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And that's why we should eradicate billionaires.
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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Antiwork
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The wealth of all 2660 billionaires combined is $12.2 Trillion. Spread that wealth around to everyone in the world and every single person, including the billion people who live on less than $1/day, would get $1,550.
The issue has never been that some people will ultimately make more than others. With the exception of people on lemmygrad servers, an "everyone gets an equal share" approach is not what most people are looking for. It's more that the division of wealth is massively unequal and that those with that obscene wealth are wielding it in ways that run counter to the common good.
Most people understand that you'll have some rich people, but there needs to be better means to support poorer people in a relative manner and that isn't possible right now.
It's not everyone gets an equal share but "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" this is the aim of socialism and what most people on lemmygrad probably want to achieve.
And we are so far away from that, and rich people defend their privilege so violently, that a transition towards it is transformative or in other words revolutionary.
Capitalism will never approach that because capital will always defend itself and thus always exploit the worker and nature, for it's own gain. It will always write the laws create the systems and create the plurality of news and culture to support itself. It will spin up system upon inneficent system (...) just to not give up the last bit of profit and control.
Providing an alternative will never be as easy as "everyone gets an equal share" and every socialist will know that. The only people who will provide this reductive explanation will be people who know next to nothing about socialism, or even just communism / ML. Or have been thoroughly indoctrinated despite good knowledge. At least all the socialists I've read or heard have tried to find a much more nuanced alternative, instead of pretending there's just no point or no need to search for one.
And to be clear, that is not the biggest issue with billionaires. It’s the accumulation of capital, not wealth itself. Capital being in their hands, under capitalism, means they rule the system. So the 2660 billionaires control most of the capital of the world, and thus most of the world. Because y’know, capitalism. The system where having capital directly translates into power. The system the bourgeoisie fought to implement, in violent revolutions, against feudalism. Which is the system where “God” says who deserves power.
But there were more than 2660 lords and kings…. So we’re literally living in a less equal system, numerically, than feudalism. Lmao good job humans.
The duality of humanity, smart enough to fix almost any challenge we're faced with, but lazy af unless properly motivated.
Having just spent a significant amount of time recovering from a nerve injury, I can attest most wouldn't make near full recovery (as I have), or in as short a time, primarily due to a lack of personal drive and motivation.
This is clear and present in the fact that, the majority of folks allowed to have kids, drive cars and get on a soapbox online to share their "opinion" (useless regurgitated garbage they saw on TikTok) are either not educated enough, or do not care enough to put their effort into something fulfilling and worthwhile, because that takes EFFORT. Something so few seem willing to put in these days, it's saddening. Convenience over security and safety I guess.
I'll sit here with my popcorn and happily watch the human race sleepwalk into dystopia, we're already so close! That's not to say I don't make a significant effort, just that my expectations are so low at this point I'm not sure it'll make a difference.
For someone living in a marginalized country, on a few dollars per day or less, such a sum is worth far more than for someone in the imperial core.
Taxing the rich, and other activity framed around the concept of redistribution, promises at best a provisional and shallow remedy for the deeper ills of society, which are born of the social relationships by which wealth originally is generated through labor.
Your objection is as shallow as the remedy it challenges.