this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/57305272

Total billionaire wealth in the EU reached €2.4 trillion by late November, exceeding Italy's entire GDP of €2.2 trillion and approaching France's €2.9 trillion economy, a new Oxfam report found.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260118190308/https://euobserver.com/health-and-society/ara3abf5ee

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago

No, they don't deserve to be richer than you

First off, "smarter" is a really hard concept. Do you think Elmo Musk is smarter than you? He's a conman and an idiot and I guarantee you he isn't smarter than you

Then there are people that have certain specializations. They know everything about very little. This means they are very smart nonbthe subjects they know about and well, not so smart in others

There are also the true geniuses, but those usually don't end up uber rich. The theoretical physicists under us aren't known for being billionaires

Then there is just the basic question: what is smart? Somebody who mnaged to make a lot of money? Usually that's not smart, it's stepping on others backs. Musk made a lot of money but he did it by lying and scamming (and he continues to this day)

And even then... Let's assume for a second that there are objectively smarter people out there, do they deserve more than you and I, just because of good genetics? Fuck that Nazi shit.

I want a world wide wealth cap. Say, 1 million dollar (pinky pushing against corner of mouth)

We can keep capitalism as-is, all fine, but when your networth gets higher, your income taxes get higher.. when you reach 1 million, 100% goes to taxes

This way, we have the strengths of capitalism yet no more millionaires. Without millionaires, a huge amount of shit that comes with them, disappears too. Governments on the other hand get a huge tax income that they can spend on free healthcare, free education, universal basic income, you name it. Nobody will be super rich, nobody will ever be poor again.

The 1M is a random number I pulled out of my ass, but the point stands. We need to cap how much net worth a single person can have. There is no explicit right that says you should be allowed to hoard money and art and networth.

Within that limit we can allow people to do what they want. What to buy an expensive house? As long as it's under the max, sure!

Those crazy ass houses with 500 rooms from oligarchs? Convert them into hotels. Same goes for those crazy luxury ships, make small cruise ships out of them. Ban private jets unless for things where it makes sense, like medical transportation or something

We don't NEED private jets for anyone, especially not in the age of video calls

Billionaires and millionaires are the main reason why democracy is dying, why the world's environment is dying, why things are as bad as they are, today.

Ban millionaires, ban billionaires and let everybody be as "rich" as they want within the wealth cap.