These people are our future

[Lyric]

Do you think one person with $1bn is more productive than 1000 people with $1M? Please explain why.

No, ownership doesn't equal productivity; I want to encourage wealth (wealth=something valued by humans) creation as much as possible. I don't purport to be able to control how people produce shit any better than the next guy, and I think anyone who does is a charlatan.

Forcing the billionaire to move his wealth to people with less has been talked about 50 times in this thread already, please read the history.

[CoccoBill]

No, ownership doesn't equal productivity; I want to encourage wealth (wealth=something valued by humans) creation as much as possible. I don't purport to be able to control how people produce shit any better than the next guy, and I think anyone who does is a charlatan.

Forcing the billionaire to move his wealth to people with less has been talked about 50 times in this thread already, please read the history.

It has, and you seem to still not grasp what we are trying to say. All you are creating is this strawman about taking hard-earned money away from self-built billionaire philanthropists and giving it to poor stupid lazy bums, as if that would be the only consequence of income taxation. I'm saying that having the 400 or so billionaires that currently exist in America gain more and more wealth at the expense of the less fortunate is not something that would be allowed in CoccoBillLand, and I'm stunned that some people actually defend those practices. Do you think those 400 are the only intelligent hard-working people in the US?

[IowaSkinsFan]

It has, and you seem to still not grasp what we are trying to say. All you are creating is this strawman about taking hard-earned money away from self-built billionaire philanthropists and giving it to poor stupid lazy bums, as if that would be the only consequence of income taxation. I'm saying that having the 400 or so billionaires that currently exist in America gain more and more wealth at the expense of the less fortunate is not something that would be allowed in CoccoBillLand, and I'm stunned that some people actually defend those practices. Do you think those 400 are the only intelligent hard-working people in the US?

How do billionaires gain wealth at the expense of the less fortunate?

What do you consider hard work? Is what Bill Gates oes hard? Is what a coal miner does hard? Is there a difference between the hard and hardship? Should people be paid based on how physically demanding their job is? Should people be paid based on how mentally demanding their job is?

[CoccoBill]

How do billionaires gain wealth at the expense of the less fortunate?

Lobbying and pressure to ensure legislation that benefits them passes (Bush tax cuts), cronyism, abusive business practices etc.

"Small capitalists go bankrupt, and their production means are absorbed by large capitalists. During the process of bankruptcy and absorption, capital is gradually centralized by a few large capitalists, and the entire middle class declines. Thus, two major classes, a small minority of large capitalists, and a large proletarian majority are formed."

Wealth Redistribution? Wealthy Americans Are Taxed Less Now Than When Reagan Was President | Progress In Action

What do you consider hard work? Is what Bill Gates oes hard? Is what a coal miner does hard? Is there a difference between the hard and hardship? Should people be paid based on how physically demanding their job is? Should people be paid based on how mentally demanding their job is?

All labor should be rewarded based both on their physical and mental "hardness". Both are hard, valuable and should be rewarded. I do not, however, think that rewarding one a billion times more than the other is either fair, beneficial or sustainable.

I'd add to this: Do you think a company that did not make safe and reliable cars would succeed?

You mean like Toyota? I do actually think the whole industry did for something close to a 100 years, and I'm not sure they're all still there yet. Obviously I'm not saying technological advances haven't played a role in this, but how long has the industry been in any way interested in safety, 20-30 years? A much better example though might be a new drug and the safety testing performed during its development, as noted earlier. After the drug has been selling a few million orders a day for a year until the effects come known, it's a bit late to start voting with your wallet.

[Tileromix]

Hello people! My name is Tileromix. I from in Russia.