to be experienced.

So we can say "well, fuck, we'll be miserable forever." Or, we can individually ask if we are ok with that, and if we aren't, how can we influence this journey to be worth experiencing?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

That's quite lovely.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (7 children)

i feel you, but i keep living just in case this ever changes. getting a job is unironically one of the best things i did for my mental health. helps paying for my hobbies too, still not enough to move out though. my solution is to endure and wait until i can sustain living on my own.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago

Now This is Doom Scrolling.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I don't like how American - centric this is but otherwise very... impressive

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I recommend visiting Gapminder. For example the Dollar Street, where you can get an inside how different life around the world is, depending on income.

Also, it's various other statistical tools like this animated graph, where you can see the billionaires running away to the right. Also interesting is the short blip of people having more wealth at around 1980 - 2010, which immediately got sucked back into "slightly right of extreme poverty mountain".

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It also seems very American to me that there is not a single mention of climate change in there

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

They are so rich that my browser crashed while I was trying to speed scrolling the page to the end

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

this reminded me of how 4channers purposely desensitize themselves to gore and other heinous stuff, but they cant escape the pain of loneliness. and it could be solved if they just didnt act like massive pieces of shit. then they blame it on women and the supposed phenomenon of them only dating the “top 20%” of men! its probably the stupidest self-fulfilling prophecy

jfc, you dont even have to have basic hygiene (tho that helps), just be nice!! dont be a misanthropic shut-in with a hyper-inflated ego and unearned confidence in ur intelligence. but when they try to be nice it isnt bc they want others to be happy, its to get something, so they come off as a disingenuous Nice Guy. i hate them but also kind of feel bad for them. maybe if they didnt get caught in this vicious cycle some of them wouldnt be reactionary assholes

sorry for the tangent, good meme

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They competitively numbed themselves with gore/torture treats to try to impress other numbed people and are shocked that being emotionally numb makes them repulsive. surprised-pika

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (7 children)

"It has to stop" I agree. But how do I make it stop? There's a lot of talking about what is the issue and its consequences, I say this also for climate change. But they don't say what can we do about it

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A possible solution could be to limit the personal (family?) wealth, fortune, possession, etc. to for example 100 million. That should be enough to live a luxury lifestyle and give your children’s children a ‘care free life’. Everything above that amount goes to the aid of the less fortunate, public and social improvements, energy transition, solving pollution problems, etc. (worldwide). In exchange you get a certificate with: “Congratulations you won capitalism!”

P.S. When you ‘cheat’ you get 1 dollar (or equivalent) and may start over. In addition and not exclusive of all possible legal proceedings.

P.P.S. The above is just an example to illustrate that there are possibilities. But this doesn’t solve all problems of inequality or everything else that is wrong on this planet.

P.P.P.S. Too many people think the have the possibility to also collect wealth above the 100 million ( or think they are entitled to an amount above that). They will protest and vote against any such solution. (I’m not talking about those 400 Americans from the website graphic).

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Not to be fatalistic deliberately, but what can we do about it? If we try to take on the system individually, we face the Plucky Ninja problem. If we try to coordinate, it's too big a movement to keep secret, so the rich and powerful can subvert it before we get anywhere. (They're doing a pretty good job of it already.)

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Very well made. Is the definition of doomscrolling.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I knew the ultra-rich were unimaginably wealthy but this still blew my mind. Got through Bezos, expecting for the site to end, stopped when I saw the blue rectangle starting.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this is gonna end really well.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Spoliers! You owe it to yourself experience it first without anyone else's comments, it only takes a few minutes.An extremely powerful infographic, well designed and well sourced. I love how after they said everything they said, they leave you to keep scrolling the last third of the 3 trillion. No more commentary, just letting the scale of it sink in.

Though, something I wish they touched on in the infographic itself is rebuking the argument of "all that money is tied up in stocks! they don't have that much money sitting around!" There are plenty of issues with that rebuttal of course and it's not actually a valid defense of the ultra rich, but it's a common enough counter that I think it warrants being mentioned to cover all your bases so to speak.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Visited the site, and holy fucking shit

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

holy shit it's spez

fuck you

/s

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The fact that the account has his name proves that it really is spez. This is exactly how the internet works.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

“Congratulations you have won capitalism! Here is your signed certificate.”

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Soon™ iwill have a panic attack, hemlp me🤕

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I went to that link and it was horrible, no the site is simple it's just when it went to Bezos ... then look at all the things we could have to make things better (free healthcare, free college, etc) just sickening.

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