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I actually think it would be closer to Atlas Shrugged, where the people generating new means of production begin to disappear and society becomes much poorer.
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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The world is full of Steve Wozniaks who just never get a chance to shine because they are not interested in capital accumulation or are really eccentric or can't take economic risks or just lost a cutthroat business competition because they trust or are kind. I know a few of them and have met many more.
There are mozarts and einsteins toiling in fields right now. We do not have a shortage of genius and invention. We have an unnecessary zero-sum-game for an economy.
The world is full of Steve Wozniaks who just never get a chance to shine because they are not interested in capital accumulation or are really eccentric or can’t take economic risks or just lost a cutthroat business competition because they trust or are kind.
I actually think the world economy runs on trust and kindness. If even one percent of agreements people make went to the courts, the economy could not function.
There are mozarts and einsteins toiling in fields right now.
I agree. Giving everyone opportunity is the right thing to do and it leads to increased prosperity. There's no easy way to do it. It's something difficult and worth trying to do.
We have an unnecessary zero-sum-game for an economy.
The economy has generated unbelievable amounts of wealth, not zero-sum at all, a huge increased sum.
No, new parasites would just take their place. The ultra-rich aren’t evil, they’re just a natural byproduct of society, and sometimes we need to do a bit of wealth redistribution.
Which is why we need an update to the tax system to add brackets to cover the entire range of income, then redefine them based on percentages off the median, with the highest bracket set at 95% or more for the highest 5% of earners.
Wait! The wealthy have gamed the system with their social capital and financial instruments. Why should they pay their fair share when they didn't actually earn it in the first place?
They have sacrificed to give us an important lesson. That the system is rigged and unfair but we would have never known this without their bravery.
Surely they should be rewarded for breaking aka cheating the system!?
And even better, they’d be absolutely fucked, because they don’t actually have any skills or know how to work, just how to take advantage of others.
“transported by UFO to a paradise planet” is the new euphemism for guillotined
This is when they ride on the bike with ET in the basket and they jump in front of the moon, right as someone yells “pull!”
The same would be true if we just ate them. No need to bother an alien race with our troubles.
And deny Lrrr, ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8, a satisfying lunch?
Fuck Lrrr. Ross can eat him.
We’d achieve the end result an interstellar fuckton faster, too. Besides, why are they being transported to a paradise planet? So they can fuck that one up as badly as they did ours? Fuck that.
It says "paradise planet" on the marketing material, yes - but it only needs to be as true as the least true thing they ever told us :)
I think there's been a translation error. Not paradise, pair of dice. There's 2d6 floating out there at some Lagrange point. The plan is to drop them off with pre-filled Yahtzee scorecards that all have the biggest number to prove they're the winners. They'll be the first humans in open space!
Dice. Gravity not included.
No it would not, it would be the first time they shared resources in the form of food.
You know the remaining elites would step in to the vacant roles, it’s human nature. Half of us that think we’d be better than them if we had all the same wealth and power, wouldn’t be, we’d be just like them.
It would be like the fall of the ussr, the oligarchs today were people like the aluminum guy that took control of the aluminum foundry with a gun and then gained pretend ownership of it on paper.
That's why if I won the lottery, I would immediately stick the whole amount into a trust to get the best APY possible, and break it into smaller trusts for myself and my family. The vast majority would be handed over to a trust that I would call, "The Sovereign Fund for Humanity's Poor," and go get a fiduciary from LA, a fiduciary from London, and two of the best data analysts from Oxfam that I could get my hands on, and make them the only members of the board. At that point I have it set up to use the APY to grow the fund, and set up retirement funds for the poorest people in the world, first. If I managed to start the thing with a mere $500,000,000, and got close to 11.5%-12% APY, and the population actually caps at 9-10 billion, in 500 years I would have funded UBI
Yeah...I bet you don't buy lottery tickets
Only one a week when the jackpot is over $200 million.
That’s great, I also thought before that I would push myself to immediately donate the majority of such a windfall. Your idea is much better thought out and more impactful long term!
Thank you, very much. I shared the idea so that others can not only steal it, but ruminate on it and improve the idea.
Why, why, uh, if we all did this together and you know contributed a little bit each we would hardly notice especially since we could fund nearly everyone somewhat and even supplement those who really need it... you could give it an interesting name, like sound governance eh
The answer is Burning Man?
Gates Foundation has done some pretty good stuff..
No amount of "pretty great stuff" is ever going to overcome the sheer exploitation that Gates himself committed.
There's no such thing as a good billionaire. He's a billionaire with a great PR team. The fact he is trying to assuage his conscience shows that he knows he exploited people to get where he was. And the fact he wants to control his money instead of paying taxes on it shows that he's still an asshole.
Even before Gates, the ~~rich~~ robber barons have known that PR is their only lifeline. That goes back to Carnegie and Rockefeller. Two of the most hated men in the US for much of their lives. I'm reasonably certain that's also what motivated Robin Leach and whoever produced Lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Nah fuck em