this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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This guy really proves that there are no good billionaires thing. Being good stopped him from staying a billionaire. Anyone who hoards wealth while others suffer from impoverishment and starvation is evil.
Yep. Those billions are made on the backs of suppressed wages and benefits, more employee productivity with less flexibility, enshittification, etc. It’s “earned” by squeezing it out of others.
I guess he understood that, felt guilty, and wanted to give it "back" to clear his conscience. That's my personal take. I really want to believe there are good people with power and/or money.
That's why its the system that needs to be killed, not billionaires. It doesn't matter if you are good or bad, capitalism is in part a system of forced competition. A CEO who doesn't make the hard calls for the benefit of stockholders will be replaced if he is caught choosing his moral compunctions over profits. A competitor will exploit what he might refuse to, and thus the harm is done and the "good CEO" is drummed out of the system. The only way for a CEO to remain good and a CEO is to never be tested by the markets mad search for profits. This is possible in a small way, like maybe a CEO of a small regional firm which will eventually be bought out or forced out of business. Hell, most of the strictly "moral" repercussions of an executive are hidden from them, and appear only as columns in a profit/loss report. Capitalism alienates us all from the world we inhabit, our humanity and our selves; worker and owner alike.
But regardless of this, the class interests of ceos and employees are in direct conflict. This doesn't mean we need to kill, but we will have to fight to crush their way of life which exists as a result of the mass exploitation and immiseration of millions.
Fully agree.
Ok… but then we are beholden to where they choose to dispense their largesse. Great, the billionaires have a few pet projects they direct their philanthropy to, and it does help those recipients specifically.
But how about the lifetime earnings of the employees who saw their benefits packages shrink, their medical copays and premiums climb? Maybe that was enough to force their kids into crippling college loans instead of the parents having enough extra to help wirh 529s or just smaller more manageable loans? How about the customers who got inferior products or services that support, returns, or exchanges were obfuscated by deliberately ineffective phone menus or website resources that were designed to make people give up instead of receiving what they deserve? How about the billonaire’s pursuit of anti-tax laws to further line their pockets at the expense of government services? All of these things happen directly by command of the wealthy or by those riding on the coattails of those decisions as major investors or board of directors. All of them in service to the bottom line, and that bottom line is increased at your and my expense.
They may be good people. But you do not become a billionaire with clean hands.
I'm going to admit to being too tired to read that big middle paragraph, but that last short quip I support fully. I suppose that's all I was trying to say. Even good people succumb to greed sometimes. For some it's a disease. Kind of like what gambling does to the brain, but with success instead of loss. And I support someone who 1) has a conscience, and 2) actively tries to clear it. ❤️
But I don't try to neglect those who have been negatively impacted along the way. That's definitely a valid point. And an important point.
Money is power. Power corrupts. No exceptions. They get into the situation because they can no longer identify and understand their fellow man. There are no good billionaires. There aren't any any good millionaires. And we should all do them a favor. And never allow them to achieve that status of hoarding.
That's probably the unfortunate truth, yes.
Sort of squeezing second-hand. But you have to know his primary client pool is the business elites passing through international airports and taking advantage of a legalized form of tax evasion while exploiting the working class in sweat-shops on the mainland/surrounding Pacific islands.
A bit like becoming a billionaire by selling yachts or luxury hotels or cocaine. Even if you can argue you didn't abuse your staff to make your mint (spoilers: you absolutely did), you know all your biggest customers did.
Technically, you'd have to declare what you are importing into the country where you live and pay tax at customs on import. It is kinda logical you dont pay VAT as a visitor since you dont live there and wouldnt benefit from the taxes you paid. Going further, I remember tax exempt cards in the 80's you could use and show your id in stores and not pay VAT. Online versions of this exist today, I buy something from the UK and ship it to EU, I can request they not charge VAT as Im going to pay it on import.
This is a great take
So basically, no good billionaires but maybe good former-billionaires?
Except at some point he would have been between the two - an active billionaire giving away his wealth - and presumably still a good person.
There are different ways to accumulate wealth.
In an example from my country, Sir Peter Beck, is only a billionaire because the stock value of RocketLab has rocketed up (pun intended). His total compensation for the 2023 year was just under $1M. Source
I would rather that he concentrate his efforts to making the best rocket possible; he could in theory split his time and work to reduce poverty...but I believe that the rocket building would suffer.
There are a lot of other people working to reduce poverty.
I agree with your point that in general, most billionaires are shitty people who could do a lot more. But some people are billionaires because they are doing cool shit.
Will Sir Peter become a cunt in the future, who knows. In 10 years will we look back and see the decline to Musk levels of cuntishness?
Listen all I'm saying is if this Peter beck or anyone else holds on to a whole billion dollars for themselves then they lack empathy for the rest of humanity and are therefore evil. If he accidentally made a billion that's fine but donate it.
Agreed, if you have a billion in cash sitting around, then do something with it.
But in this specific example, and really any example where someone gains their wealth from "doing stuff". It is not liquid, sitting around in cash to hand out. It is usually in stock of the company they found.
While they are "young" and energetic making the world a better place, then keep on doing what you are doing. Once you "retire" from that then it is the time to donate.
I just responded the same idea to someone else so I apologize if I get confused between the two. But if I'm understanding you correctly, what you're saying is this man has a billion dollars in assets but he needs them to do his work which is beneficial for people. This work is in rockets.
I'd submit to you that he doesn't need to privately own a billion dollars worth of assets for this. People need a lot of equipment for their jobs, but these things can be owned in common, whether that's through a co-op or through state ownership. Collectivizing the means of production is the ethical way to go. Everyone should have an equal claim to their workplace and an equal say in what goes on there.
The way we let people privately own companies now is more akin to monarchy than the democracy we think of as the bare minimum everywhere else. The workplace should be democracized.
The communism / capitalism debate is an interesting one. Each system has its advantages, and I am a strong believer in a strong compromise between the two extremes.
I don't think that workplaces should be collectivized as a default. I also think that strong regulation and "big" government is a positive thing. The government should set the rules, for the benefit of all, but the game should be open to all players.
I am also a very strong believer that there are some activities that are far too important to leave up to the market.
For everything else, let the market decide. Collective ownership of cafes and hardware stores isn't really something that needs to happen. But I would also be happy if a collectively owned cafe opened up nearby, I would give them the same weight as all other cafes (how good is your coffee).
I feel you and I would agree on most issues. I would urge you to be skeptical of capitalism and the profit incentive and how it can cause harm even small ventures like cafes.
To me, the ultimate problem that capitalism and the wealth concentration that it allows presents is the ability of the individuals with this concentrated wealth to use it either legally or illegally to bend the state to their will. In the states we are all too familiar with this with lobbying. Once this happens, democracy is undermined and oligarchy begins in my opinion.
Looking from the outside, what the US has lacked is the "strong regulation" part.
In my opinion the US is way too far on the capitalist side of the slider, you are not at "pure capitalism" yet. But sometimes it doesn't seem like you have far to go.
Private prisons are just a ridiculous, over reach of profit making into what is at its core a social problem that requires social solutions.
I can totally get that perspective. From here looking at countries in Europe move in our direction makes me think that allowing a little bit of the capitalist corruption in makes your system susceptible to slowly being consumed(deregulated and welfare state gutted).
I'm not too familiar with New Zealand politics but I'm sure they're a hell of a lot better than ours lol.
It has gotten worse since trump showed that the truth is optional for politics.
But yes, still better.
I'm not sure this is really the correct description of the situation. I'm not trying to be pedantic, but the fact that his company is valued at 1 billion doesn't mean the assets are worth 1 billion.
People have assigned this value to the company based on assets, yes, and on the workforce and etc. But they are also assigning value to the company based on what direction they think the company will be lead. Ask yourself this - if their CEO is a genius who has proven time and again that he can make magic happen with very little worth of value, wouldn't you invest in him? Wouldn't you say his company, while maybe poor and shit today, will probably be worth a billion dollars soon thanks to its leadership?
Two issues come from this, both that I don't think you account for - because you argue for workers owning the company in a co-op-like situation, or the CEO selling assets the company doesn't need in order to put that billion to good use:
If the CEO starts dumping stock - so will everyone else. Selling stock means you don't think the company is that valuable. If you don't trust it, why should I? The company's price would tank, and so would any potential it has
If workers are the decision makers, not the genius CEO that everyone trusts to lead - guess how much I'm investing in a company ran by faceless dudes that I don't trust. Exactly $0. You make this company a co-op and you guarantee the main attraction about it is no longer attractive. And at that point if I'm the CEO I'm out anyway - you obviously don't trust my leadership enough to let me run the company, why would I ever want to stay? But good luck competing against the face of rockets with your cute little co-op that gets no funding and can't pay it's employees.
My point is - you want to reap the benefits of capitalism and investments in the stock market, while living in a socialist utopia where your actions on the market don't have consequences. I'm not sure that'll work.
It doesn't sound like he can do that without giving up his ownership stake in his company. Or is that what you are suggesting?
Oh I see what you're saying. Yes his company should be collectivized whether that's by making it into a co-op or through state ownership doesn't really matter. But the people that work for him should have an equal stake in the ownership of their workplace and a say in what goes on there.