Eat up, they said
November 24, 2022 5:37 AM Subscribe
These men are geniuses! Their shit tastes like candy! Adam Conover (recently previously on Metafilter) continues to press his case for treating billionaires with the respect they deserve (YouTube, 19m30s)
Very good points, especially about donating a business just for a tax writeoff while he still controls the company.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:16 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:16 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Fuck every billionaire with a rusty shovel.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 9:47 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 9:47 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
He's not wrong, if a little too kind.
posted by Catblack at 9:48 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 9:48 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Why a rusty shovel, ivanthenotsoterrible? Why not a dildo?
Oh. Because it's dull. It'll hurt more.
posted by Ickster at 10:02 AM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oh. Because it's dull. It'll hurt more.
posted by Ickster at 10:02 AM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've always felt we should simply take X number of the richest people in the world, every year, and redistribute their wealth.
The concept has merit. That there should be a guaranteed minimum annual income was once proposed by Richard Nixon of all people. I for one would like to see a guaranteed -- as in mandated -- annual maximum income. Which I mentally set at $100,000 per person when I am feeling generous.
*edit upon turning on radio*
Oh, Jesus -- KPLU, the single local jazz station, is already playing Christmas music! In so many ways I so hate the holidays.
posted by y2karl at 10:03 AM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
The concept has merit. That there should be a guaranteed minimum annual income was once proposed by Richard Nixon of all people. I for one would like to see a guaranteed -- as in mandated -- annual maximum income. Which I mentally set at $100,000 per person when I am feeling generous.
*edit upon turning on radio*
Oh, Jesus -- KPLU, the single local jazz station, is already playing Christmas music! In so many ways I so hate the holidays.
posted by y2karl at 10:03 AM on November 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
annual maximum income
Maximum net worth, so they can't hide everything in unrealized investments. Above that, 100% marginal tax rate.
"But then there won't be any incentive for them to do what they do!" - ok
"But they'll just move to countries that don't have such onerous taxes" - ok
posted by ctmf at 10:29 AM on November 24, 2022 [27 favorites]
Maximum net worth, so they can't hide everything in unrealized investments. Above that, 100% marginal tax rate.
"But then there won't be any incentive for them to do what they do!" - ok
"But they'll just move to countries that don't have such onerous taxes" - ok
posted by ctmf at 10:29 AM on November 24, 2022 [27 favorites]
> I've always felt we should simply take X number of the richest people in the world, every year, and redistribute their wealth.
Billionaires know we feel this way, and that's why the cops will soon have weaponized drones, robots, etc.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:41 AM on November 24, 2022 [17 favorites]
Billionaires know we feel this way, and that's why the cops will soon have weaponized drones, robots, etc.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:41 AM on November 24, 2022 [17 favorites]
All a billionaire is is a crafty asshole with absolutely no scruples who got lucky.
posted by Ickster at 11:10 AM on November 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 11:10 AM on November 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
POWERBALL🎱
posted by clavdivs at 11:20 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 11:20 AM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Billionaires know we feel this way, and that's why the cops will soon have weaponized drones, robots, etc.
Plus the billionares will go long range and clone and program 100 million loyal miinions and.exterminate the rest of us.
Another argument for sending Elon to Mars that, adding the rest of his ilk thereafter. Let them colonize the solar system via our transit. That fit on the Eliizabeth Holmes Minimum Spa & Security Camp in a graphic curve of wealth and punishment: the pits here, penthouse there. Then we can ship them reconstitutable freeze dried wines and gourmet dishes for their consumption, spacesuits, lots and lots of shovels @ 500% transit costs. Coffee break's over guys, back to work!
a guy can dream, can't he? To quote.Bob Dylan:
I"ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours
posted by y2karl at 11:48 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Plus the billionares will go long range and clone and program 100 million loyal miinions and.exterminate the rest of us.
Another argument for sending Elon to Mars that, adding the rest of his ilk thereafter. Let them colonize the solar system via our transit. That fit on the Eliizabeth Holmes Minimum Spa & Security Camp in a graphic curve of wealth and punishment: the pits here, penthouse there. Then we can ship them reconstitutable freeze dried wines and gourmet dishes for their consumption, spacesuits, lots and lots of shovels @ 500% transit costs. Coffee break's over guys, back to work!
a guy can dream, can't he? To quote.Bob Dylan:
I"ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours
posted by y2karl at 11:48 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Eat the Rich
(I miss ya, P.J. ...)
posted by Artful Codger at 12:13 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
(I miss ya, P.J. ...)
posted by Artful Codger at 12:13 PM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Maximum net worth, so they can't hide everything in unrealized investments. Above that, 100% marginal tax rate.
Right. There shouldn't be any such thing as a billionaire in a just society. Hoard all you want, up to $999,999,999, then after that the government comes and gives you a little trophy that says "Congratulations! You won capitalism!" and takes everything above that amount. (I use this number for the sake of argument, personally I would set it much lower.)
"But then there won't be any incentive for them to do what they do!" - ok
And since the only way to get to be a billionaire is to do terrible things, the whole world will be better off if we don't incentivize those behaviors.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:58 PM on November 24, 2022 [24 favorites]
Right. There shouldn't be any such thing as a billionaire in a just society. Hoard all you want, up to $999,999,999, then after that the government comes and gives you a little trophy that says "Congratulations! You won capitalism!" and takes everything above that amount. (I use this number for the sake of argument, personally I would set it much lower.)
"But then there won't be any incentive for them to do what they do!" - ok
And since the only way to get to be a billionaire is to do terrible things, the whole world will be better off if we don't incentivize those behaviors.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:58 PM on November 24, 2022 [24 favorites]
I never had any love or appreciation for Elon or Zuck, but I honestly hadn’t paid much attention to the “genius” rhetoric around them. Now I can’t unsee it and it’s 🤮.
posted by johnxlibris at 1:32 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by johnxlibris at 1:32 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
Genius Elon is chatting it up with some absolute garbage people. This is who he is, as a "moderate."
If there is any upside to the current debacle, it is the death of the vision of him as anything but an unfunny scumbag who got lucky. I'm sure every Tesla and SpaceX employee is thrilled to know they're now associated with America's fastest-rising Nazi enabler.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:16 PM on November 24, 2022 [11 favorites]
If there is any upside to the current debacle, it is the death of the vision of him as anything but an unfunny scumbag who got lucky. I'm sure every Tesla and SpaceX employee is thrilled to know they're now associated with America's fastest-rising Nazi enabler.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:16 PM on November 24, 2022 [11 favorites]
All a billionaire is is a crafty asshole with absolutely no scruples who got lucky.
Absolutely. There's no room for scruples if you want to be a billionaire. I'm not completely convinced that luck is required, but you do need to be prepared to jump at every opportunity without thinking about the ramifications on anyone other than yourself.
posted by dg at 3:37 PM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Absolutely. There's no room for scruples if you want to be a billionaire. I'm not completely convinced that luck is required, but you do need to be prepared to jump at every opportunity without thinking about the ramifications on anyone other than yourself.
posted by dg at 3:37 PM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Luck is not 100% required probably but it is a factor in practically every billionaire story if only being lucky enough to be born in a country with access to education and not say in North Sentinel Island to Sentinelese parents. Having at least moderately well off parents is a huge boost.
posted by Mitheral at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
so they can't hide everything in unrealized investments. Above that, 100% marginal tax rate.
Who actually pays taxes? (GarysEconomics, YouTube, 11m41s)
posted by flabdablet at 9:57 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Who actually pays taxes? (GarysEconomics, YouTube, 11m41s)
posted by flabdablet at 9:57 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also from GarysEconomics: Wealth: what it is & how it differs from Income (YouTube, 13m20s)
posted by flabdablet at 10:01 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 10:01 PM on November 24, 2022 [4 favorites]
It's kind of it in a nutshell, isn't it? These guys have positioned themselves (and this is their smarts at work - they might be idiots but they are not stupid) to garner lots of dough. And the tax code rewards that. Which leads to, I kinda thought, the real important part of the message - "real" people, people not valorized because they wear shorts to business meetings, because they have 'disruptive' business strategies, because they found a loop-hole they can exploit over and over again - "real" people are paying for this bullshit with their jobs, their livelihoods, their security. And that's bullshit.
Roll back the tax code to 1979.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:21 AM on November 25, 2022 [10 favorites]
Roll back the tax code to 1979.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:21 AM on November 25, 2022 [10 favorites]
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posted by Shepherd at 9:08 AM on November 24, 2022 [3 favorites]