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There is a lot of truth in this comment on moonofalabama.org today.

It is hard to make an anti-billionaire narrative work in the West for ideological reasons. See this as a recent example:
China executes 14 billionaires in 8 years, Culture News reports.

If you read the replies to this tweet, you can clearly see why Americans tolerate the existence of billionaires: according to liberal ideology, the alternative would simply be too much worse. The whole legitimacy of capitalism to masses lies in the assumption it is a pure and limitless meritocracy: you get monetarily rewarded in the exact proportion of your individual qualities and hard work.

The moment you start to arrest and even execute billionaires for crimes related to the economy (white collar crime), you're tacitly admitting the free market has a ceiling: you cannot get indefinitely rich, therefore you're not entirely free. It may be a tall cage, but it is still a cage - a precept that would kill the liberal concept of individual freedom.

That's why Westerners are completely ok with death penalties for crimes related to individual defects (i.e. serial killers, rapists) or related to a violation of the game (crimes against private property; robbery; rigging), but not with "white collar crimes" - no matter how much more damaging white collar crimes are to society (e.g. only one middle management guy got arrested in the aftermath of the crisis of 2008, and he got very little time).

So, the problem isn't in the fact that Westerners don't recognize that extreme wealth concentration is a problem, but that they think that this is a necessary evil, the price of freedom. It's like the Egyptians servants building the pyramids for their dead pharaohs under the fear the world will literally end if they don't.

Posted by: vk | Jun 7 2021 17:49 utc | 4

lawrenceblair 8 June 7
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Riddled with shallow thinking, generalizations and half true assertions.

One simple example is that having a lot of money means you are bad and should be punished. This generalization is nothing more than jealousy, covetousness and a victim mentality.

I came from abject poverty and worked hard to move out of it. I saw inequities all around, but it never meant that if they had more than me they must be bad (or good). I always understood that we lived in an imperfect world. Good people and people exist in extreme poverty as well as extreme wealth.

Nobody ever owed me a free ride no matter how poor I was. Those who understand this for themselves wouldn’t want to redistribute wealth from those who have to them selves and others who have not. Contentment in whatever position you are is great gain. I don’t think others owe me anything... however I know that I owe to others. I owe all I have to God who provided me the means (opportunities, abilities, intelligence, strength, motivation all came from Him). God gave me more than I need so that I could provide for those who have less than they need and that He might receive glory.

Well, your first complaint, which by the way is a generalization of your own, "One simple example is that having a lot of money means you are bad and should be punished" is nowhere mentioned in the comment, that is something you read into it. You do this either because you are uneducated in economics or you are a paid bot. I'm not sure which it is but I pray you educate yourself both on economics and the ways of the world.

@lawrenceblair

You’re right, I derived from statements like “Americans tolerate the existence of billionaires: according to liberal ideology, the alternative would simply be too much worse” that you believe others being billionaires is an evil that either must be “tolerated” or punished. If it was not your intent to make that inference, perhaps I misjudged you.

Next, you state that I err because I am either a bot or uneducated in economics. I’m not a paid bot, but there are a lot out there, especially on conservative sites, so I guess you could make that incorrect assumption. As for my education in economics: are you referring to macro economics or micro economics? Also were you referring to formal degrees or education obtained through work experience or a combination? Whichever it is, you’re incorrect with that assumption as well. Although none of my advanced degrees were in economics, I was required to take courses in various aspects of both macro and micro economics before obtaining my master’s degree. Now that was a few decades ago and I had learned much of what those courses taught in the few decades that came before. Much of my understanding of economics came from experience and was only refined through the formal education. It certainly helped me to be successful in moving from abject poverty to middle class. It also helped that I was required to u Der stand economics in order to manage multi-million dollar operations in the business world and within the small business that my wife and I started from scratch.

One thing I learned about economics is how to be content with excess or with scarcity. 4 decades ago I was working for about $1/hour plus tuition for my first degree. I didn’t worry about the guy that had more than me. I simply did what I could to increase my ie to those who would pay me more. The vast majority of people who complain about the billionaire, would be far better off worrying about how they manage their own lives and letting God deal with others.

Trump is a billionaire.He is also the only president I’ve ever heard of that served the country for free while his personal fortunes dwindled. As a retired veteran and an American, I don’t think I need to tolerate billionaires, I celebrate the fact that a few of them set the example for what to do with all that money. No, I’m not a billionaire nor even a millionaire, but I also do t resent those who have more than me.

@Daveclark5 It is your assumption that billionaires by nature are honest men. There are no honest men by nature, either rich or poor. If we don't lie to others we lie to ourselves. It is also your assumption that because I hate greed among the billionaire class that I automatically have a hatred for the rich. Both of these assumptions on your part are incorrect. I also had to take classes in micro and macro for my degree and I found them very slanted toward modern economic theory.

@lawrenceblair
Now I understand you better;You thought it was my assumption that billionaires, by nature are honest. I agree with your premise that people are not honest by nature (rich or poor). On that we agree. Just as many of us non-rich people go against our nature, so do some rich people. Where we differ is in my belief that I shouldn’t worry about those billionaires (like Gates) being billionaires. I have no dealings with billionaires so I can’t help them. My concern has always been for those within my sphere of influence, especially those I can help. I have taught many people how to take responsibility for their own life choices in order to make the changes necessary to get out of debt and live within their own means permanently. Several that I taught have gone on to teach others. We concern ourselves with our own moral (biblical) handling of our financial resources and help others as God directs. We neither tolerate nor despise those who have more than us. We do condemn the crimes that people (like Fauci and his ilk) commit (regardless of their financial status) that harm others, whether it was for greed, power/fame or some demented desire to wreak havoc.

I guess my views on people of different financial classes are consistent with my racial views, I try to judge a man by his character and his actions, not by his wealth or the color of his skin.

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"The whole legitimacy of capitalism to masses lies in the assumption it is a pure and limitless meritocracy: you get monetarily rewarded in the exact proportion of your individual qualities and hard work.

The meritocracy is not pure and it is quite limited. Many billionaires inherited their wealth and have cadres of managers to help them keep their wealth. The halls of power and influence are open to billionaires, (not the 9-5 middle manager or the small business owner) who of course jigger the system in their favor with subsidies, tax breaks and downright bribery. Capitalism is like any other human system, while it provides good to many people is dirty and messy under the hood.

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Wealth distribution: jaymaron.com/wealth.html [jaymaron.com]

Wealth Gini is a measure of wealth distribution. If Gini=0, everyone has the same wealth. If Gini=1, one person has all the wealth.

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How many billionaires are there in the world?
2 maybe 3 thousand?
How many actually influence our everyday lives adversely?
What percentage of the global population is that?

Where have you been? Who do you think runs this world? Politicians? It is the billionaires who meet every year at places such as Davos and Bilderberg. The politicians who attend these places are there at the invitation of the billionaires. Why do they invite them? To give the politicians their marching orders. In a truly capitalist world, there would be no Davos, no Bilderberg. There would not even be any corporations, an invention of a totalitarian state. Collusion between business and state is no better than collusion between church and state.

@lawrenceblair I don't think any individual runs the world... why do you think there are so many wars?
LOL... Bilderberg, Club of Rome, Rothschilds and the rest of the conspiranut garbage...
Don't fall for the conspiranut garbage.

@Lightman You are correct, no individual runs the world. I would imagine, to you, anything that doesn't match the government, MSM, propaganda complex view of the world is nutty conspiracy stuff. Oh well, live in your brainwashed fantasy and be happy. Of course there is another possibility; you may be a paid bot.

@lawrenceblair Don't treat me like a fool... you'd be wrong... believe what you like... Conspiranuts are all over the world and they never get proven right.
Do you believe man never landed on the moon, that 9/11 was an inside job too?
I looked into all these rubbishy conspiracy theories and groups many years ago... the new ones are based on rubbish just as feeble and still nothing that the theorists believe has come about.
I have fact and history on my side...

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I'd like to meet these folks who claim to be okay with the death penalty for property crimes and non-competitive bids (rigging). I'm betting that would be a fascinating conversation.

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That post is indeed an interesting observation

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