Comment on This is what happens when Billionaires own the news media.
BillyClark@piefed.social 5 days ago
I can’t think of a way to understand this type of billionaire as if they are a human. Paying new taxes or not paying new taxes will make very little difference to people like Bezos. He would continue to live the exact same lifestyle… maybe on a smaller yacht, but probably even that wouldn’t change.
It’s hard to even say that he wants to be richer than other billionaires, because they’d all be paying the same taxes, too. At least the American ones.
It’s literally just a number in a computer that he wants to be bigger. Yes, for him, that number getting bigger used to improve his life back when it was in the range of something that a person could spend in a lifetime, but now, it makes zero difference in the real world.
Bezos’s net worth is just a number. It makes no difference to him if he pays more taxes. Why would he go so far out of his way to fight against taxes? He could alternatively just fucking ignore the politics, pay whatever they say, and then at least people would only hate him for being rich, and not for being a piece of shit. It just seems like the choice of somebody who is not human.
1984@lemmy.today 5 days ago
They do care about that amount. It’s how they compare to eachother and how they get their status in those circles.
BillyClark@piefed.social 5 days ago
Bezos bought the Washington Post after he had already been the richest person in the world. What do you think you mean when you say “how they get their status in those circles”? He’s got the status. There are only two people who have more wealth than him today. You think he’s just embarrassed hanging out with those two guys? Give me a break.
His best move to close the gap right now with Musk is to advocate for a wealth tax. If Musk paid 1% of 800 billion and Bezos paid 1% of 280 billion, that’s actually closing the gap.
And what are you even saying about how taxes are spent? Everybody has to pay whatever they’re told, even if it’s spent poorly. But if the government could demonstrate that they were using the tax money well, do you think Bezos would change his mind? If not, then it’s not even the bare minimum criteria for a point and you shouldn’t have brought it up.
And whatever else you think of the American government, it at least enabled Bezos to become the richest person in the world. There are a lot of countries where that couldn’t have possibly happened. We’re talking about Bezos’s taxes here, not taxes in general.
I’m not sure why you are apologizing for the richest people in the world being bad citizens. It seems like an obviously losing argument, as well as counter-productive to me.
1984@lemmy.today 5 days ago
I agree with you, America is the best country if you want the opportunity to become extreamly rich. Its also a bad country if you are poor. Right? I think we can agree on that.
Im not making apologies, I just try to see it objectively and rationally. The argument that billionaries should pay more taxes has the underlying meaning that it would benefit society right? I’m just saying I’m not sure it would.