Politics Should billionaires exist?

Started by Charlie Work, Nov 21, 2018, in Life Add to Reading List

  1. Mikey
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    Nov 21, 2018
    why should some billionaires be punished for making smart business decisions & working hard to make their money?
     
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  2. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    True. Taking two of their 5 estates would be the equivalent of crucifying them.
     
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  3. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    Finally, somebody Enigma can compromise with. His half-assed concession seemed pretty weird before he had an opposition to appeal to!
     
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  4. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Nov 21, 2018
    Do you know how much a BILLION dollars is? Like, it's an unfathomably HUGE amount of money. If you have that much money and don't use it to contribute to the betterment of society you're a greedy piece of garbage and probably a sociopath who lacks basic empathy.

    Yeah, you can say that they earned it themselves and they don't "owe" it to anyone blah blah blah but that's just a justification for being greedy.
     
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  5. Zeugma
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    Zeugma thugger thugger my brother

    Nov 21, 2018
    [​IMG]
     
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  6. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    Which are contestable points but also just tangential bargaining for people who like to pretend the moral argument doesn't count, because, uh, LOGIC.
     
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  7. Mikey
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    Nov 21, 2018
    How do we know the most billionaires are not giving back?

    If they don't publicize it or do a anonymous donation.
    Of course they are greedy but you can't punish someone for having greed lol
     
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  8. Zeugma
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    Zeugma thugger thugger my brother

    Nov 21, 2018
    why though?
     
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  9. Mikey
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    Nov 21, 2018
    Because it isn't breaking the law.

    dumb question.
     
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  10. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    We punish people for being poor all the time. Greed is the character trait considered a bad thing even sinful to the religious. Also, we aren't even debating punishing them. This is simply a redistribution.

    They should absolutely be punished as well though. Good point.
     
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  11. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    So if the law said anybody named Mikey has to s--- a dog's d-ck, you'd be okay with it? Or should legalism maybe not shield anything from critique?
     
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  12. Michael Myers
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    Michael Myers Moderator

    Nov 21, 2018
    I don't think they 'need' to excist. Like if half of their money was in the hands people in need (or being used to help them) it would be more fair in a way. and they can still do whatever they want.

    However I don't think labeling billionaires as greedy f---s is fair. Its not their fault they had succes in their lives lol. I do agree that they should use their money to help others, but thats personal. It's not on us to decide what people do w money they earned.
     
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  13. Zeugma
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    Zeugma thugger thugger my brother

    Nov 21, 2018
    your answer's dumb,is every law right because it's a law?
     
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  14. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Nov 21, 2018
    I wouldn't call "being a multi-millionaire instead of a billionaire" punishment.

    so do you think all laws are "correct" or "just" or "moral" or "right" just because they're "the law"
     
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  15. Enigma
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    Enigma Civil liberties > Police safety

    Nov 21, 2018
    China who’s government has a huge hand in their market is a capitalist country? Not entirely... my point is there are billionaires in the most socialist countries you can think of. Vietnam, Sweden, Switzerland etc. I can’t imagine the difference between 10 billionaires & 0 would be worth making a fuss about, assuming we’re spending the billions of dollars in taxes from the other ~400 billionaires we wiped out appropriately.
     
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  16. Zeugma
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    Zeugma thugger thugger my brother

    Nov 21, 2018
    but we can wonder whether they should be able to "earn" (lol like billionaires worked harder than the poor) that much. politics are precisely about asking ourselves this type of questions
     
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  17. Charlie Work
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    Charlie Work Level 5 Goblin

    Nov 21, 2018
    Hoarding the greatest concentrations of wealth in human history in the face of poverty and destitution definitely qualifies as greed.

    It's completely their fault they possess this wealth. They are the very people with the resources to make sure it goes to the people in need. Not to say philanthropists are exempt from criticism, but I digress.

    We decide what people do with the money they earn all the time. Otherwise we wouldn't have public education and roads and libraries and a fire department etc.
     
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  18. DKC
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    DKC hank trill

    Nov 21, 2018
    Having a billion dollars (aka WAY more money than any single human being could ever know what to do with) and not wanting to give some of it to help people is, by definition, greedy. You can debate the morality of it, but the fact that that's characteristic of greed isn't really debatable.
     
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  19. Step Daddy
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    Nov 21, 2018
    They should all be hanged
     
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  20. Zeugma
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    Zeugma thugger thugger my brother

    Nov 21, 2018
    this thread is kinda fascinating to me. i feel like i can experience the american point of view about politics by reading some of these posts, and that explains a lot. this is great!
     
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