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We crossed that threshold so long ago that you can make 5x the poverty level and still not be able to afford a house.

How strange that some Texas university was recently banning a professor from teaching Plato to students because it had too much "equality" in it.

Structural issues make egalitarian economic systems difficult. Wealth and social influence compound once another in a virtuous cycle. Wealth has a strong hereditary bias, even in socialist economic models. And violence is historically a powerful tool for accruing wealth. Very difficult to establish universal deterrence against violence.

This isn't a question of people being smart or stupid. It's an elaborate balancing act that becomes exponentially more difficult as population size expands.

Hey, the rock is fine, we've made society a miserable place. The pack is calling me...

We’ve been pointing this out ever since the concept of currency became a thing, but I’m sure we will learn our lesson this time and stop doing it.

I think that this became an issue even before currency. It happened as soon as agriculture allowed for accumulation of resources, power, and wealth. I sometimes think that that was really the point when humanity took the wrong turn.

He also assumed automation would be helpful for the working class because he thought it would mean we wouldn't have to work to survive. I don't think he saw billionaires just breeding the working class for wars or organ harvesting and completely replacing their labor with robots. I guess he didn't really think about how low they will always stoop.

https://youtu.be/vZ9myHhpS9s

There already are private military. Black Water and alike are absolutely private armies. But that could be expensive, even for trillionaires. It's a much better strategy to privatize the existing military and get it paid by the government. Watch it, it's going to happen!

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.

Agree. I’d even go as far to say, they can get filthy rich, but not at an expense of people getting low quality product, low quality of life, and in the process messing up the environment too, but usually, when everything is said and done, that’s how they get ultra rich.