Jun 19, 2021·3 replies
DonutHoleThey don't need to be billionaires to provide life changing products and services though
Dr. Jonas Salk
Invented the vaccine against polio and chose not to patent it because he wanted everyone to be able to afford it which would eradicate the disease entirely.
None of the companies you mentioned have had such a positive impact with their products/services
Social media has its cons (mental health crisis, Cambridge a***ytica scandal...)
Electric cars are also polluting the planet (they're not as green à the marketer make it seem)
Amazon? Check their warehouses
Kanye west? No artists makes billions of of their music alone, the music industry isn't set up that way and making an album + tour + merch doesn't cost anywhere near a billion dollars: they don't need it
One could argue that artists get lazier with more money/fame but that's another convoYeah people don’t realize that electric cars require what are essentially child slaves mining rare earth metals in horrific conditions and that s*** is also HORRIBLE for the environment
Jun 19, 2021This is not surprising at all from Dame lol
Jun 19, 2021Twist Your CapIt isn’t exploitation, these people choose to work for him. What’s the better option? Him implementing AI as quickly as possible leaving these people with no jobs?
Tidal was built by people who don’t make anywhere near what Jay makes. When you own a business and hire people you aren’t automatically exploiting. There are certain margins that need to be hit, he can’t just pay everyone endless money or else there is no company to pay anyone from.
And yes I realize the people building tidal obviously get more money than Amazon warehouse workers but this is also about the required skill set for the job.
This type of conversation is deeply rooted in the person’s perspective who is having it.
Remember Bezos has WAY more money than Jay, it’s also about what their interests are as far as what they want to be involved inI get where you're coming from, but the working conditions in Amazon warehouses are pretty damn bad, you can say 'Why don't they just quit?' but not many working on a warehouse floor are doing it knowing they could easily find another source of income, it's a survival thing
Good point about Jay and Tidal, hadn't considered it, it's not like he's selling the most albums and merch of any artist of all time
This is pretty pie-in-the-sky but fundamentally we're talking about billionaires on a forum, they're gonna do whatever regardless of our discussions, imo certain jobs like Amazon warehouse stuff should be automated and at the very least a universal basic income should be introduced
I realise that's far from happening, and it's a reason I don't talk politics stuff much online, it doesn't affect the wider world, rarely changes minds and feels like fantasy football. Like I think there's a lot wrong with the world as it is, but the things I think could improve it aren't likely to happen, I just go with the flow most of the time these days. I feel lowkey bad for helping to drag the thread into the age-old billionaire debate tho
- Jun 19, 2021·2 repliesMyBallsAndMyWord
Yeah people don’t realize that electric cars require what are essentially child slaves mining rare earth metals in horrific conditions and that s*** is also HORRIBLE for the environment
aren't they better than gas powered vehicles though? what is the solution? idk why there isn't more nuclear if people really care about the environment
- Jun 19, 2021·1 replyknockknockwhoitis
aren't they better than gas powered vehicles though? what is the solution? idk why there isn't more nuclear if people really care about the environment
There should be more nuclear power, I fully support that
We need to get away from individual modes of transportation entirely
- Jun 19, 2021MyBallsAndMyWord
Yeah people don’t realize that electric cars require what are essentially child slaves mining rare earth metals in horrific conditions and that s*** is also HORRIBLE for the environment
Ah man I didn't know that
Yeah I don't like to think about it much but the environment may be completely done at this point, like Spotify causes more emissions than vinyl manufacture now, it's easy to think of the internet as green when it's absolutely not
- Jun 19, 2021Fries
It's not like I'm sitting around all day fuming because Jay's got a large bank account, I listen to the guy, I'm putting more dollars on the pile
As far as billionaires go, it's way better to acrue wealth the way Jay did than exploit the work of other people like Bezos for example, I was giving context because my support for the lawsuit was being interpreted as 'Won't somebody think of the poor billionaires?' when that wasn't the case. I don't think people should be billionaires but I don't have it out for Jay as an individual
lol this is basically saying it's better to become a billionaire while only employing 1 - 10 people (agent, manager, assistant, etc.) than it is to become a billionaire by employing 1.3 million people
this whole "exploiting" thing has gone too far. there are some situations where people don't have a say in the matter, like a woman with a pimp who beats her. Amazon is people willingly entering into contractual agreements. Amazon's minimum wage ($15) is more than double the national average.
Amazon has actually been lobbying for a higher minimum wage. (although they are only in favor of that bc they know it will hurt their competition, small businesses)
if the issue is that people don't have better choices, that seems like a government failure, not an Amazon failure
Jun 19, 2021figaro with 5 os
- Jun 19, 2021·1 replyknockknockwhoitis· edited
no one deserves anything. a billion dollars is an arbitrary amount to draw the line at. there's no fundamental difference between someone who has $500m and $1bn, the same way there's no fundamental difference between someone who has $1bn and $5bn. past like $50m to $100m, it's all just monopoly money. if you are angry at billionaires, you should be angry at pretty much anyone with more than like $25m - $50m
several billionaires have decided to give away their money, but I understand that's not the same as structural change
I think politicians just did a good job at directing anger towards billionaires when that anger should be directed at politicians. if you confiscated the combined wealth of all US billionaires ($4 trillion), that could only fund the US government (federal, state, and local) for 4 and a half months. total US govt spending is ~$10.3 trillion. and it's the government that is responsible for providing for citizens. billionaires aren't responsible for the wellbeing of you or I
and it just feels like a lot of the "I hate billionaires" stuff is performative. obviously there are some products you can't really do without in the 21st century (like cell phones), but people don't seem to hate billionaires enough to give up 2 day shipping or twitter
The way I see it, the governement should be imposing higher taxes for extremely wealthy people, and as far as politicians go, it's only a few like Bernie who are actually attacking billionaires, a lot on either side keep quiet about it because they benefit a lot from their financial contributions, I wouldn't say politicians in general have distracted people by turning them against billionaires
I know what you mean about the performative stuff though, I don't think using services invented by billionaires is that bad, but people aestheticise 'eat the rich' type slogans a lot nowadays but don't have the actual political interiority to back up what and why they're saying. I used to be very politically involved when I was younger but I kinda got jaded once I realised all the online back-and-forths, all the times people from my side made the other look stupid all filtered down to people ticking one box or another. I think a lotta kids think they're gonna post their way into a revolution when it's not gonna happen, especially in America
- Jun 19, 2021MyBallsAndMyWord
Yeah people don’t realize that electric cars require what are essentially child slaves mining rare earth metals in horrific conditions and that s*** is also HORRIBLE for the environment
You’re not wrong but things will be transitioning to getting lithium out of the ocean which has a huge supply
They’re just working out the kinks in it from what I know
- Jun 19, 2021·1 replyknockknockwhoitis
2 points: there's no real difference between someone who has $1bn and someone who has $2bn. there's also no real difference between someone who has $500m and someone who has $1bn. the only difference is that once you get into billionaire status, you can buy sports teams. that's it.
so the online anger reserved for billionaires should really go towards anyone with more than like $50m. so Eminem ($230m net worth), John Legend & Chrissy Teigen ($150m net worth), etc. and at the very least, somewhere like Amazon employs 1.3 million people, whereas those creatives maybe directly employ like 5 people (agent, manager, assistant, etc.)
the combined wealth of all US billionaires could fund the US government for less than 5 months. we should be mad at the government, which can literally print money, not really at billionaires. I get that some have their money bc of really sketchy reasons like their grandparents owned a diamond mine or something, but a lot of recent ones it's just been folks who created products that many people wanted to use
1 million in seconds is ~ 11 days
500 million in seconds is ~ 15 years
1 billion in seconds is ~ 31 years
The difference is quite huge if you'd ask me lol
- Jun 19, 2021·1 replyknockknockwhoitis
aren't they better than gas powered vehicles though? what is the solution? idk why there isn't more nuclear if people really care about the environment
Nuclear and electric cars would be perfect but people are scared of the plants so we’ve had to go in different directions
Solar etc
Look the truth is nothing will ever be perfect. We have to ask ourselves is this better than before?
Jun 19, 2021
Water GiverGetting sued by another man
- Jun 19, 2021Water Giver
Getting sued by your ex man
Jun 19, 2021Jay Z just tryna sue everybody now lol
- Jun 19, 2021MyBallsAndMyWord
There should be more nuclear power, I fully support that
We need to get away from individual modes of transportation entirely
remote work will help with that, but theres always gonna be individual transportation outside of huge, dense cities like nyc
RASIE 🦦Jun 19, 2021·2 repliesFriesI hate billionaires and NFTs, but this legal ruling could set a precedent that would prevent smaller artists from getting their work minted as NFTs by other people without their consent
Jay's other photography lawsuit he's got going on is completely frivolous and he doesn't need a cent, but the legal ramifications of this one could be good if it rules in his favour
"I hate billionaires"
proudly supports the existence of IP/copyright protection laws and rulings
Smh
- Jun 19, 2021Fries
The way I see it, the governement should be imposing higher taxes for extremely wealthy people, and as far as politicians go, it's only a few like Bernie who are actually attacking billionaires, a lot on either side keep quiet about it because they benefit a lot from their financial contributions, I wouldn't say politicians in general have distracted people by turning them against billionaires
I know what you mean about the performative stuff though, I don't think using services invented by billionaires is that bad, but people aestheticise 'eat the rich' type slogans a lot nowadays but don't have the actual political interiority to back up what and why they're saying. I used to be very politically involved when I was younger but I kinda got jaded once I realised all the online back-and-forths, all the times people from my side made the other look stupid all filtered down to people ticking one box or another. I think a lotta kids think they're gonna post their way into a revolution when it's not gonna happen, especially in America
yeah that neekolul (or however you spell it) girl was all "eat the rich," now doing a YT video of her $2m apartment
Chapo Trap House and other successful lefty / Bernie Bro podcasts and twitch streamers make six figures a month. it's an aesthetic
rich should pay more in taxes, but the super wealthy (including Jay) get their money from investments, not income. and even income, there are all sorts of loopholes which I guess can be closed, but there'd just be new loopholes. and some of the loopholes are good, like being able to write off charitable donations.
there's no real way to impose a wealth tax that's annual. if your house goes up in value, you get taxes on that? but what if it goes down in value the next year? maybe making the estate tax higher
- Jun 19, 2021DonutHole
1 million in seconds is ~ 11 days
500 million in seconds is ~ 15 years
1 billion in seconds is ~ 31 years
The difference is quite huge if you'd ask me lol
if the idea is that billionaires have more resources than they could possibly ever use, then I just don't see what the real difference is. past like $100m you've got more than you could ever need
and how many years is $10.3 trillion dollars is 326,610 years. that's how much the government spends in 1 year. so we should figure out how to better allocate that rather than focus on billionaires, who are a drop in the bucket
it reminds me of when Twitter and someone on MSNBC said "Bloomberg spent $500 million on his campaign. There are 327 million Americans. Bloomberg could have given each American a million dollars and still had lunch money left over"
People are bad at math. He could have actually given each American $1.52. People vastly overestimate how far billionaires' money would go on a nationwide or global scale
Jun 19, 2021
ZokkonF***ing Dame
- Jun 19, 2021·2 repliesRASIE
"I hate billionaires"
proudly supports the existence of IP/copyright protection laws and rulings
Smh
I mean yeah
Do you think it's good when big fashion retailers steal from small Etsy designers and make money off their work?
Do you think it was good when Elon Musk used Tom Edwards's artwork in the Tesla UI and promotional materials without permission or compensation? It's settled now, but he felt like he could do that in the first place
All I'm saying is that copyright law isn't just for making samples harder to clear, and believe me I wish it was easier, but it can really protect smaller artists from getting screwed over by big corporations
- Jun 19, 2021Twist Your Cap
Nuclear and electric cars would be perfect but people are scared of the plants so we’ve had to go in different directions
Solar etc
Look the truth is nothing will ever be perfect. We have to ask ourselves is this better than before?
nuclear seems like the best option. i get the concerns about what to do with the waste which might be dangerous for 50 to 1,000 years, but it's the best option
there have only been a few nuclear disasters
- Jun 19, 2021Fries
I mean yeah
Do you think it's good when big fashion retailers steal from small Etsy designers and make money off their work?
Do you think it was good when Elon Musk used Tom Edwards's artwork in the Tesla UI and promotional materials without permission or compensation? It's settled now, but he felt like he could do that in the first place
All I'm saying is that copyright law isn't just for making samples harder to clear, and believe me I wish it was easier, but it can really protect smaller artists from getting screwed over by big corporations
internet not the place for nuance. a lot of things that protect "the little guy" can also be used by corporations to protect themselves. it's like people who are really in favor "hate speech" laws
who defines what is hate speech? etc.
Kr0niic ☘️Jun 19, 2021·1 reply
