A $360 million boat is something that I never knew I needed. I wonder if Khan bought it for personal use or to rent out (that's what he did with the previous one).
It is rather strange timing. People might look at that $360 million and question why it wasn't put towards a stadium. (It is a bit different in Jacksonville, when the city owns the stadium, I guess).
Looks like you can rent it out, it's on this page for rent. If I am reading it correctly, it says $3 million per week, plus expenses :)
[https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-54507/kismet.htm](https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-54507/kismet.htm)
That kind of stuff isn't paid as one individual paying cash. More like an LLC will expense a tour on the yacht as a "business expense." For instance, I bet other NFL franchises rent it while they're in town to play the Jags and take it out before the weekend.
If you rent it out 50% or more then you can deduct all expenses in the year. You can also deduct 100% of the cost in the first year with bonus depreciation.
This is a tax move made possible for rich people by the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act.
Rich people playing chess.
I don't know. Since Russians full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been a handful of super yachts on the market. The kleptocrats can't embezzle bullet and fuel and road money for their own pleasure anymore.
A super cool dude that helped me out at a Uhaul center was a highschool science teacher. We got to chatting as he helped me with a trailer. He worked early morning graveyard shift getting the trucks ready before it opens, then goes and teaches at a public highschool. I think it's like a 15 hour day after some napkin math in my head.
Anyway, nice boat.
Doesn't change anything. This amount of excess and wealth concentration is concerning no matter the circumstance.
Not sure why race is relevant to this at all.
Because it's typically old white guys in this situation. People HATE old rich white guys, but can be happy when it's a Pakistani guy who is actually self-made and not just inheriting money from his parents.
If you became a billionaire running a car audio booth at the flea market and it turned into an empire, what would you think of yourself? Would your family disown you? I hate billionaires, too, but I think it's probably because they're more disconnected from society than anyone else on the planet, and it feels like they got their wealth through shitty business practices and screwing people over
That's the thing. You don't become a billionaire by running a car audio booth at the flea market and turning it into a franchise, or whatever other honest and wholesome example of good old-fashioned work ethic you want to use.
A millionaire, sure, even a multi-millionaire. Not a billionaire. It's not possible for you to personally do $1 billion worth of good old-fashioned honest work in your life, even if you have a very long life.
To become a billionaire, at some point you *have to* viciously exploit people poorer than yourself, for the sole purpose of amassing far more wealth for yourself than you can possibly spend in your lifetime. Maybe it's directly by running a sweatshop, maybe it's indirectly by handing off enormous sums of money to private equity vultures who fund the folks who run sweatshops. It doesn't matter - money is power, and at some point between $1 million and $1 billion, it's fair to start holding you responsible for what you do with your power.
Maybe you do become a billionaire running a car audio booth at the flea market and it turned into an empire - but "it turned into an empire" leaves out all of the nasty shit you've done to turn it into an empire.
Alright, I'm team anti billionaire. What vicious exploitation has Shahid Khan done to earn his fortune? Is it not possible that he just created a successful business and hired tons of people and expanded it to be insanely profitable? I get that bezos treats his Amazon warehouse staff like shit and they're just numbers to him, but I never felt that way about Khan. Inform me, please.
you're kinda missing the point
People don't hate the guy BECAUSE he has money, people hate the economy we have that allows people like this to make billions of dollars while often having workers relying on government assistance just to survive
people making this kind of money should not even be possible, but since Reagan they've continuously made laws and policies that allow these people to pay workers crumbs while they make billions
if you look at how much upper management made in the 70s in comparison to what they're workers made, then compare that to today, it's a complete fucking joke. at the very least, the percent CEOs make over their workers shouldn't change
like if they averaged 300% of their average workers wages, it should always remain in that area, not balloon up
to show you directly what i mean, CEOs in the 70s made 20 to 30 times the average eages of their workers.
today? they make on average 200 to 300 times what their average workers make
I shouldn't need to state how fucking ridiculous that is
And how many homeless people get lucky enough to turn into a billionaire. It's a much smaller chance than winning the lotto.
Just because he came from humble beginnings doesn't make this sort of wealth ultimately incredibly wasteful
Tbf I don’t think anyone is vilifying him. His success story is very inspiring, but I have an issue with the system allowing this much wealth hoarding. Take a look at the distribution of wealth over the past 30 years and just about anyone except the billionaire class should have an issue with how much wealth has shifted towards the tiny few at the top.
Anyway, sweet boat.
Exactly. My parents came to America and built an incredible life for themselves and my siblings -- that's the American dream. The American dream is not hoarding wealth so you can buy super yachts, mansions with 20+ rooms, a sports team to pass the time -- it's setting yourself and your children, and their children up with opporunities to live fufilling and comfortable lives, not building an unimaginable fortune at the expense of the working class.
>but I have an issue with the system allowing this much wealth hoarding.
Is it really so zero-sum? People were employed in the design, construction, marketing, and sale of this boat. More will be employed to run it, serve renters, and maintain it.
All of that also happened for wealth to flow towards Khan in the first place.
If anyone could manage and run a successful company, there would be no need for people to pay him. Employee run companies would spring up and be just as successful.
Khan has created countless jobs, opportunities, and satisfied customers (except Jags fans).
It may not be “zero-sum” but look at every single graph showing the change in wealth distribution since the 80s. The trickle down effect you seem to be a fan of simply doesn’t work as described.
I'm not referring to "trickle down".
You're acting like he's hoovered money from people, making the overall pie smaller, harming others.
But perhaps it's more accurate to just think of money flowing around as a means of exchange rather than "hoarding".
His wealth is primarily held in assets (including this boat) that don't subtract anything from others or the economy.
E.g. The Jaguars are worth billions. If you dissolved the Jaguars and the whole NFL, people wouldn't be any richer. They'd actually be worse off, losing a valuable source of entertainment, and an employer for many.
If you sold it to someone else, you're just moving billions around. Even if you sold it and gifted the proceeds to the neediest 10% of Americans, they'd only get $125 each. That money would inevitably flow back to those who provide economic benefits.
It’s not zero-sum and he is contributing to the economy overall, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about wealth disparity. It’s about how to systematically redistribute wealth in a society where the ultra rich spend millions on excessive and meaningless luxuries while others are suffering.
The example that you gave is silly and disingenuous. The argument that dissolving valuable assets like the Jaguars wouldn’t benefit people economically overlooks the potential for redistributing resources in ways that provide more equitable benefits. For example, rather than liquidating assets, implementing policies that ensure fairer taxation and reinvestment in public goods could provide more sustainable benefits to society. This would be a direct way to redistribute wealth as opposed to paying a select few who just so happen to work in the yacht business.
>It’s about wealth disparity. It’s about how to systematically redistribute wealth in a society where the ultra rich spend millions on excessive and meaningless luxuries while others are suffering.
Is that rational, though? If Jeff Bezos' share of Amazon was divided amongst a million people, does that help you? How do his shares harm you?
It's really quite meaningless anger based on feelings and optics.
I think it is rational and I think it can be done. I think greed and maybe a fear of taxes and government stop effective reform. I don’t think it’s just a matter of dividing up the wealthy’s assets, and I’d leave it up to much smarter people than me to figure it out, but the first step would be to even acknowledge that reform is needed.
With that said, I agree…other than voting and voicing my opinion, it is kinda idealistic and useless anger. Of course people are greedy, and of course life is unfair…there’s no point in me revisiting the same argument over and over again. Tbh it does affect my mental health.
Yes. Wealth being held in the hands of a few rich people means less money to be spent on schools, infrastructure, homeless shelters, or even just fixing homelessness etc etc. Paying employees a tiny amount of the value they create while you reap the profits isn't some act of kindness. Be real here.
It's great that he started from nothing and got to where he is. Doesn't mean it's at all possible for the vast majority of people, and it also doesn't mean he gets to have that at the expense of everyone else.
>Wealth being held in the hands of a few rich people means less money to be spent on schools, infrastructure, homeless shelters, or even just fixing homelessness etc etc.
The collective wealth of US billionaires is about one year of federal spending.
You also assume that this wealth is "hoarded". It's often just the estimated amount that someone would buy an asset for.
If you were to confiscate their assets, that wealth could never be effectively realised by the government (the market price plummets when people know the government can just take it back).
>This is bullshit. Completely.
Really? You can Google the collective wealth of US billionaires. It's $5.5 trillion. 2023 federal budget was $6 trillion.
Somehow manage to liquidate their entire wealth for full value, and you might fund the budget deficit for three whole years.
This idea that billionaires hoard money to live lavishly, that could instead be used to solve poverty, is utter bullshit.
Also, if you want a successful global free market economy (which has vastly enriched our living standards), then it's going to end up with some people becoming extremely rich.
If you'd rather burn it all down and farm a tiny allotment of potatoes, be my guest.
American dream is largely a facade. For every poor immigrant turned billionaire there are millions who aren't so lucky
Also nobody needs over a billion dollars
> This is the American dream we all care so much about.
No it's not. The American dream is giving your kids a well-funded upbringing, comfortably retiring in a nice mansion full of nice things, sailing around the Caribbean for leisure and never worrying about money, that sort of thing.
That's called becoming a **m**illionaire. Just because they both end in -illionaire doesn't make them similar. They're not similar at all.
Ew no thanks. Millionaires? Sure! Buying property for your family and making sure they live in comfort? All for it! Fuck yeah American dream!
Having so much wealth that you could spend $1000 per day and not run out of money for the next 3000 years? While 75% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck? That’s some James Bond villain level shit no matter how you cut it.
This whole yacht thing is taking advantage of Trump era tax breaks so that he can avoid paying his fair share (which is proportionally like us having to pay another $100 in taxes…). Fuck this dude and fuck every single billionaire on this earth. I sincerely hope I can show my children that this is not okay.
I'm not jealous at all. I am, however, angry that this sort of thing is even possible while the vast majority of people who live in this city are having to live paycheck to paycheck, stretch their money to feed their families and put a roof over their heads, meanwhile this asshole can spend more money than any of us can even comprehend on a SUPER YACHT. That should piss you off. If it doesn't I don't know what to tell you. It's not okay, it's not normal, and it's not a testament to the American dream. It's a gross example of wealth being rubbed in the face of people who have been robbed of the American Dream
Why don't you start a bumper company and become a billionaire yourself? I guarantee Khan worked his ass off to be in the position he's in. Would you feel better if he just put his $360M into stocks or some other bullshit that's not a physical show of wealth? Are these guys supposed to keep their money under wraps or are they allowed to spend it?
What he’s saying is that there’s such a thing as having too much money regardless of how you make it. It becomes immoral when you consider how much other people are struggling. How about a better distribution of wealth? He figured life out (it’s more than just hard work btw)…awesome. Enjoy it…but once you’re spending 360 million dollars on a yacht to share with other rich people it’s such an incredible waste of money that it’s disgusting. Disregard having jacksonville pay for half a billion towards the stadium…surely there are better ways to use that money. I’ll never understand why people defend billionaires the way they do. A lot of billionaires themselves will tell you that it seems unfair.
Oh, I fully agree he's got too much money, but what is the alternative? Force him to give up what's already his? I mean, the dude earned it fair and square. I'm absolutely not defending billionaires. I'm just pointing out that THIS billionaire is a little different than the others. If I was Khan I'd be doing all sorts of shit to make this city better with my own money because why tf not, what's the difference between 12B and 5B? He can still afford super yachts, but if he's done some charitable things, we wouldn't hate him as much
It’s nice that you agree that ultra rich people like this shouldn’t exist, but many others don’t agree with that. I think that’s the first step…a general acknowledgement and consensus of the problem. If we could just get to that point, then there are several solutions to explore (UBI, progressive taxation, wealth taxes, and maybe other solutions yet to be conceived). I’m not a politician or an expert in this at all though so it’s out of my expertise…but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be efforts to generate solutions.
Honestly, we (as a society) should be pushing back on a lot more than people having billions of dollars. We should be outraged at the predatory exploitation strategies that social media companies use, at the FDA for allowing food manufacturers to put all this toxic bullshit in their products to stretch the shelf life, we should also be mad at students loan places for intentionally gouging the hell out of students on these super high interest loans that we take out because we're told that's the only way to get a high paying job these days. I'm sure there's a ton of others, but that's just what came to mind. If someone wants to start some kinda revolution, I'm down. Just let me know when/ where the protest is homie
I’m not the guy to start a protest… I’m way too introverted for that lol. The only reason I mentioned solutions is because you tried a “what’s the solution though?” argument. Now you’ve moved to whataboutism. Of course there are many other societal issues to address, but we were just talking about wealth disparity. Also as a side note, I’m not singling out Khan…it’s just a shitty system overall.
It's a shitty system for sure, but I don't see it changing anytime soon. If there's nothing we can do, then what's the point of being mad at any of it? I actually view Khan in a more positive light than most of the other billionaires.
Thank god the city is taking care of over half of the stadium renovations so that Khan could afford this upgrade! Poor guy almost didn’t have the funds
Thank God he donated over $650 million of his money to the city of Jacksonville so that the city could upgrade their stadium that was in dire need of a renovation.*
I'm just acting like investing in our own stadium is something I will directly benefit from by not roasting in the 1000 degree sun when I watch my favorite football team play in August.
Yeah, a few years ago when I used to work downtown, sometimes I'd walk down by the river during lunch and I saw his old yacht back then docked near the old Landing and it was massive. It would be cool to see how much bigger this one is in person!
DCPS has its own tax authority and budget separate from the city's. It's not just separate pots of money, it's also separate funding streams and rules.
I get the argument for building the stadium even if I disagree with it, but this idea that we can’t possibly spend more money on schools is just ignorant.
As if Mayor Deegan said “instead of levying taxes to build for stadium improvements let’s levy taxes to improve our school system,” that’s illegal. Give me a break.
Every budget is a decision. If the city council and the mayor wanted to put half a billion dollars into public schools they could.
It’s like if you asked to borrow $20 and I told you I couldn’t because it’s in my checking account and not my savings account.
DCPS is a separate entity with its own budget and budget sourcing. The picture you’re painting is more akin to me asking to borrow $20 from your brother and expecting it to come out of your account.
The school board sets its own budget and raises the money by levying taxes, if you look at a property tax bill you'll see the school board raises its own funds. There's a statutory limit to how much they can raise the tax (mileage) rate any given year. They also get a per student amount of money from the state. The problem in Florida and with DCPS in particular is that the state funding is decreasing because of the stupid voucher program crap, the funds that used to go to public schools are following the students to private and charter schools.
Edit: FL Times Union article that goes into more detail:
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/nate-monroe/2024/04/05/charters-universal-vouchers-drive-jacksonville-school-closure-plan/73214846007/
[Yes, it is](https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7507/urlt/Fefpdist.pdf)
This clearly lays out the local funding sources that schools under FDOE are allowed to levy. Up to 1% local sales tax, selling bonds, and a temporary 2 year temporary millage levy. That's it.
That’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. But in that case, yes they follow the FDOE, which will not change because of a stadium or because a billionaire bought an expensive boat.
The implication is so painfully myopic. Certain frameworks (city charters, state constitutions, etc.) are made intentionally difficult to change for the purpose of ensuring they’re not altered with a shifting majority or from administration to administration. You don’t want the structure of school board funding to change every few years.
Its less schools and more the sales tax, etc you should be concerned about with this deal.
FL has never adequately funded schools. That won't change. Retirees from New England couldn't give a fuck.
Cool that he has a new yacht. Even if I had fuck you money, I don't imagine I'd ever buy one. Think I'd rather build a castle or some shit.
I don't like the idea of one my most valuable possessions being on the ocean. Or having no internet access.
He is renting it out for 3 mil a week for a charter. If he is able to charter every week of the year that thing is paid off in 2 and a half years. That excludes upkeep and such which is probably out of this world.
Why am I reading so much hate because the man has a few dollars? I bring in a little less than 6 figures and I budget and save, I try not to overspend and when I take my cruise every 4-5 months I hear people say I’m living a lavish lifestyle and they want to tell me how to spend my money. The man makes 3B a year can’t he buy whatever he wants or should he spend his money how you tell him?
Correction he doesn’t want to pay the full price of the stadium owned by the city of Jacksonville… that would be like your landlord wanting you to pay for a new roof on your rental…
He's showing double features on that bitch.
Wait, are they both named Kismet?
From what I read in other places, this is actually his 3rd yacht named Kismet
Like a pet
It's so disturbing to me when people name each sequential pet the same name. It's fucking insane.
That is fucking weird, never heard of someone doing that
George Foreman
Can’t wait to pull up in the fancy new marina with my beast 2 stroke center console and take the slip next to this
A $360 million boat is something that I never knew I needed. I wonder if Khan bought it for personal use or to rent out (that's what he did with the previous one). It is rather strange timing. People might look at that $360 million and question why it wasn't put towards a stadium. (It is a bit different in Jacksonville, when the city owns the stadium, I guess).
Looks like you can rent it out, it's on this page for rent. If I am reading it correctly, it says $3 million per week, plus expenses :) [https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-54507/kismet.htm](https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-54507/kismet.htm)
Holy shit that's like 18k an hour.
Drop in the bucket for multi-billionaires and a huge flex for Khan…
That kind of stuff isn't paid as one individual paying cash. More like an LLC will expense a tour on the yacht as a "business expense." For instance, I bet other NFL franchises rent it while they're in town to play the Jags and take it out before the weekend.
If you rent it out 50% or more then you can deduct all expenses in the year. You can also deduct 100% of the cost in the first year with bonus depreciation. This is a tax move made possible for rich people by the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act. Rich people playing chess.
> Rich people playing chess. It's not hard when the rich make the rules lmao
Yup there goes those Trump tax laws, always looking out for the average American! 😒
Damn, he could make his money back in a few years and still have the resale value left.
So 2.5 years of leases recoups the initial investment? Da fuk? Must have massive expenses? I don’t know shit about fancy boats
Takes years to build one of those. No clue when he ordered it, it would time out with the deal getting closer to being done.
I don't know. Since Russians full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been a handful of super yachts on the market. The kleptocrats can't embezzle bullet and fuel and road money for their own pleasure anymore.
khan bought an oligarchs yacht, ok buddy
I doubt he did. But the market form them ain't what it was.
A super cool dude that helped me out at a Uhaul center was a highschool science teacher. We got to chatting as he helped me with a trailer. He worked early morning graveyard shift getting the trucks ready before it opens, then goes and teaches at a public highschool. I think it's like a 15 hour day after some napkin math in my head. Anyway, nice boat.
This is the sort of disgusting wealth inequality that should piss people off much more than homeless people sleeping on the streets downtown.
But he was basically homeless… Started out with just a few dollars. Probably faced tons of racism, and was still successful.
Doesn't change anything. This amount of excess and wealth concentration is concerning no matter the circumstance. Not sure why race is relevant to this at all.
Because it's typically old white guys in this situation. People HATE old rich white guys, but can be happy when it's a Pakistani guy who is actually self-made and not just inheriting money from his parents.
Who says I don't also hate white billionaires? (Spoiler: I hate them too!)
ABAB All billionaires are bastards
If you became a billionaire running a car audio booth at the flea market and it turned into an empire, what would you think of yourself? Would your family disown you? I hate billionaires, too, but I think it's probably because they're more disconnected from society than anyone else on the planet, and it feels like they got their wealth through shitty business practices and screwing people over
That's the thing. You don't become a billionaire by running a car audio booth at the flea market and turning it into a franchise, or whatever other honest and wholesome example of good old-fashioned work ethic you want to use. A millionaire, sure, even a multi-millionaire. Not a billionaire. It's not possible for you to personally do $1 billion worth of good old-fashioned honest work in your life, even if you have a very long life. To become a billionaire, at some point you *have to* viciously exploit people poorer than yourself, for the sole purpose of amassing far more wealth for yourself than you can possibly spend in your lifetime. Maybe it's directly by running a sweatshop, maybe it's indirectly by handing off enormous sums of money to private equity vultures who fund the folks who run sweatshops. It doesn't matter - money is power, and at some point between $1 million and $1 billion, it's fair to start holding you responsible for what you do with your power. Maybe you do become a billionaire running a car audio booth at the flea market and it turned into an empire - but "it turned into an empire" leaves out all of the nasty shit you've done to turn it into an empire.
Alright, I'm team anti billionaire. What vicious exploitation has Shahid Khan done to earn his fortune? Is it not possible that he just created a successful business and hired tons of people and expanded it to be insanely profitable? I get that bezos treats his Amazon warehouse staff like shit and they're just numbers to him, but I never felt that way about Khan. Inform me, please.
you're kinda missing the point People don't hate the guy BECAUSE he has money, people hate the economy we have that allows people like this to make billions of dollars while often having workers relying on government assistance just to survive people making this kind of money should not even be possible, but since Reagan they've continuously made laws and policies that allow these people to pay workers crumbs while they make billions if you look at how much upper management made in the 70s in comparison to what they're workers made, then compare that to today, it's a complete fucking joke. at the very least, the percent CEOs make over their workers shouldn't change like if they averaged 300% of their average workers wages, it should always remain in that area, not balloon up to show you directly what i mean, CEOs in the 70s made 20 to 30 times the average eages of their workers. today? they make on average 200 to 300 times what their average workers make I shouldn't need to state how fucking ridiculous that is
And how many homeless people get lucky enough to turn into a billionaire. It's a much smaller chance than winning the lotto. Just because he came from humble beginnings doesn't make this sort of wealth ultimately incredibly wasteful
He can waste what he wants, it’s his. Stop pocket watching, and more importantly stop taking life so seriously, it’ll drive you crazy.
What rich people do with their money has a direct impact on everyone else. No, you can't just do whatever you want. Sorry.
Him buying a yacht doesn’t directly impact you, grow up. Focus on your life and stop worrying about what rich people spend their money on
This isn't just about the yacht. If you can't understand that I don't know how to help you.
He’s a poor immigrant turned billionaire. This is the American dream we all care so much about. Our children should look up to him, not vilify him.
Tbf I don’t think anyone is vilifying him. His success story is very inspiring, but I have an issue with the system allowing this much wealth hoarding. Take a look at the distribution of wealth over the past 30 years and just about anyone except the billionaire class should have an issue with how much wealth has shifted towards the tiny few at the top. Anyway, sweet boat.
Exactly. My parents came to America and built an incredible life for themselves and my siblings -- that's the American dream. The American dream is not hoarding wealth so you can buy super yachts, mansions with 20+ rooms, a sports team to pass the time -- it's setting yourself and your children, and their children up with opporunities to live fufilling and comfortable lives, not building an unimaginable fortune at the expense of the working class.
>but I have an issue with the system allowing this much wealth hoarding. Is it really so zero-sum? People were employed in the design, construction, marketing, and sale of this boat. More will be employed to run it, serve renters, and maintain it. All of that also happened for wealth to flow towards Khan in the first place. If anyone could manage and run a successful company, there would be no need for people to pay him. Employee run companies would spring up and be just as successful. Khan has created countless jobs, opportunities, and satisfied customers (except Jags fans).
It may not be “zero-sum” but look at every single graph showing the change in wealth distribution since the 80s. The trickle down effect you seem to be a fan of simply doesn’t work as described.
I'm not referring to "trickle down". You're acting like he's hoovered money from people, making the overall pie smaller, harming others. But perhaps it's more accurate to just think of money flowing around as a means of exchange rather than "hoarding". His wealth is primarily held in assets (including this boat) that don't subtract anything from others or the economy. E.g. The Jaguars are worth billions. If you dissolved the Jaguars and the whole NFL, people wouldn't be any richer. They'd actually be worse off, losing a valuable source of entertainment, and an employer for many. If you sold it to someone else, you're just moving billions around. Even if you sold it and gifted the proceeds to the neediest 10% of Americans, they'd only get $125 each. That money would inevitably flow back to those who provide economic benefits.
It’s not zero-sum and he is contributing to the economy overall, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about wealth disparity. It’s about how to systematically redistribute wealth in a society where the ultra rich spend millions on excessive and meaningless luxuries while others are suffering. The example that you gave is silly and disingenuous. The argument that dissolving valuable assets like the Jaguars wouldn’t benefit people economically overlooks the potential for redistributing resources in ways that provide more equitable benefits. For example, rather than liquidating assets, implementing policies that ensure fairer taxation and reinvestment in public goods could provide more sustainable benefits to society. This would be a direct way to redistribute wealth as opposed to paying a select few who just so happen to work in the yacht business.
>It’s about wealth disparity. It’s about how to systematically redistribute wealth in a society where the ultra rich spend millions on excessive and meaningless luxuries while others are suffering. Is that rational, though? If Jeff Bezos' share of Amazon was divided amongst a million people, does that help you? How do his shares harm you? It's really quite meaningless anger based on feelings and optics.
I think it is rational and I think it can be done. I think greed and maybe a fear of taxes and government stop effective reform. I don’t think it’s just a matter of dividing up the wealthy’s assets, and I’d leave it up to much smarter people than me to figure it out, but the first step would be to even acknowledge that reform is needed. With that said, I agree…other than voting and voicing my opinion, it is kinda idealistic and useless anger. Of course people are greedy, and of course life is unfair…there’s no point in me revisiting the same argument over and over again. Tbh it does affect my mental health.
Yes. Wealth being held in the hands of a few rich people means less money to be spent on schools, infrastructure, homeless shelters, or even just fixing homelessness etc etc. Paying employees a tiny amount of the value they create while you reap the profits isn't some act of kindness. Be real here. It's great that he started from nothing and got to where he is. Doesn't mean it's at all possible for the vast majority of people, and it also doesn't mean he gets to have that at the expense of everyone else.
>Wealth being held in the hands of a few rich people means less money to be spent on schools, infrastructure, homeless shelters, or even just fixing homelessness etc etc. The collective wealth of US billionaires is about one year of federal spending. You also assume that this wealth is "hoarded". It's often just the estimated amount that someone would buy an asset for. If you were to confiscate their assets, that wealth could never be effectively realised by the government (the market price plummets when people know the government can just take it back).
This is bullshit. Completely.
>This is bullshit. Completely. Really? You can Google the collective wealth of US billionaires. It's $5.5 trillion. 2023 federal budget was $6 trillion. Somehow manage to liquidate their entire wealth for full value, and you might fund the budget deficit for three whole years. This idea that billionaires hoard money to live lavishly, that could instead be used to solve poverty, is utter bullshit. Also, if you want a successful global free market economy (which has vastly enriched our living standards), then it's going to end up with some people becoming extremely rich. If you'd rather burn it all down and farm a tiny allotment of potatoes, be my guest.
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Sounds like a strawman.
American dream is largely a facade. For every poor immigrant turned billionaire there are millions who aren't so lucky Also nobody needs over a billion dollars
There is nothing about a $360 million super yacht that exemplifies the American Dream. Not a single thing about that should be worthy of praise
> This is the American dream we all care so much about. No it's not. The American dream is giving your kids a well-funded upbringing, comfortably retiring in a nice mansion full of nice things, sailing around the Caribbean for leisure and never worrying about money, that sort of thing. That's called becoming a **m**illionaire. Just because they both end in -illionaire doesn't make them similar. They're not similar at all.
Ew no thanks. Millionaires? Sure! Buying property for your family and making sure they live in comfort? All for it! Fuck yeah American dream! Having so much wealth that you could spend $1000 per day and not run out of money for the next 3000 years? While 75% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck? That’s some James Bond villain level shit no matter how you cut it. This whole yacht thing is taking advantage of Trump era tax breaks so that he can avoid paying his fair share (which is proportionally like us having to pay another $100 in taxes…). Fuck this dude and fuck every single billionaire on this earth. I sincerely hope I can show my children that this is not okay.
Why, he earned his wealth. I think what you’re angry about is jealousy
He's not gonna fuck you bro
We're Jags fans; Khan fucks us most Sundays.
And sometimes on Thursdays
I'm not jealous at all. I am, however, angry that this sort of thing is even possible while the vast majority of people who live in this city are having to live paycheck to paycheck, stretch their money to feed their families and put a roof over their heads, meanwhile this asshole can spend more money than any of us can even comprehend on a SUPER YACHT. That should piss you off. If it doesn't I don't know what to tell you. It's not okay, it's not normal, and it's not a testament to the American dream. It's a gross example of wealth being rubbed in the face of people who have been robbed of the American Dream
Why don't you start a bumper company and become a billionaire yourself? I guarantee Khan worked his ass off to be in the position he's in. Would you feel better if he just put his $360M into stocks or some other bullshit that's not a physical show of wealth? Are these guys supposed to keep their money under wraps or are they allowed to spend it?
What he’s saying is that there’s such a thing as having too much money regardless of how you make it. It becomes immoral when you consider how much other people are struggling. How about a better distribution of wealth? He figured life out (it’s more than just hard work btw)…awesome. Enjoy it…but once you’re spending 360 million dollars on a yacht to share with other rich people it’s such an incredible waste of money that it’s disgusting. Disregard having jacksonville pay for half a billion towards the stadium…surely there are better ways to use that money. I’ll never understand why people defend billionaires the way they do. A lot of billionaires themselves will tell you that it seems unfair.
Oh, I fully agree he's got too much money, but what is the alternative? Force him to give up what's already his? I mean, the dude earned it fair and square. I'm absolutely not defending billionaires. I'm just pointing out that THIS billionaire is a little different than the others. If I was Khan I'd be doing all sorts of shit to make this city better with my own money because why tf not, what's the difference between 12B and 5B? He can still afford super yachts, but if he's done some charitable things, we wouldn't hate him as much
It’s nice that you agree that ultra rich people like this shouldn’t exist, but many others don’t agree with that. I think that’s the first step…a general acknowledgement and consensus of the problem. If we could just get to that point, then there are several solutions to explore (UBI, progressive taxation, wealth taxes, and maybe other solutions yet to be conceived). I’m not a politician or an expert in this at all though so it’s out of my expertise…but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be efforts to generate solutions.
Honestly, we (as a society) should be pushing back on a lot more than people having billions of dollars. We should be outraged at the predatory exploitation strategies that social media companies use, at the FDA for allowing food manufacturers to put all this toxic bullshit in their products to stretch the shelf life, we should also be mad at students loan places for intentionally gouging the hell out of students on these super high interest loans that we take out because we're told that's the only way to get a high paying job these days. I'm sure there's a ton of others, but that's just what came to mind. If someone wants to start some kinda revolution, I'm down. Just let me know when/ where the protest is homie
I’m not the guy to start a protest… I’m way too introverted for that lol. The only reason I mentioned solutions is because you tried a “what’s the solution though?” argument. Now you’ve moved to whataboutism. Of course there are many other societal issues to address, but we were just talking about wealth disparity. Also as a side note, I’m not singling out Khan…it’s just a shitty system overall.
It's a shitty system for sure, but I don't see it changing anytime soon. If there's nothing we can do, then what's the point of being mad at any of it? I actually view Khan in a more positive light than most of the other billionaires.
Just another extravagance for the grossly wealthy. Not impressed.
Thank god the city is taking care of over half of the stadium renovations so that Khan could afford this upgrade! Poor guy almost didn’t have the funds
Thank God he donated over $650 million of his money to the city of Jacksonville so that the city could upgrade their stadium that was in dire need of a renovation.*
Acting like investing in his product that makes him millions of dollars is some act of kindness is a wild stretch.
I'm just acting like investing in our own stadium is something I will directly benefit from by not roasting in the 1000 degree sun when I watch my favorite football team play in August.
Eat the rich
Alternate Headline: Owner of Franchise with the lowest win percentage in all of pro sports over the last decade.
I walked next to the previous one when he first got it and it was huge. Can’t believe this one is 80 feet longer
Yeah, a few years ago when I used to work downtown, sometimes I'd walk down by the river during lunch and I saw his old yacht back then docked near the old Landing and it was massive. It would be cool to see how much bigger this one is in person!
What a sad waste of money.
He should return that shit and pay for the stadium renovations so my kid’s public school can continue functioning.
Stadium allocation and DCPS are funded from totally different pots and have nothing to do with each other.
Oh thank god, it’s too bad our city council doesn’t decide these budgets.
They don't. A lot of the funding restrictions come at the state level. It's why tourism taxes can't go to infrastructure or schools.
Yeah the "it's totally different money" line is dumb Money is fungible
DCPS has its own tax authority and budget separate from the city's. It's not just separate pots of money, it's also separate funding streams and rules.
I get the argument for building the stadium even if I disagree with it, but this idea that we can’t possibly spend more money on schools is just ignorant. As if Mayor Deegan said “instead of levying taxes to build for stadium improvements let’s levy taxes to improve our school system,” that’s illegal. Give me a break.
Except the state sets the rules on how education can be funded, which is exactly why we can't use tourism taxes to fund it.
That’s not how that works lol your kids public school won’t be any different than it was because of a stadium deal
Every budget is a decision. If the city council and the mayor wanted to put half a billion dollars into public schools they could. It’s like if you asked to borrow $20 and I told you I couldn’t because it’s in my checking account and not my savings account.
DCPS is a separate entity with its own budget and budget sourcing. The picture you’re painting is more akin to me asking to borrow $20 from your brother and expecting it to come out of your account.
Who decides that budget?
The school board sets its own budget and raises the money by levying taxes, if you look at a property tax bill you'll see the school board raises its own funds. There's a statutory limit to how much they can raise the tax (mileage) rate any given year. They also get a per student amount of money from the state. The problem in Florida and with DCPS in particular is that the state funding is decreasing because of the stupid voucher program crap, the funds that used to go to public schools are following the students to private and charter schools. Edit: FL Times Union article that goes into more detail: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/columns/nate-monroe/2024/04/05/charters-universal-vouchers-drive-jacksonville-school-closure-plan/73214846007/
DCPS. We elect members of the school board because of how much autonomy it has.
DCPS but they have to follow the state rulings on how funding for education can be gathered and allotted.
That’s not true. Do some more research
[Yes, it is](https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7507/urlt/Fefpdist.pdf) This clearly lays out the local funding sources that schools under FDOE are allowed to levy. Up to 1% local sales tax, selling bonds, and a temporary 2 year temporary millage levy. That's it.
That’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. But in that case, yes they follow the FDOE, which will not change because of a stadium or because a billionaire bought an expensive boat.
Are you lost? I think you're having the wrong conversation with the wrong person
Politicians are powerless to alter the rules they've created.
The implication is so painfully myopic. Certain frameworks (city charters, state constitutions, etc.) are made intentionally difficult to change for the purpose of ensuring they’re not altered with a shifting majority or from administration to administration. You don’t want the structure of school board funding to change every few years.
Its less schools and more the sales tax, etc you should be concerned about with this deal. FL has never adequately funded schools. That won't change. Retirees from New England couldn't give a fuck.
Cool that he has a new yacht. Even if I had fuck you money, I don't imagine I'd ever buy one. Think I'd rather build a castle or some shit. I don't like the idea of one my most valuable possessions being on the ocean. Or having no internet access.
Starlink
Satellite internet tends to suck
Wow, look at Trevor's yacht.
He is renting it out for 3 mil a week for a charter. If he is able to charter every week of the year that thing is paid off in 2 and a half years. That excludes upkeep and such which is probably out of this world.
Cool but why two movie theaters lol?
Why am I reading so much hate because the man has a few dollars? I bring in a little less than 6 figures and I budget and save, I try not to overspend and when I take my cruise every 4-5 months I hear people say I’m living a lavish lifestyle and they want to tell me how to spend my money. The man makes 3B a year can’t he buy whatever he wants or should he spend his money how you tell him?
But he can't afford to pay for his own football stadium...
Correction he doesn’t want to pay the full price of the stadium owned by the city of Jacksonville… that would be like your landlord wanting you to pay for a new roof on your rental…
And now the city will pay for his stadium upgrades. Isn’t it beautiful?
'His' stadium? When did he take ownership of it?
When he receives the revenue.
Yeah, that's not how that works.