this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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[–] Toes@ani.social 134 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It's societal cancer, imagine an organism that allows a few cells to monopolize most of the nutrients. You'd cut it out to save the host, but this has metastasized. The immune system has been reprogrammed to defend the cancer.

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 42 points 8 months ago

You don't want cells to have the freedom to live the lives they want! You bio communist!

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 25 points 8 months ago

Growth for the sake of growth is cancer. That's what it is. It destroys bodies and societies alike.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

To keep within biology: the host dies and others with the same vulnerability. The ones immune to this survive and gobble up what remains of the previous hosts. Everybody stands around wondering how this could've happened.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 85 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

This is not like when ordinary people double their money. They already have an unimaginable amount of wealth, so doubling it is adding another unimaginable quantity. This is a good illustration:

Wealth shown to scale

Remember that those boxes need to be twice as long now (but not our box).

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[–] citizen@normalcity.life 39 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is getting out of hands, economy and society are crumbling and everyone can see it with their own eyes. At this point is in the interest of any political party to stop billionares amassing wealth.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But the politics are getting money from the billionaires so we're fucked

[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 8 months ago

We're fucked without violence

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Personal upside maximization for professional sellers of ideas (aka politicians) is in using the power they attain through selling ideas to do favours for people who can pay them back the most.

Guess who can, in a money-centric society, be the most generous to friendly politicians... I'll give you a hint: it's not the poor, the working class or even the middle class.

[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 37 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Should classify people who hoard wealth mentally unstable. What’s the difference between hoarding fake little pieces of green paper and shoes? Evidently hoarding shoes won’t make you a powerful demigod.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 30 points 8 months ago (3 children)

There’s very little actual paper. It’s just numbers on a computer screen. They’re hoarding numbers made of light. Resulting in the rest of us getting screwed.

[–] Igloojoe@lemm.ee 9 points 8 months ago

Its a high score video game for them.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

They're hoarding IOU claims on resources.

That's why it's a problem for everybody else.

It they were just meaningless numbers with no real link back to things which are scarce, it would be absolutelly fine (unhealthy for them but fine for everybody else).

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

No, we really shouldn't, it just makes light of real mental illness and deepens the existing stigma against those who actually have it.

Being a selfish and privileged fuck is not a mental illness, it is the product of a system deliberately designed to enable their existence and behaviour.

[–] Masterblaster@kbin.social 5 points 8 months ago

it's crazy how obsessed the american founding fathers were with protecting private property, as if it was the end-all, be-all value of the time.

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[–] bstix@feddit.dk 35 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It's a system fault. Nobody earns a billion. No matter how willing you are to screw over other people, a billion can not be earned. Even if you were stealing every cent from your dying grandmother and all the ophans in the world, you'd still have to actually do it. Nobody lives long enough to have time to steal all that money.

It's also meaningless to try to spend that amount of money. It makes no sense to even try.

The money is multiplying by itself due to some error.

I suppose we found out what happens when dividing by zero.

[–] maness300@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

due to some error.

The error is people think this is how things should be.

Most people believe the disparity in wealth should grow, so that's what it does.

They also get mad when you point it out.

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[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 27 points 8 months ago

We mothballed our guillotines. It's time to dust them off and get to work.

[–] Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 8 months ago

Sooo when do we stsrt eating them?

[–] Masterblaster@kbin.social 16 points 8 months ago (6 children)

everybody jokingly says eat the rich but i happen to mean it

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I never joke about eating the rich.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What makes you think anyone is joking?

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[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They probably taste horrible, but if we all eat our share then it won't be too big of an issue.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Business idea: start selling billionaire sauce. Slogan: for when you have to eat the rich.

[–] Haagel@lemmings.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They're familiar with the phrase. That's why they have so much security detail.

One of these, though, one of them is going to slip up and be in the wrong place and the wrong time. Then it is only natural that they are killed.

I know we're not supposed to incite violence on this platform. What I'm talking about is simply an historical cycle and it will inevitably happen.

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[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago

I'd rather mulch mine, but same.

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[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 14 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How did the 5 poorest men get poorer, exactly? /s

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 13 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Highlighting a dramatic increase in inequality since the Covid pandemic, Oxfam said the world’s billionaires were $3.3tn (£2.6tn) richer than in 2020, and their wealth had grown three times faster than the rate of inflation.

Mirroring the fortunes of the super rich, it also says business profits have risen sharply despite pressure on households amid the cost of living crisis.

The world’s richest 1% own 59% of all global financial assets – including stocks, shares and bonds, plus stakes in privately held business.

Aleema Shivji, Oxfam’s interim chief executive, said: “These extremes cannot be accepted as the new norm, the world can’t afford another decade of division.

Extreme poverty in the poorest countries is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, yet a small number of super-rich men are racing to become the world’s first trillionaire within the next 10 years.

Governments worldwide are making deliberate political choices that enable and encourage this distorted concentration of wealth, while hundreds of millions of people live in poverty.


The original article contains 698 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 76%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] maness300@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

And people still buy into "they're a business and they need to make money!"

Where does that money go? Big picture, where does it go?

[–] rabiddolphin@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

They got the TV, we got the truth

They own the judges and we got the proof

We got hella people, they got helicopters

They got the bombs and we got the, we got the

We got the guillotine

We got the guillotine, you better run

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[–] robocall@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Elon Musk

Bernard Arnault

Jeff Bezos

Larry Ellison

Mark Zuckerberg

saved you a click

[–] FeetinMashedPotatoes@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Dang, I wonder if that money will ever come back into circulation with former taxation on their wealth. No? Okay just increase that money copier and keep inflation going BABAY!

[–] havokdj@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

poorest get poorer

So you mean to tell me that those with no money or possessions have somehow attained negative value?

[–] Patches@sh.itjust.works 35 points 8 months ago (3 children)

It's called debt and yes. People are turning to Credit Cards and Payday Loans to make the bills.

[–] havokdj@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Also, wealth does not only come from the amount of assets yoi have, your net income plays a big role in that as well.

[–] Patches@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago

It does have a lot to do with total assets though.

Because at a certain point all assets(capital) generates its own money. It's the very basis of Capitalism.

Bill Gates total income didn't double during COVID. His assets just are worth a lot twice as much. Therefore he now is worth twice as much, and his assets generate twice as much wealth thereby compounding the issue.

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[–] maness300@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

I saw something that said if you have $0, you are wealthier than X% of people in the US simply because you do not have debt.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago
[–] CaptKoala@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago

Don't need an article to tell me that, I can feel it in my back pocket.

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