They are so rich that my browser crashed while I was trying to speed scrolling the page to the end
Many years ago, I used to work in infosec. One of my employer’s clients was a big and famous brand well-established in the luxury sector. One day, a colleague of mine was sent to test their POS. Inside one, he found a single transaction for around 6M € from a credit card swipe. It wasn’t a payment made from a bank transfer or a check, just a single credit card swipe! At the time, I couldn’t even dream a card with such a credit allowance would exist. I had a pretty good living then, with money for the rent, daily expenses, and even some savings. Still, for an instant, I remember feeling like a poor child living in a house made of mud.
Spoliers! You owe it to yourself experience it first without anyone else's comments, it only takes a few minutes.
An extremely powerful infographic, well designed and well sourced. I love how after they said everything they said, they leave you to keep scrolling the last third of the 3 trillion. No more commentary, just letting the scale of it sink in.
Though, something I wish they touched on in the infographic itself is rebuking the argument of “all that money is tied up in stocks! they don’t have that much money sitting around!” There are plenty of issues with that rebuttal of course and it’s not actually a valid defense of the ultra rich, but it’s a common enough counter that I think it warrants being mentioned to cover all your bases so to speak.
Unpopular opinion maybe but this is a great deal more important than rude Hexbear comments. Visit the site yourself and tell us we’re wrong.
this reminded me of how 4channers purposely desensitize themselves to gore and other heinous stuff, but they cant escape the pain of loneliness. and it could be solved if they just didnt act like massive pieces of shit. then they blame it on women and the supposed phenomenon of them only dating the “top 20%” of men! its probably the stupidest self-fulfilling prophecy
jfc, you dont even have to have basic hygiene (tho that helps), just be nice!! dont be a misanthropic shut-in with a hyper-inflated ego and unearned confidence in ur intelligence. but when they try to be nice it isnt bc they want others to be happy, its to get something, so they come off as a disingenuous Nice Guy. i hate them but also kind of feel bad for them. maybe if they didnt get caught in this vicious cycle some of them wouldnt be reactionary assholes
sorry for the tangent, good meme
I knew the ultra-rich were unimaginably wealthy but this still blew my mind. Got through Bezos, expecting for the site to end, stopped when I saw the blue rectangle starting.
You made it almost halfway
“It has to stop” I agree. But how do I make it stop? There’s a lot of talking about what is the issue and its consequences, I say this also for climate change. But they don’t say what can we do about it
Not to be fatalistic deliberately, but what can we do about it? If we try to take on the system individually, we face the Plucky Ninja problem. If we try to coordinate, it’s too big a movement to keep secret, so the rich and powerful can subvert it before we get anywhere. (They’re doing a pretty good job of it already.)
Ok tankie
A possible solution could be to limit the personal (family?) wealth, fortune, possession, etc. to for example 100 million. That should be enough to live a luxury lifestyle and give your children’s children a ‘care free life’. Everything above that amount goes to the aid of the less fortunate, public and social improvements, energy transition, solving pollution problems, etc. (worldwide). In exchange you get a certificate with: “Congratulations you won capitalism!”
P.S. When you ‘cheat’ you get 1 dollar (or equivalent) and may start over. In addition and not exclusive of all possible legal proceedings.
P.P.S. The above is just an example to illustrate that there are possibilities. But this doesn’t solve all problems of inequality or everything else that is wrong on this planet.
P.P.P.S. Too many people think the have the possibility to also collect wealth above the 100 million ( or think they are entitled to an amount above that). They will protest and vote against any such solution. (I’m not talking about those 400 Americans from the website graphic).
Reminder that the money is printed out of thin air and it’s not really that we need anyone’s stored wealth. Not even liquidating a mansion or ten from a billionaire, or from all billionaires, is going to solve our problems. Sure they are worth a lot to one person, but how much is a mansion worth to society in effect? Not much really.
The system is designed to have poor people. It must so that there is incentive to work. Otherwise we would have to force people to work. I’m not trying to justify the ways things are, I just don’t see going after stored wealth as solving the problem especially when it is not their assets we need or their made up currency.
I’ve lost the will to live. Why do this place even exist?
It’s interesting that the wealth bar of the 400 richest Americans is about 6-times as long as the author needs to say some interesting points.
I’d argue that’s another good argument for seizing their assets and making them pay for their asshole behaviour.
Honestly, probably the only way to save the Environment and Democracy. Too much power in the hands of the few leads to perpetual effective monarchy. It’s why the Founding Fathers were against large amounts of inherited wealth, particularly inherited wealth that creates dynasties in perpetuity.
I know people don’t like the Founding Fathers that much lately, and I see why, but conservatives really don’t understand them, and deliberately misrepresent them, because not doing so would undercut all conservative “policies”.
World’s a mess because of inequality and the concentration of almost all wealth and power into the hands of a small amount of sociopaths. I honestly think the only way to solve this permanently is to cap the amount of wealth and power any individual or family can have.
