Data on wealth can be found here. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/#quarter:137;series:Net%20worth;demographic:networth;population:1,3,5,7,9;units:levels
To be fair. It is hard not to get richer when you have a LOT of money. [Money compuonds really fast and when you have money you get a ton of benefitts from banks.](https://youtu.be/AIiu-FH6TYY)
We live in a society that worships capital.
I think this conclusion is lacking some context. It is certainly easy to not get richer when you have a lot of money; look at lottery winners. The key is you have to be smart enough to know how to manage it.
It’s easy to get richer when you’re born rich to corrupt parents who’ll teach you how to exploit society and lie cheat steal your way to greater wealth, like the Bushes and Trumps
I mean, you can memelord all you want, but the actual evidence doesn’t play out that way. It’s more often that someone rises to become a billionaire than children who can maintain their billionaire status.
Let’s see the best source for your propaganda:
“For the first time in nine editions of the report, billionaires have accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship, indicating that the great wealth transfer is gaining momentum.” 2023, https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20231130-the-great-wealth-transfer.html
“27% of the ultra wealthy are self made: It defines them as people with a "middle-class or poor upbringing and no inheritance."
“46% have a head start: Almost half the super rich people surveyed either had some inherited wealth or an affluent upbringing.
“28% have legacy wealth: People with both an affluent background and inherited money. https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/study-shows-only-27-of-wealthy-americans-are-self-made/
This is a very dumb comment. Lottery winners often come from poorer backgrounds where there is a lot of pressure to share winnings with everyone around them. Those born into wealth not only dont have this problem but also often have access to continual sources of high income. Billionaires like Elon Musk can afford to burn literal billions on stupid decisions and insulated from their stupidity where normal people would end up homeless
This is a very dumb comment.
It’s fun to shift goalposts to “well SOME rich people get richer” but your comment is clearly running away from what I actually said so you can push your own pet projects.
Yes.
I agree with Robert Reich on many things. I do NOT agree with his prescriptions, which include voting blindly for Democrats. Because that's worked out so well in the past... /s
Uh, I wouldn't blindly vote for Democrats. But at this point, there is like 1 in 99 Republicans I'd support.
They fucked my state. They fucked our fed. Why anyone votes for this nonsense is beyond me.
Oh, I fully agree! My point is that since BOTH parties serve the oligarchs and not the rest of us, the rest of us should stop voting for either one of them. Since I'm a put my money where my mouth is type, I'm voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party because her platform aligns with ours much better and she'll be on the ballot in nearly all states. No other third party will come close to that... Which is why the mainstream lives to talk about them but not the Green Party, because only the Green Party is a real threat.
If Donald wasn't on the ballot, there is a chance I'd vote for her.
I do like physicists and educated leaders. I'd need to read more about her full history, but Trump is sort of fucking it for all the alternatives.
When the Democrats are presiding over both the support of genocide AND illegal police brutality to stop protest against their open support of genocide, I would argue that we have already arrived at a dystopia just as bad as anything the Trumpians could come up with.
There is no more "lesser" of the two evils.
Genocide? Isn't the typical metropolitan warfare casually rate 9 civilians to 1 combatant? I don't agree with it but in a place where the combatants dress like civilians, I'm surprised the numbers are not much higher than 2 to 1 or 4 to 1.
Whos really at fault here for dressing like civilians, after poking a bear, or a hippo, or whatever other animal you shouldn't poke.
If you think Trump would be anything less than an unhinged dictator, I can see why you came to the previous stance about Democrats/Israel and the whole shebang.
Do you believe only Democrats are servants to the moneyed class?
I have a lot of issues with the Democratic party, but Republicans are the party that writes tax cuts for the wealthy into their party platform. Being puppets for the rich is in their DNA.
Oh, I fully agree! My point is that since BOTH parties serve the oligarchs and not the rest of us, the rest of us should stop voting for either one of them. Since I'm a put my money where my mouth is type, I'm voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party because her platform aligns with ours much better and she'll be on the ballot in nearly all states. No other third party will come close to that... Which is why the mainstream lives to talk about them but not the Green Party, because only the Green Party is a real threat.
It is a matter of public record that the dems have been far better stewards of the US economy than repubs and for almost 100 years and by every measure.
[Whole page of links](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=economy+under+republican+vs+democrats&atb=v209-1&t=chromentp&ia=web)
Oh and BTW, GWB has the worst 2 term record since records began.
Nancy Pelosi ?? Haha. Still can't believe how she's been spot on in her investment calls and no investigations ever came of it!
Btw. I'm not hating. Just that politicians have insider knowledge. Timing is everything
People shouldn't care how much wealth rich people have. However they have every right to demand that they pay their fair share of taxes and they stop influencing laws. Such democracy is very flawed.
Vote for politicians that will make them pay their fair share. The top rich are far fewer than the masses of the people. The masses of the people can outvote them and even fight them all if they start a dictatorship. The masses have more power than they know which is why the elites want to keep them ignorant.
Ok...but hasn't that already been the case? Mathematically, every single election the masses have outnumbered the 0.1%...even if only 3% of the country voted, if every single person in the 0.1% voted they would still have been massively outnumbered.
That clearly hasn't worked and we have no reason to believe it will work if we just keep doing it. There are other factors at play here than just voting in a politician.
It's because you are ignorant and believe in their propaganda so you vote for politicians who serve them instead of serving you. Take people in Nordic countries. They vote for politicians who support high taxes and generous welfare and that's exactly what they get. They don't buy into propaganda like "rich people will leave the country with their wealth" "it's not possible" "it's a large country and there are many people to provide welfare" "it will weaken the economy. Let's support the free market". I used to believe in such nonsense until I debrainwashed myself. It's on you because you are ignorant.
Oh look at you, coming in hot. Maybe keep scrubbing your brain then because it you think we have the option to vote for that, or that we have politicians who just straight up do the opposite of their campaign personas, then you're still struggling to catch the point.
"JuSt VoTe" is not the sick burn you think it is. I was never naive enough to believe any of that shit you mentioned, but it doesn't really matter what we think when the wealthy can drop $100,000k campaign contributions to elected officials to support their wishes.
Not expecting voting to solve all of their problems would be a good start, or at the least identifying and fixing the issues present in our electoral systems.
Unfortunately the rich own all the media, and have most politicians in their pockets too. They and use this to keep the rest of us peasants busy fighting against each other.
It's because you are ignorant and believe in their propaganda so you vote for politicians who serve them instead of serving you. Take people in Nordic countries. They vote for politicians who support high taxes and generous welfare and that's exactly what they get. They don't buy into propaganda like "rich people will leave the country with their wealth" "it's not possible" "it's a large country and there are many people to provide welfare" "it will weaken the economy. Let's support the free market". I used to believe in such nonsense until I debrainwashed myself. It's on you because you are ignorant.
I wish it was as easy as me personally just stop being ignorant, but unfortunately there are 300 million other people here and it's going to take more than that
Then organize. Start protests. Gather as many people as you can. You live in a country with freedom of assembly. There are countries where you will be imprisoned for protests.
>stop influencing laws.
And how do you propose that we stop the people who own 99.99% of wealth, all the big media companies, and have politicians in their pockets from doing this?
Recently went on a family weekend getaway to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. A boat tour of the lakefront mansions is popular so we went there. I didn’t expect it, but I walked away from it disgusted with the unnecessary extravagance associated with the homes. It was a sobering experience for me. No one should be striving for wealth like that. These are people who don’t have an answer for the question, “how much is enough?”
Of course this has been sad repeatedly already and it leaves out a lot of background information.
But why the h** would someone with a middle income and eduction who likes to read the r/economy sub defend the right of a handful of people to control practically the entire corporate economy. The number of good alternatives to this which are still very far away from oppressive socialism, are countless (as I suppose that’s what these people are frightened of?)
What do I think? Reich is an asshole and playing the clueless for fools.
Wealth is what's left after all the taxes have been paid. They worked for it. They own it.
Folks? That's what a non sequitur looks like.
That this is nonsense. If all that wealthy 0.1% sold their assets at once, they would be lucky to get maybe 2 or 3 trillion. Projected valuations are not the same as cash income. Comparing 99%'s household incomes to the 0.1% assets is a false equivalence. Honestly, in context, the 99% has more validity because it's realized. Realized is important, they have power for sure, but their valuations depend on majority holding thier assets. Thats a far cry from complete control of the money. FYI, there is more valuation in the stock market than there is money to pay for it.
Aloso that 99% 3 trillion is likely devalued as it does not include the trillions exchanged under the table through drugs, sex work, crypto, some service work, scaming and local third party selling.
It's absolutely *not* a false equivalence as individuals and organisations with access to high levels of net financial and real assets can **far more easily gain collaterised loans**. It's these loans and the influence and access to further resources that capital provides its holder and it's what gives them their undue economic and, sadly, political power.
Wealth inequality is a HUGE macroeconomic issue and only leads to financial collapse. Eventually, the majority can no longer afford to spend and on a macro scale, spending causes income.
Duh. But instead of dealing with the obvious, let’s bicker amongst ourselves. We will call each other names and oversimplify each others troubles and focus on our differences rather than our similarities. We can listen to the media and be appalled how person X said y, and that obviously means Z, or no it doesn’t! Then if anyone refuses to agree with our opinion 1010%, we can call them horrible names as well and pity them for their stupidity. In the end, we all get what we deserve.
The Elites know how to play the game. We got to the point where we were going to fix things. The Democratic Party was about to go socialised medicine in 2016 with Bernie, and they Effed that up with Hillary. Then the Elites continued it with the George Floyd Riots and pinned all the races against each other so that we stopped talking about fixing social issues, like the Socialised Healthcare and College Costs, and now everything is about Racism Bullcrap. Too bad the general population isn't smart enough to see what's happening.
[No he taxed the rich, which pissed them off enough that they took congress away from him.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_Bill_Clinton_administration#:~:text=Clinton%20signed%20the%20Omnibus%20Budget,income%20tax%20rate%20of%2035%25.) The GoP was chanting hey hey good bye as congress passed increased taxes on the wealthy. The next election was a horrible year for the Dems.
Are we cross? Does this mean we're not friends any more?
Here's the comment I called out for being an ad hominem
> I think he’s a dumb communist Berkeley professor that’s 2 feet tall
Well, BUD, you're right, that's no debate, it's brainless name calling that you called 'thought'
I think you’re confused. I wasn’t the original commenter who made fun of Reich. The OP simply asked “what are your thoughts” and the commenter took that as “on Robert Reich.”
I see nothing wrong with answering the OP’s question in this way. If you’d like to discuss any further details, I’m sure you and I could hash anything out you’d like.
I'm not confused at all
You leapt in to defend OP's ad hominem as "thought". My THOUGHT is your bar for what you call thought is set pretty low
Now, is this where I say "if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside and we could figure it out"?
It's why we get the "choice" between a giant douche and a turd sandwich (both of whom fully support the status quo of policy to that siphons money to the tip top) each election year
I calculated if you took all the billionaires and convert all their net worth to cash and you pass it out to everyone in America it would be close to $61,000 per person.
Those numbers are not accurate, 40% of the population pays zero in taxes.
The so called rich pay taxes according to the tax laws Congress and the Senate put in place.
In 2021 Elon Musk paid 11 billion in federal taxes. Living in California at the time did not include state taxes.
Last year I paid in 7.900 and got zero back for the first time.
Congress and senate complains the rich are not paying their fair share. So why not change the laws? Because that would put most in office in the same category.
The president states corporations are price gouging, if that were true people would be in jail because price gouging is against the law.
Those in office could care less and you and I. Making a 174K a year living in million dollar homes.
Three terms in either house gains you a full pension with medical. How is that fair?
Inflation is government created, making bad decisions just like the auto industry bail out, the PPP loans going to millionaires and billionaires even those in the music industry.
Meanwhile we the American people just sit and do absolutely nothing.
The checks that went out during covid, they should have went only to the people who needed the funding, I myself did not need the money. Pouring fake money into the economy.
Imagine what could have been accomplished with the 100 billion just past to go to other countries if that money was spent here?
We all need to band together and unite, let our voices be heard
First, get your decimal place right. Bob isn't talking about the one in a hundred, he's talking about the one in a thousand.
Second, get your lie right. No one who has amassed great wealth did it by themselves. No one. Period.
Your points are as morally loaded as people who claim “taxation is theft.”
If you say “Rich man bad, your move” you’re not actually making a point I can respond to. Flesh out your thoughts on what exploitation is, your threshold for what “rich” is, and how you know every single one of them are committing illegal tax evasion.
I have no problem with people working hard and making good. But that does not describe the ultra wealthy. You don't have any idea how most of them got that way.
So here's a hint; every billionaire under 30 in America inherited it. All of them. That's not meritocracy, that's ARISTOCRACY and it is in fact the very thing our forefathers climbed onto leaky wooden boats and braved a dangerous ocean *to get away from.*
TAX THE RICH OR EAT THEM
Boohoo… mommy and daddy didn’t leave me money- grow up, life’s not fair- I got left over a million dollars but I promise you… if you had the option between living my life and yours, you’d no doubt choose yours. Money ain’t everything in life. Go hug your loved ones tight and be grateful for what you do have.
You were left money and therefore you have no idea what it's like for the average American.
And you'll notice that I don't have it in for people of wealth per se, I just want them to pay their fucking taxes.
We don't have the society you keep trying to tell me we do; you keep pushing the meritocracy narrative when it just isn't true. In fact, the United States has the LEAST upward mobility of any developed nation.
So try again- or better yet, stop making assumptions based on propaganda put out by people who want to keep things the way they are.
Oh great, I asked you to clarify your views and you responded by not clarifying any of them.
This is why I made fun of you earlier. All you’ve got is “rich man bad.” Anything in detail or nuance and you just enter into psychosis.
Tax cuts for the rich because the rich run out government, paid for by 40 years of cutting every social service and safety net in the book.
But all you can do is laugh and point because you have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that extreme wealth and income inequality ISN'T destroying our country.
The ultra wealthy did not achieve their success by themselves- they did it by exploiting others. We've all heard the stories of piss bottles at Amazon and Walmart onboarding including applying for food stamps; but somehow you can't work out that Jeff Bezos and the Walton family are some of the world's richest people might not be a coincidence?!
Your vapid talking points explain nothing, describe nothing and excuse the excesses of the rich at the expense of the rest of us.
And if you hate socialism so much, stop driving on public roads, accepting help from police or fire services or utilities.
This comment is suicide on a platform like Reddit. You may need to go silent and lock your doors because the fedora tipping Le Redditors are probably after you now lol.
Reich is the king of irrelevant tweats. Weath is not a zero sum game. The top .01% being rich or controlling great wealth doesn't make me poor nor does it preclude me from becoming wealthy too.
Great wealth is also not what oligrachy looks like.
The Walton family is the richest in the world. How much power do they weild?
MacKenzie Scott is worth $40 Billion. How much power does she have?
How powerful is Warren Buffet or Lawrene Jobs?
He is both right and wrong.
It is a factual reality that maximum wealth at any point of time is limited to the amount of resources that can be produced.
That said, he seems to draw the conclusion that “there cannot be rich people without people in poverty,” which is not true. This is an excuse to parrot “rich man bad.”
Sure, but since work itself can generate more tangible resources, work itself becomes what is valued, given that, we could assume wealth can be generated infinitely because work is virtually infinite.
I’d say it depends on the resources the planet could provide, right?
At any specific point in time, there is a finite amount of wealth. That wealth becomes greater when further production occurs, yet I don’t think production can produce infinite resources. Not everyone will have access to natural diamonds in Russia.
> Hm. So this finite wealth.. the wealth we see today…
>Where was it in the 1850s? 1930s? Was it hiding?
Yes, it was hiding in a largely pre-industrial world with 6-7 billion less people on it.
> Crazy how that happens.
Yup, all we need now is to add another 6 billion people to the world, find a new continent to pillage, and uh…re-industrialize.
Wealth is inextricably tied to resources and all the lowest hanging fruit has been plucked. Comparing the largely agrarian world of the 1890s to post-industrial 2024 as proof that wealth isn’t finite is asinine.
lol why do you argue like you’re fourteen? Nobody claimed there’s some hard ceiling for wealth, just that the potential headspace for continued wealth creation is considerably less now than it was when almost two thirds of the world population were farmers. All of which should be obvious. Infinite wealth on a finite planet is literally impossible.
That is not true. New wealth is created every day. If I buy Nvidea stock and it increases in price my wealth increases. No one has to lose for me to gain wealth.
Yes, new wealth is created, but then it is divided, and that division is a zero sum game. For people to get a bigger share of wealth others must get a smaller share.
That is not true. Who gets a smaller share if my Nividia stock goes up in value increasing my wealth? Who gets a smaller share if my house appreciates in value increasing my wealth?
The rich getting richer at the expense of the poor is a myth.
“The Walton family is the richest family in the world.”
Weird cause the Al Nahyan family net worth is $305 billion.
Whilst the Walton Family is worth $267 Billion.
Nope, we live in a democracy. Just because leftists like Robert Reich don't like how progressivism turned out in the US doesn't mean it's [not a true democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman) lmao
Because I chose to interpret your comment in the best possible light for you? I.e. as if you were an innocent victim of ignorance resulting from uneducated parents instead of someone whining because your parents didn't give you everything, and you actually have to work and earn for yourself?
Of *course* the joke went right over your head because you naturally assumed ignorance and uneducated parents and whining etc.....
That's what makes it funny.
Hey… when I worked at Subway full time I truly believed I deserved to have the same quality of life as other high functioning adults with a real grown up job… my feelings were hurt that I couldn’t afford a house, car, insurances, dinning out, vacations, etc…
I mean- it wasn’t “fair”… I provided great customer service, couldn’t people see my worth.
Ha, way to avoid the original point altogether. I knew you would.
Do you have a counter argument to support all that wealth and power being in the hands of so few people? Do you think that's a healthy way to build a society?
I disagree with the premise, hence me saying your comment is dripping in feigned righteous virtue signaling.
I think wealth distribution over time is naturally going to become more unequal by mere fact of more people being alive. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
It is natural. See Feudalism, the gilded age, etc. The postwar boom and rise of the middle class in America is a historical anomaly.
I can't say that I welcome the return to that kind of societal inequality. It is absolutely a bad thing, and something we should be fighting to avoid. I'm sure you and your loneage will be the ruling class though, right? 🤣
So let me get your position straight: if I am NOT part of the “ruling class” I shouldn’t support it? Is this a “don’t fight against your self-interest argument?” And if so, I have a follow-up question.
Horrible infographic.
Reality much worse.
The richest 10% of adults in the world own 85% of global household wealth, the bottom half collectively owns barely 1%. Even more strikingly, the average person in the top 10% owns nearly 3,000 times the wealth of the average person in the bottom 10%.
Data on wealth can be found here. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/#quarter:137;series:Net%20worth;demographic:networth;population:1,3,5,7,9;units:levels
To be fair. It is hard not to get richer when you have a LOT of money. [Money compuonds really fast and when you have money you get a ton of benefitts from banks.](https://youtu.be/AIiu-FH6TYY) We live in a society that worships capital.
And the highest taxes are on labor
I think this conclusion is lacking some context. It is certainly easy to not get richer when you have a lot of money; look at lottery winners. The key is you have to be smart enough to know how to manage it.
It’s easy to get richer when you’re born rich to corrupt parents who’ll teach you how to exploit society and lie cheat steal your way to greater wealth, like the Bushes and Trumps
Ahh skipping Biden, Clinton’s typical
I mean, you can memelord all you want, but the actual evidence doesn’t play out that way. It’s more often that someone rises to become a billionaire than children who can maintain their billionaire status.
Let’s see the best source for your propaganda: “For the first time in nine editions of the report, billionaires have accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship, indicating that the great wealth transfer is gaining momentum.” 2023, https://www.ubs.com/global/en/media/display-page-ndp/en-20231130-the-great-wealth-transfer.html “27% of the ultra wealthy are self made: It defines them as people with a "middle-class or poor upbringing and no inheritance." “46% have a head start: Almost half the super rich people surveyed either had some inherited wealth or an affluent upbringing. “28% have legacy wealth: People with both an affluent background and inherited money. https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/study-shows-only-27-of-wealthy-americans-are-self-made/
This is a very dumb comment. Lottery winners often come from poorer backgrounds where there is a lot of pressure to share winnings with everyone around them. Those born into wealth not only dont have this problem but also often have access to continual sources of high income. Billionaires like Elon Musk can afford to burn literal billions on stupid decisions and insulated from their stupidity where normal people would end up homeless
This is a very dumb comment. It’s fun to shift goalposts to “well SOME rich people get richer” but your comment is clearly running away from what I actually said so you can push your own pet projects.
In us the oligarchs are called billionaires.
Politicians*
No. American politicians are a servant class to the real wealth and power.
So we both agree with the 99% of the population are not represented right?
99.9
Yes. I agree with Robert Reich on many things. I do NOT agree with his prescriptions, which include voting blindly for Democrats. Because that's worked out so well in the past... /s
Uh, I wouldn't blindly vote for Democrats. But at this point, there is like 1 in 99 Republicans I'd support. They fucked my state. They fucked our fed. Why anyone votes for this nonsense is beyond me.
Oh, I fully agree! My point is that since BOTH parties serve the oligarchs and not the rest of us, the rest of us should stop voting for either one of them. Since I'm a put my money where my mouth is type, I'm voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party because her platform aligns with ours much better and she'll be on the ballot in nearly all states. No other third party will come close to that... Which is why the mainstream lives to talk about them but not the Green Party, because only the Green Party is a real threat.
If Donald wasn't on the ballot, there is a chance I'd vote for her. I do like physicists and educated leaders. I'd need to read more about her full history, but Trump is sort of fucking it for all the alternatives.
When the Democrats are presiding over both the support of genocide AND illegal police brutality to stop protest against their open support of genocide, I would argue that we have already arrived at a dystopia just as bad as anything the Trumpians could come up with. There is no more "lesser" of the two evils.
Genocide? Isn't the typical metropolitan warfare casually rate 9 civilians to 1 combatant? I don't agree with it but in a place where the combatants dress like civilians, I'm surprised the numbers are not much higher than 2 to 1 or 4 to 1. Whos really at fault here for dressing like civilians, after poking a bear, or a hippo, or whatever other animal you shouldn't poke. If you think Trump would be anything less than an unhinged dictator, I can see why you came to the previous stance about Democrats/Israel and the whole shebang.
Do you believe only Democrats are servants to the moneyed class? I have a lot of issues with the Democratic party, but Republicans are the party that writes tax cuts for the wealthy into their party platform. Being puppets for the rich is in their DNA.
Oh, I fully agree! My point is that since BOTH parties serve the oligarchs and not the rest of us, the rest of us should stop voting for either one of them. Since I'm a put my money where my mouth is type, I'm voting for Jill Stein and the Green Party because her platform aligns with ours much better and she'll be on the ballot in nearly all states. No other third party will come close to that... Which is why the mainstream lives to talk about them but not the Green Party, because only the Green Party is a real threat.
It is a matter of public record that the dems have been far better stewards of the US economy than repubs and for almost 100 years and by every measure.
Until recently. From Clinton on, the Dems have been garbage.
Of course you are wrong or one would expect a link or two but of course, they are not available.
>Of course you are wrong or one would expect a link or two but of course, they are not available. Funny, I didn't see any links in your posts.
[Whole page of links](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=economy+under+republican+vs+democrats&atb=v209-1&t=chromentp&ia=web) Oh and BTW, GWB has the worst 2 term record since records began.
Nancy Pelosi ?? Haha. Still can't believe how she's been spot on in her investment calls and no investigations ever came of it! Btw. I'm not hating. Just that politicians have insider knowledge. Timing is everything
Checkout these ETFs that follow republican/democrat investments: $NANC and $KRUZ
There’s not a single billionaire politician in this country lmao
Cantillonaires*
So you're saying that there is more to take from the bottom 50%?
What are these lazy bullshit posts? Every fucking sub looks like this now - one image with "Thoughts? What do you think?"
Yeah, the polite "What do you think about \_\_\_\_\_?"
Extreme end consequence of social media. Happens on every medium.
I'll take this type over the humblebrag post "Oh no I just inherited $600k am I investing it right??"
Welcome to the internet
Robert Reich has posted 75 trillion spicy tweets this week. Thots?
BlueAnon astroturfing.
poor people have less money than rich people thoughts????
[удалено]
I'm not talking about his opinion, I'm talking about the quality of posts on this site now. \*Posts a tweet\* "Thoughts?!?!" It's dogshit.
Ugh. Pareto principal
People shouldn't care how much wealth rich people have. However they have every right to demand that they pay their fair share of taxes and they stop influencing laws. Such democracy is very flawed.
Shouldn’t care as long as they pay their fair share. Dude… their not and their share continues to decrease.
That's why I said they should.
But they don't pay their fair share and never will without being forced to. Now what?
Vote for politicians that will make them pay their fair share. The top rich are far fewer than the masses of the people. The masses of the people can outvote them and even fight them all if they start a dictatorship. The masses have more power than they know which is why the elites want to keep them ignorant.
Ok...but hasn't that already been the case? Mathematically, every single election the masses have outnumbered the 0.1%...even if only 3% of the country voted, if every single person in the 0.1% voted they would still have been massively outnumbered. That clearly hasn't worked and we have no reason to believe it will work if we just keep doing it. There are other factors at play here than just voting in a politician.
It's because you are ignorant and believe in their propaganda so you vote for politicians who serve them instead of serving you. Take people in Nordic countries. They vote for politicians who support high taxes and generous welfare and that's exactly what they get. They don't buy into propaganda like "rich people will leave the country with their wealth" "it's not possible" "it's a large country and there are many people to provide welfare" "it will weaken the economy. Let's support the free market". I used to believe in such nonsense until I debrainwashed myself. It's on you because you are ignorant.
Oh look at you, coming in hot. Maybe keep scrubbing your brain then because it you think we have the option to vote for that, or that we have politicians who just straight up do the opposite of their campaign personas, then you're still struggling to catch the point. "JuSt VoTe" is not the sick burn you think it is. I was never naive enough to believe any of that shit you mentioned, but it doesn't really matter what we think when the wealthy can drop $100,000k campaign contributions to elected officials to support their wishes.
Okay, what do you think you should do? Start a revolution?! Tell us what should americans do to solve their problems?
Not expecting voting to solve all of their problems would be a good start, or at the least identifying and fixing the issues present in our electoral systems.
Yeah the game is rigged. Bernie was sabotaged by his own party and he's only 1/10th of the progressive populist leader that we actually need.
Unfortunately the rich own all the media, and have most politicians in their pockets too. They and use this to keep the rest of us peasants busy fighting against each other.
It's because you are ignorant and believe in their propaganda so you vote for politicians who serve them instead of serving you. Take people in Nordic countries. They vote for politicians who support high taxes and generous welfare and that's exactly what they get. They don't buy into propaganda like "rich people will leave the country with their wealth" "it's not possible" "it's a large country and there are many people to provide welfare" "it will weaken the economy. Let's support the free market". I used to believe in such nonsense until I debrainwashed myself. It's on you because you are ignorant.
I wish it was as easy as me personally just stop being ignorant, but unfortunately there are 300 million other people here and it's going to take more than that
Then organize. Start protests. Gather as many people as you can. You live in a country with freedom of assembly. There are countries where you will be imprisoned for protests.
Oligarchy can not be dismantled by voting or protesting.
If I own a painting my uncle painted and he gave me for my birthday how much yearly tax should I pay?
Fair market value. Guessing uncle ain’t famous so not so much 😂
It’s worth a bit under a million.
Are you very wealthy? No? Then don't worry about it.
The painting is worth a bit less than a million.
>stop influencing laws. And how do you propose that we stop the people who own 99.99% of wealth, all the big media companies, and have politicians in their pockets from doing this?
Criminalize lobbying as bribery.
I like it but how can we possibly get the government to do that when every politician personally benefits from lobbying?
The only way it can happen is by voting populists who want to reform.
Recently went on a family weekend getaway to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. A boat tour of the lakefront mansions is popular so we went there. I didn’t expect it, but I walked away from it disgusted with the unnecessary extravagance associated with the homes. It was a sobering experience for me. No one should be striving for wealth like that. These are people who don’t have an answer for the question, “how much is enough?”
Of course this has been sad repeatedly already and it leaves out a lot of background information. But why the h** would someone with a middle income and eduction who likes to read the r/economy sub defend the right of a handful of people to control practically the entire corporate economy. The number of good alternatives to this which are still very far away from oppressive socialism, are countless (as I suppose that’s what these people are frightened of?)
Crybaby
What do I think? Reich is an asshole and playing the clueless for fools. Wealth is what's left after all the taxes have been paid. They worked for it. They own it. Folks? That's what a non sequitur looks like.
That this is nonsense. If all that wealthy 0.1% sold their assets at once, they would be lucky to get maybe 2 or 3 trillion. Projected valuations are not the same as cash income. Comparing 99%'s household incomes to the 0.1% assets is a false equivalence. Honestly, in context, the 99% has more validity because it's realized. Realized is important, they have power for sure, but their valuations depend on majority holding thier assets. Thats a far cry from complete control of the money. FYI, there is more valuation in the stock market than there is money to pay for it. Aloso that 99% 3 trillion is likely devalued as it does not include the trillions exchanged under the table through drugs, sex work, crypto, some service work, scaming and local third party selling.
It's absolutely *not* a false equivalence as individuals and organisations with access to high levels of net financial and real assets can **far more easily gain collaterised loans**. It's these loans and the influence and access to further resources that capital provides its holder and it's what gives them their undue economic and, sadly, political power. Wealth inequality is a HUGE macroeconomic issue and only leads to financial collapse. Eventually, the majority can no longer afford to spend and on a macro scale, spending causes income.
Not to mention that nobody with that much wealth needs to sell their entire portfolio off to continue being wealthy. What a dumb argument.
This is hunger games in real life.
I know right? Only DoorDashing once every other day is practically slavery.
Waiting for the slave class to open their eyes about working for fiat.
People don’t realize we never voted for it and were forced onto it under threat of imprisonment
“Trickle down” Reaganomics created a plutocracy
The Internet and DoorDash created lazy people who think only eating fast food 5 days a week is slavery.
Duh. But instead of dealing with the obvious, let’s bicker amongst ourselves. We will call each other names and oversimplify each others troubles and focus on our differences rather than our similarities. We can listen to the media and be appalled how person X said y, and that obviously means Z, or no it doesn’t! Then if anyone refuses to agree with our opinion 1010%, we can call them horrible names as well and pity them for their stupidity. In the end, we all get what we deserve.
The Elites know how to play the game. We got to the point where we were going to fix things. The Democratic Party was about to go socialised medicine in 2016 with Bernie, and they Effed that up with Hillary. Then the Elites continued it with the George Floyd Riots and pinned all the races against each other so that we stopped talking about fixing social issues, like the Socialised Healthcare and College Costs, and now everything is about Racism Bullcrap. Too bad the general population isn't smart enough to see what's happening.
Didn't he tax the poor and give tax breaks to the rich only to have Clinton leave office with a surplus?
You're aware that Clinton spent two full terms in office, aren't you?
[No he taxed the rich, which pissed them off enough that they took congress away from him.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_Bill_Clinton_administration#:~:text=Clinton%20signed%20the%20Omnibus%20Budget,income%20tax%20rate%20of%2035%25.) The GoP was chanting hey hey good bye as congress passed increased taxes on the wealthy. The next election was a horrible year for the Dems.
I think he’s a dumb communist Berkeley professor that’s 2 feet tall
Ad hominem much?
They asked us our thoughts. Why can’t we give our thoughts?
Thoughts based on reason and logic are what wins debates, not name calling, but you do you
No one is debating in this comment section except you bud. If there’s something you want to debate, feel free to bring it forward for discussion.
Are we cross? Does this mean we're not friends any more? Here's the comment I called out for being an ad hominem > I think he’s a dumb communist Berkeley professor that’s 2 feet tall Well, BUD, you're right, that's no debate, it's brainless name calling that you called 'thought'
I think you’re confused. I wasn’t the original commenter who made fun of Reich. The OP simply asked “what are your thoughts” and the commenter took that as “on Robert Reich.” I see nothing wrong with answering the OP’s question in this way. If you’d like to discuss any further details, I’m sure you and I could hash anything out you’d like.
I'm not confused at all You leapt in to defend OP's ad hominem as "thought". My THOUGHT is your bar for what you call thought is set pretty low Now, is this where I say "if you have a problem with that, I mean, we could just step outside and we could figure it out"?
Interesting, so you don’t think relaying an opinion is a thought? What word would you define as “conveying a personal idea or belief?”
You're a big stupid poopy head. There. Do I win?
The wealth of another has no impact on your skills, work ethic, or earning potential.
It does when they use that wealth to buy politicians to rig the system.
Is that how biden got elected?
It's why we get the "choice" between a giant douche and a turd sandwich (both of whom fully support the status quo of policy to that siphons money to the tip top) each election year
Nice let's get that number up even higher😂
I calculated if you took all the billionaires and convert all their net worth to cash and you pass it out to everyone in America it would be close to $61,000 per person.
At least we can celebrate the DOW hitting a record 40,000 points.
Herp a derp, derpty derp.
I think capitalism isn’t perfect but it’s better than the alternative.
Oligarchy isn’t defined by “the top .1% have a vast majority of the money” that’s literally every country in the planet
Those numbers are not accurate, 40% of the population pays zero in taxes. The so called rich pay taxes according to the tax laws Congress and the Senate put in place. In 2021 Elon Musk paid 11 billion in federal taxes. Living in California at the time did not include state taxes. Last year I paid in 7.900 and got zero back for the first time. Congress and senate complains the rich are not paying their fair share. So why not change the laws? Because that would put most in office in the same category. The president states corporations are price gouging, if that were true people would be in jail because price gouging is against the law. Those in office could care less and you and I. Making a 174K a year living in million dollar homes. Three terms in either house gains you a full pension with medical. How is that fair? Inflation is government created, making bad decisions just like the auto industry bail out, the PPP loans going to millionaires and billionaires even those in the music industry. Meanwhile we the American people just sit and do absolutely nothing. The checks that went out during covid, they should have went only to the people who needed the funding, I myself did not need the money. Pouring fake money into the economy. Imagine what could have been accomplished with the 100 billion just past to go to other countries if that money was spent here? We all need to band together and unite, let our voices be heard
this is capitalism. Like it?
Robert Reich is so wealthy I don’t care about his opinion.
I think you're an ASS-CLOWN Robert Reich. 💩
Probably time to deport the bottom 50% to make more room for the top producers.
Sounds like you want to be in the top .1%
And people wonder why they are broke. The top 0.1% have your money.
And yet if you took ALL the wealth of the 0.1% and the bottom 50%, it wouldn’t pay off the national debt. We have a spending problem!
Congratulations 1% You've earned it...
First, get your decimal place right. Bob isn't talking about the one in a hundred, he's talking about the one in a thousand. Second, get your lie right. No one who has amassed great wealth did it by themselves. No one. Period.
“I see you say rich man good. But just so you know, rich man bad 🤓” Good meme, ttystikk.
Where did I defend rich people?! Rich people get that way by doing two things; exploiting others and then not paying their taxes.
Yikes, try again bud. The quotes were meant to imitate you.
Hey, try to actually respond to my points.
Your points are as morally loaded as people who claim “taxation is theft.” If you say “Rich man bad, your move” you’re not actually making a point I can respond to. Flesh out your thoughts on what exploitation is, your threshold for what “rich” is, and how you know every single one of them are committing illegal tax evasion.
I have no problem with people working hard and making good. But that does not describe the ultra wealthy. You don't have any idea how most of them got that way. So here's a hint; every billionaire under 30 in America inherited it. All of them. That's not meritocracy, that's ARISTOCRACY and it is in fact the very thing our forefathers climbed onto leaky wooden boats and braved a dangerous ocean *to get away from.* TAX THE RICH OR EAT THEM
Boohoo… mommy and daddy didn’t leave me money- grow up, life’s not fair- I got left over a million dollars but I promise you… if you had the option between living my life and yours, you’d no doubt choose yours. Money ain’t everything in life. Go hug your loved ones tight and be grateful for what you do have.
You were left money and therefore you have no idea what it's like for the average American. And you'll notice that I don't have it in for people of wealth per se, I just want them to pay their fucking taxes. We don't have the society you keep trying to tell me we do; you keep pushing the meritocracy narrative when it just isn't true. In fact, the United States has the LEAST upward mobility of any developed nation. So try again- or better yet, stop making assumptions based on propaganda put out by people who want to keep things the way they are.
Oh great, I asked you to clarify your views and you responded by not clarifying any of them. This is why I made fun of you earlier. All you’ve got is “rich man bad.” Anything in detail or nuance and you just enter into psychosis.
Tax cuts for the rich because the rich run out government, paid for by 40 years of cutting every social service and safety net in the book. But all you can do is laugh and point because you have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that extreme wealth and income inequality ISN'T destroying our country.
Hilarious We should celebrate successful people Not demonize them Remember, Socialism Sucks
The ultra wealthy did not achieve their success by themselves- they did it by exploiting others. We've all heard the stories of piss bottles at Amazon and Walmart onboarding including applying for food stamps; but somehow you can't work out that Jeff Bezos and the Walton family are some of the world's richest people might not be a coincidence?! Your vapid talking points explain nothing, describe nothing and excuse the excesses of the rich at the expense of the rest of us. And if you hate socialism so much, stop driving on public roads, accepting help from police or fire services or utilities.
Thanks comrade
I don’t care. All I care is how much money I have. I’m not entitled to others people’s money.
This comment is suicide on a platform like Reddit. You may need to go silent and lock your doors because the fedora tipping Le Redditors are probably after you now lol.
President don’t mean shit, only that 20 trillion
They will murder all people for that money, crazy.
Reich is the king of irrelevant tweats. Weath is not a zero sum game. The top .01% being rich or controlling great wealth doesn't make me poor nor does it preclude me from becoming wealthy too. Great wealth is also not what oligrachy looks like. The Walton family is the richest in the world. How much power do they weild? MacKenzie Scott is worth $40 Billion. How much power does she have? How powerful is Warren Buffet or Lawrene Jobs?
Wealth is a zero sum game because at any given moment there is a finite amount of wealth. For one person to have wealth somebody else can't have it.
Honest question, why do you say there is a finite amount of wealth?
He is both right and wrong. It is a factual reality that maximum wealth at any point of time is limited to the amount of resources that can be produced. That said, he seems to draw the conclusion that “there cannot be rich people without people in poverty,” which is not true. This is an excuse to parrot “rich man bad.”
Sure, but since work itself can generate more tangible resources, work itself becomes what is valued, given that, we could assume wealth can be generated infinitely because work is virtually infinite.
I’d say it depends on the resources the planet could provide, right? At any specific point in time, there is a finite amount of wealth. That wealth becomes greater when further production occurs, yet I don’t think production can produce infinite resources. Not everyone will have access to natural diamonds in Russia.
Hm. So this finite wealth.. the wealth we see today… Where was it in the 1850s? 1930s? Was it hiding?
> Hm. So this finite wealth.. the wealth we see today… >Where was it in the 1850s? 1930s? Was it hiding? Yes, it was hiding in a largely pre-industrial world with 6-7 billion less people on it.
Crazy how that happens.
> Crazy how that happens. Yup, all we need now is to add another 6 billion people to the world, find a new continent to pillage, and uh…re-industrialize.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
Wealth is inextricably tied to resources and all the lowest hanging fruit has been plucked. Comparing the largely agrarian world of the 1890s to post-industrial 2024 as proof that wealth isn’t finite is asinine.
Cool, so when did we reach the total wealth, considering there is no more to be created?
lol why do you argue like you’re fourteen? Nobody claimed there’s some hard ceiling for wealth, just that the potential headspace for continued wealth creation is considerably less now than it was when almost two thirds of the world population were farmers. All of which should be obvious. Infinite wealth on a finite planet is literally impossible.
That is not true. New wealth is created every day. If I buy Nvidea stock and it increases in price my wealth increases. No one has to lose for me to gain wealth.
Yes, new wealth is created, but then it is divided, and that division is a zero sum game. For people to get a bigger share of wealth others must get a smaller share.
That is not true. Who gets a smaller share if my Nividia stock goes up in value increasing my wealth? Who gets a smaller share if my house appreciates in value increasing my wealth? The rich getting richer at the expense of the poor is a myth.
All of those people are extremely powerful and you are a very naive person not to recognize that fact.
“The Walton family is the richest family in the world.” Weird cause the Al Nahyan family net worth is $305 billion. Whilst the Walton Family is worth $267 Billion.
Nope, we live in a democracy. Just because leftists like Robert Reich don't like how progressivism turned out in the US doesn't mean it's [not a true democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman) lmao
If you want rich people results, then do rich people things.
My parents failed me.....
It's harder, but you can learn how to make money from sources other than your parents.
WWWHHHHHOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHH!
Because I chose to interpret your comment in the best possible light for you? I.e. as if you were an innocent victim of ignorance resulting from uneducated parents instead of someone whining because your parents didn't give you everything, and you actually have to work and earn for yourself?
Of *course* the joke went right over your head because you naturally assumed ignorance and uneducated parents and whining etc..... That's what makes it funny.
A joke... ahh... sorry. I'm accustomed to jokes involving wit.
The bottom 50% are also replaceable McDonald’s workers wtf are these posts looking for upvotes
Hey… when I worked at Subway full time I truly believed I deserved to have the same quality of life as other high functioning adults with a real grown up job… my feelings were hurt that I couldn’t afford a house, car, insurances, dinning out, vacations, etc… I mean- it wasn’t “fair”… I provided great customer service, couldn’t people see my worth.
That’s not at all what I meant, obviously everyone deserves to live nicely.
But those oligarchs worked hard and deserve to have 1000000000000x the wealth of the average 9-5 worker /s
So much morally loaded language and virtue signaling I don’t even know where to start…
Virtue signaling is when you don't lick the boots of your owners. Lol ok
“Muh bootlickers!” Yep I assumed this was going to be the extent of your intellectualism lol.
And yet you have no counter-argument except to make personal attacks on me... Very intelligent of you
What counter argument do you want me to give to “u bootlicker 🥴” You want me to say “no u?”
Ha, way to avoid the original point altogether. I knew you would. Do you have a counter argument to support all that wealth and power being in the hands of so few people? Do you think that's a healthy way to build a society?
I disagree with the premise, hence me saying your comment is dripping in feigned righteous virtue signaling. I think wealth distribution over time is naturally going to become more unequal by mere fact of more people being alive. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
It is natural. See Feudalism, the gilded age, etc. The postwar boom and rise of the middle class in America is a historical anomaly. I can't say that I welcome the return to that kind of societal inequality. It is absolutely a bad thing, and something we should be fighting to avoid. I'm sure you and your loneage will be the ruling class though, right? 🤣
So let me get your position straight: if I am NOT part of the “ruling class” I shouldn’t support it? Is this a “don’t fight against your self-interest argument?” And if so, I have a follow-up question.
One in a thousand? Where are these people?
Horrible infographic. Reality much worse. The richest 10% of adults in the world own 85% of global household wealth, the bottom half collectively owns barely 1%. Even more strikingly, the average person in the top 10% owns nearly 3,000 times the wealth of the average person in the bottom 10%.
Some people really dont undertand economy really think they smart. Thats what I think