Because they think they know better than us hoi polloi. Seriously. There's a psych term that escapes me, but once a person gains wealth and power, they think they know better than the rest of us and the rules don't apply to them.

One of the most horrifying things I know about humans is that almost all of us are susceptible to this and it's not simply a matter of people kissing their ass, though that certainly "helps".

Because they don’t actually have the money. The value of their holdings are used as collateral on loans. They use the loans to pay for their expenses and are just constantly in debt. This avoids all tax consequences for them. And it is fucking stupid.

they like to hoard it, and use other peoples money thats why. thier net worth is actually in thier stocks/investments for the most part.

Dealing with investments and the stock market is like going to a casino. Unless they inherited legacy accounts, they made their money gambling.

Cuban is probably the most obvious example. The man placed a risky bet on shorts and won. Gallway, for all his faults, discusses the luck factor that he stumbled into based on someone else’s gambling failures.

They don't see money as we do. It's the control in the price of items and buying power where the real value is at.

These sort of control freak cultists have existed in human societies since time immemorial. They have, can and will always find ways to exploit everyone.

Last year was religion, yesterday ideology and today it's finance. None of these things in a vacuum were meant to debilitate humans until these same people rigged the system.

Future humans will be condemning our capitalist ways like we do feudal societies. They won't see the difference.

To be honest, I think the billionaires think they are solving problems. I also think that they believe if they had the money they could do more good with it. They are obviously wrong.

I had this vision of the military. Imagine a natural disaster like a tsunami is about to strike the Middle East. Here comes the carrier force and they start launching what looks like tomahawk missiles. Instead of blowing people up on the ground they open up in air and drop rafts and life preservers. The military has shown up to save countless people instead of murdering them.

The blood could also replace the motor oil in my car. Use all parts of the Sam Altman.

Just tax unrealised capital gain then. A progressive tax too so small investors wouldn't really be penalized much.

This is something you can do right now. It does not benefit you.

Quit making perfect sense. You're making the capitalists nervous and ruining the hopes and dreams of all the Questrader's out there. /s

Just because it isn't hundred dollar bills in their mattress doesn't mean they don't have it. They can leverage what they own in exchange for goods and services equivalent to the value of their holdings, the exact mechanism doesn't really matter.

The only actual cash billionaire I can think of is the guy that created and sold Minecraft. That dude has billions in the bank. Or at least he did for a minute or two before I’m sure he invested a ton of it. All the other billionaires just own billions worth of stuff for the most part. Banks don’t even leave money in banks. They invest or loan out all of it and keep the returns. That’s the scam, same as it ever was.

People have this contrary view that billionaires actually have all this liquid wealth, yet that same money living in the stock market is fake. And this causes no cognitive dissonance.

Not only is it real money when its invested, typically the rich can just borrow against those shares instead of having to liquidate anything to pay for things.

For example when they need $40b to purchase a website or media corp to use so they can have better control of the narrative, they just get a loan because everyone knows they'll be able to make the payments, instead of selling enough shares to tank the thing that inflates their networth beyond all reason.

They can liquidate part of it. If they liquidate all of it then most will disappear into thin air.

If you're Elon Musk and own a large part of Tesla and SpaceX and you sell all your shares, both companies crater HARD.

Just remove stock from anyone who owns over 1% of any publicly traded company and nationalize all index funds' assets (yes, that includes retirement funds). Problem solved.

Or just cap total wealth at ~5 mill, indexed to the median income so there's no need for legislation like with minimum wage.

They don't even need to liquidate. They can just take a loan against it like they already do.

No

They really do! Bezos can simultaneously pat himself of the back for bringing us cheap consumer goods, more fuel efficiently delivered than all of us driving to the store, all while pumping out his personal CO2 emissions and treating his employees like slaves.

One notable exception is Bezos' ex. She carefully doles her billions out to causes her team researches so as to continually grow her fortune and have more to donate. Sustainable philanthropy! To have that kinda money and not let it go to one's head is very, very unusual in a person.

Well you can do good and have a lot of money, I mean I think the biggest problem is that they're unable to do it without having more income in the process. Maybe there aren't as many as we'd like to think but I hold the naive and simplistic hope, that humanity over profits will exist in a future billionaire.

The rich person dilemma of: If I help everyone, I won't have any money left. Doesn't apply to people like musk

The 2,000$ stimulus checks we got before covid........ That shit went to groceries, appliances, new cookware and clothing......

I didn't pick the most fashionable clothing, the most expensive cookware, the most expensive grocery store or the best of the best with appliances but I used that money on what I needed and you know what it made me realize:

$2,000 goes fucking quick. I'm not defending the superduper rich but I am saying I can partially understand how if you just give and give and give to every cause in society, if you were worth like 10mil and your assets were already declining with no substantial gains to recoup the major net losses. eventually you hit the point of: If I help everyone who needs it, I won't have any money left to survive and as bullshit as it is that it would likely be that way for someone who has that much money, there's a weird understanding there and maybe it's the growing up in capitalism that the thought of, "If I keep giving I won't have anything left for myself," mindset is even alive in me but I think it's survival and I do fully understand and appreciate the difference between survival and greed.

I hate to even say it like this but the people making the least don't give to the people who have hardly anything every single time. Like someone who's working a minimum wage job isn't going to give to the person begging on the street with a cup asking for spare change or even saying what it's for, every single time. That's because if you did that every single time, you most likely would start running out of money.

We can all agree though, once you have enough money to where you're building your own space exploration company..... give the dude begging 500$ and walk away. Like if you have so much money you can open a suitcase, throw the money up in the air let it fall and make snow angels with money......... fuckin' redo some hospitals and schools. Do something other than keep looking at the dollar signs.

Salaries are for suckers is the phrase.

I disagree. No person needs so much surface to leave, people to care for their need, exceptions to the basic rules of leaving together. They can keep the money but leave in 100m2 max, buy your food, take the f..king bus.

Capitalists want to abolish personal property.
Turns out they're the ones coming for your toothbrush.

They're still financially obese parasites whose wealth should be taxed until it doesn't exceed a reasonable amount (say, ten times the median or 25 times the lowest, whichever comes first), though.

Yeah, most of it is all smoke and mirrors but they all own media companies which make it seem more than it actually is.

It doesn't state that it's in one person's bank account.