this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

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[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 61 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The idea that one person could generate enough benefit to mankind in a year that they have fairly earned a billion dollars is ludicrous. The existence of billionaires is self-evident proof that the system is broken. It's impossible for one person to have that through means other than denying other people their fair share.

That being the case, no one under the age of 1000 at least should ever be worth a trillion dollars.

[–] smokin_shinobi@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

We should dip the first one in gold and put him on display as a warning.

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yes, the problem of wealth concentration is going unaddressed and getting worse.

The few with more than they need to live large for a thousand lifetimes using their ill gotten, exploitation derived wealth to exploit more wealth while contributing no labor to the society they extract value from without any consideration, let alone any appreciation for the society that provided the conditions for their great wealth in the first place.

This is what happens when you pretend a problem isn't a problem, and is in fact our purpose in life. In a crisis, the US's first declaration is that "we must protect our beloved ~~society~~ economic system of systematic exploitation." where else would such a road lead?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-ownership-wealthiest-americans-one-percent-record-high-economy-2024-1

[–] hark@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Surely they'll have had enough then, right?

[–] general_kitten@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago

quadrillionaire time

[–] zbyte64@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The problem with eating the rich is all the crazy drugs they take makes their meat rancid. Zuck however is probably the tastiest due to is wagyu diet and exercise routine.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

I hear lizard tastes like chicken

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

That man is absolutely brimming with steroids and neurotropics.

[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Someone should kill them if they do.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago

I personally wouldn't be upset if a few of them died even today

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 14 points 10 months ago

The game ends when one kid has all the marbles.

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Same as it ever was. First of all, we’re talking basically about infinite money, past a certain number it transitions into a qualitative regime. Several people have had that over the course of human history. Most of them were fucking murderous douchecunts. History shows that they either pass their power to other douchecunts, with the chain broken by incompetence over many generations and at the cost of countless lives, or they meet a violent end — choose your own adventure. Shout out to the very few who have given away their fortunes in their lifetimes.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

It might as well be infinite money right now. All of these billionaires have more money than they can spend in their lifetimes.

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago

So, we should get our pitchforks and meet up soon?

[–] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 10 months ago

I would say that if nature collapsed earlier this would be stopped but these parasites will profit from that too.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thats their take????

The numbers are as follows:

The 1% own 43% off all wealth.

The 5 richest men raised their wealth by 114% in three years.

To offset the difference in rate increase between total 1% and top 5 aswell as the total amount of wealth also increasing with innovation we will pretend this number is a stable 100% increase every 3 years while we actually expect that rate to increase exponentially.

That means in 3 years the 1% will have 86% of all wealth.

If we dont solve wealth equality before 2030 more than 99% of the world will have to share less then 1% of existing wealth. By that time i believe no economy can sustain. People will be better of growing food in their garden and trading with their neighbous.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People will be better of growing food in their garden and trading with their neighbours.

Which the gov't will then start taxing because the top 1% will not be taxed at all.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

What government? And taxes using what valuta?

When we get close to the 1% owning 99% of wealth i (which we cant know if it really will happen but it can be within 5 years based on oxfams recent numbers) People will have nothing left to pay with, employers and governments besides the 10 “winner” megacorps no institution will have money to afford staff.

There might be still some form employment as part of the corpos private army which may pretend to be a government but i highly doubt people will have to worry about giving up a % of their crops more like there land and lives.

I recognize i am sketching a very pessimistic picture here. I want to note i am equal optimist and pessimist. Maybe before that time the signals will be clear enough for a global wealth tax an ubi. I see many ways for the world to become great or horrible and feel like its important to get a grasp of all possibilities, even the extreme ones. The only thing i can truly say for certain is that change is inevitable.

As a kid i was often told “no one person can change the world” but no one person can stop change from happening either.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’m sure it will be me, with my 3% annual raises

[–] june@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

You get annual raises?

[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

We shouldn't even have billionaires, let alone trillionaires. That much wealth concentrated in any one person's hands is means that somebody somewhere is getting fleeced, whether it's workers or consumers, something isn't being distributed fairly.

[–] rabiddolphin@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Once you get to a billion you should get a free ticket to the sun

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

If you see an anomaly like this in a computer program, you generally think memory leak.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago

This 21st century cancer is gonna kill the rest of us.

[–] AlexisFR@jlai.lu 5 points 10 months ago

Should we tell them that Mohammed Ben Sulayem is likely already one?

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Inflation will get us there faster than that.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What are the odds that any of them will go in a Carnegie direction in their later years in a cynical attempt to try and rescue their reputation? I would bet that none of them even give that many fucks...

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

https://givingpledge.org/

Been going on for over a decade. Gates and Buffet have been at the forefront of the project.

The dirty truth of things is that this wealth isn't being given up. Its simply being recategorized. Rather than owning savings accounts with tens of billions of dollars, you now sit as chairman of the board that commands tens of billions in assets. When you spent money from the former, it was taxable income. But now its charitable spending. Nevermind that it pays for all the same Davos Summit accommodations and Epstein island retreats you'd planned to spend it on anyway.

The institutions you fund end up being giant PR projects (like the Carnegie, Ford, and Hoover foundations) intended to advance the board's ideology. You just get to pretend its for a good cause, and therefore exempt from any kind of taxation or significant oversight.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

Why would you use Musk when Bezos, Gates, and Buffet are the more likely candidates?