Everyone freaks out about discovering Santa isn't real. How about when you figure out everyone coasts through life? through the path of least resistance. Because we all wish for peace. We will suffer greatly to have a peaceful life.
Seriously, nobody should be that rich, the money will be missing somewhere else, causing mass poverty. Expropriation would be the best way to deal with this financial imbalance imo.
In that case they'd on average have 100B each, doesn't sound like "new billionaires" to me. Either way, I'm sure these 142 people work harder/have more influence combined than all but two entire countries in this world. /s
Wealth and GDP are measuring different things, even though both are measured in dollars. It's a bit of a weird comparison for that reason, but still shows ridiculous levels of inequality.
Wealth is how much money you have right now. GDP is how much value the country generates in a given year.
So wealth is kinda like how much you have in the bank, while GDP is closer to how much money is changing hands in a country over a given year. There's a common joke about GDP - if two people paid each other $100 to eat a pile of shit, GDP went up $200 even though no real value was generated. In this example, neither of their wealth changed.
If I became a billionaire I'd be poor again in a couple of months. And the only reason it would take that long is because there's only so many worthy projects near me that I could fund, then I'd have to start doing research on where to give away the rest of the money. Even if you got rich ethically (which you didn't), you'd never keep that money if you have eyes and a heart.
EDIT: although, having said that, I'm underestimating what a disgustingly large amount of money a billion is. I expect it would take longer to spend it than just a few months. But the point is: how selfish do you have to be to be a billionaire with so much injustice in the world?
That's where my thought process started. Buy a house for myself and two family members. Buy a new premises for my friend's business so he doesn't have to worry about rent and can keep providing a much-needed service for our community. Ditto for where I volunteer. Solar panels for the house.
Ok, that's the first 3 million gone.. new radiator for my car, bunch of stuff for my hobbies, set up a bus route past my house to replace the one that was cancelled years ago, fund mental health service by me for a few years.
That's another maybe 5 million gone and several new people employed. Still 992 million left. This is getting tricky. Buy 50 holiday homes and turn them into low- or no-cost rentals to help struggling people. 10 million to this rewilding charity that I like. 10 million to the science museum in London that I like. 10 million in my bank, just in case. 1 million to everyone that I like, why not?
Let's say that another 70 million gone, still haven't even got 10% of the way there. Give 5,000 to everyone in my local town - I'm sure they'll enjoy it. That's 100million gone. Now we're getting somewhere. Buy the bus company by me and run all their services twice as often and for free. I hear the local university might be in trouble, let's throw 10million to them. Overhaul the local planning department because they suck. Let's employ three times as many people so they can actually do their job. Fund training for like 200 extra nurses and doctors from my local area provided they work for the NHS for a couple of years after.
That's got to be halfway by now, right? Maybe? Fuck, a billion [currency] is just so much money...
If you could even rationalize that it's selfish, you don't even have the temperament to become one. These people have zero realization that they have more than enough or they would have done something to help.
Then there's the fact that she gave a platform and false credibility to the likes of Mehmet Oz, Phil McGraw and Brazilian "faith healer" John of God who raped hundreds of women and girls.
I see we think alike. Apologies if it seems like I stole your post. We even listed her baddies in the same order. It was a co-winky-dink cause your post was further down. Cheers! I owe you a beer.
Oprah has done tremendous harm. Doctor Oz. Doctor Phil. That rapist from South America, John of God. The list goes on, but these are the ones I can name. She's a fucking shithead with too much reach and she ought to be stopped.
