Lifestyles of the rich and famous: Obscene wealth inequality at it's worst

thesaneone
reply to post by crazyewok

 

I hear what you are saying but my point is we would be happier if we only worried about ourselves.

Someone goes on a gun rampage with a gun do we ignore them cause it not our problem or do we send the police in to arrest or shot them?

Same with the corrupt at the top someone has to worry or do somethings about it or you get a mess like now or worse.

There has to be some limits to how much power 1 or a small group of people have. And people need to be held accountable at all levels of society and we have to make sure of that. Otherwise as soon as you have one small group getting away, again you have a mess.


Also going along the lines of "responsibility".

Well here is the thing. As stated money = power. Well with power comes responsibility. More power = more responsiblity as the more your single actions can affec others.

reply to post by thesaneone


So you believe it to be okay for people to profit off of murder?

The main reason western countries are still waelthy and have an good infastructure of roads and hospitals and schools etc..is because western countries like the Britain, France, portugal, Spain and Germany have a history of invading other parts of the world in order to expolit natural reasources and labor markets..once it was slavery now its sweat shops..same thing, different name. The USA is just another country that palys the same old game. It has continually been involved with wars or secret wars overseas since its inception. Israel is the same thing.
Most of the wealth of any nation can be traced back to underhanded or illegal wars and the explotation of humanbeings.
And Ive alwasy believed that most business people who have huge wealth can also trace their own gains to similarly underhanded, amoral or illiegal tactics..but its not a crime if your above the law.
On top of this the entire world economic system is quite clearly a pyramid SCAM.
Nobody ever publicly states the fact that Globalization is a simple..uncomplicated..pyramid scam..but it clearly is one.
If you have layers of a pyramid where the bottom layer consists of the most people..and the top cap stone consists of the tiny minority...then what else can you call it but a pyramid.
This is probably why the pyramid is a symbol used on dollar bills. And whats more in a pyramid scam, you have to con the majority of the people in the scam into beleiveing that they can work their way to the top..when as i said you can only ever have a tiny minority at the top.
This is the American dream in a nut shell..its a pyramid scam..where average suckers are conned into believeing they can get to the top..well even in a regular pyramid scam some people do get wealthy, just like in capitalism, and those tiny few are then used as "convincers" to enroll more people into the scam, just like celebrities who make it big..but come from humble beginnings, they are continually used by the media to convince us all that "YOU TOO CAN MAKE IT...JAYZ DID..ETC". But the truth is the odds are massivley stacked against the vast majority of people..as only a tiny few can ever be at the top or even close to the top..because there is a limited amount of space at the top..because wealth is finite...Its not rocket science to figure out.
On top of the tiny few who come from poverty and make millions...everyone knows if your born into mney, your automatically at the top of the pyramid..no work or effort required..and as I said there is a limited amount of space at the top..so the wealthy who have childeren automatically guarantee there is even less space for anyone to get in to the VIP room.
If wealth was truly abundant, which is how most people are deluded into thinking it is..then millions and millions more people would be super rich..and millions more would be very well off...but nope it doesnt work that way...As most of America waoke up and discovered, your neighbours may have "appeared wealthy" but it was all an illusion paid for with credit cards.
Also another reason lots of people cant be wealthy is because if more people were wealthy it would devalue currency...because more people would be able to afford luxury items...this would drive up the prices of luxury items and in turn it would drive up the price of everything else...until you have $10 loaves of bread etc and hyper inflation..like i said the truth of the matter is never discussed and economics is a subject shrowded in technical BS so that nobody ever understands or questions the people who are supposedly experts on it.
You have to have billions of poor people to maintain the global pyramid scam...never trust those who are mega rich telling you to give to the third world...they want the third world to remain a basketcase...its in their best interest.

This is a dark age. Humankind in general is focused on the material. We are heading toward change but it will be a very brutal transition. More then 7 billions humans now and growing by a billion each decade. Everything is a mess. Can't go on much longer.

Visitor2012
This is much more than rich people enjoying their riches, this is about people Exalting themselves.

edit on 21-10-2013 by Visitor2012 because: (no reason given)

"He who exalts himself will be humbled but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

one, lone child who starved to death, waiting to greet them at the appropriate time would do it, i wonder how they would accept that child's forgiveness..?

Spookybelle
Those with massive wealth are not nearly as sinister as those who think they have a right to dictate how much someone should have.

Eventually you will start dictating what people can eat, how they can dress, and how they should live.

No thanks!

Wow! Kind of like what's happening in the USA!
Outlaw large drinks....
Laws as to how high you have to pull your pants up....
Laws to increase insurance premiums if you're overweight...
This list could go on forever. Common sense should be taught in schools, since parents don't have the desire- or time- to teach it at home.
Hey! We could make that another law!
Ms. Nugget

AboveBoard
!reply to post by therealguyfawkes

 

I agree with you in this. So what is a possible, viable solution to current norms of Capitalism? Well...I like this one! It doesn't take a bloody revolution - merely a revolution in thought within the systems already in place.

The fundamental problem in the US, at least, is that the financial system--specifically the idea of publicly traded companies--has completely skewed the original purpose of a business.

Back in the day--a long, long time ago; in a galaxy far away--people would only start a business to provide a living for themselves and their employees. A business existed only to serve those who worked for it.

Now, in the post-Wall Street environment, in a world where most businesses are the property of numerous stockholders who demand profit, the business has become the MASTER, and those who work for it are the SERVANTS of both the business and those people who happen to have invested in it, the faceless throngs that demand exorbitant profits for their money.

Unfortunately, this shifts the veil of morality one step away from the people. A flesh and blood human who works at the business, who controls every aspect of it, who's on the scene calling the shots--that kind of person has at least SOME motivation to care about the conditions and existence of his workers. But once we move into a system where the people demanding MORE PROFIT and LESS EXPENSES are wholly divorced from the day to day operations of the affair, wholly disconnected from the struggles of the people slaving away at the actual job... well...

That's how we get suicide nets at Foxconn. And slave labor conditions. And forced abortions in the factories where all the iCrap is made.

And that's how we get a society of mindless consumers who demand the lowest possible prices but never stop to consider that the bargain they're getting today--the 10 or 20 bucks they're saving on the latest gadget--is the very thing creating the endless poverty and hellish conditions that someone else is living through.

And until we all start empathizing with our fellow human beings, until we realize that a slight sacrifice can improve tenfold the lives of people far less fortunate than us, I'm afraid that this broken system will only continue to grind the human race into self-induced extinction through greed, through avarice--but mostly, through apathetic indifference to the immense suffering of our brethren, both man and animal.

I couldnt give a rats ass about what they own or how much paper money they have or digital money they have!

Im hoping for a huge solar flare that eradicates our electronics and wipes out the stock markets and puts everyones digital money in a black hole!

no more wealth gap and paper money is useless

humanity can start a fresh , well either that or someone launches a high altitude EMP

seriously though , who builds a billion dollar house in a world where people are starving to death
what an absolute #

that word that's blocked just so you all know is the female genitalia, the word in the English language that people find highly offensive

begins with a C and ends in T , aye that one , the reason I had to explain it well to emphasize my disdain and loathing at people who spend this kind of money frivolously because they simply want to show off to others how wealthy they are to bolster their increasingly gargantuan ego's

your 56 and have a billion dollar house and you probably rarely spend any time in its 24 habitable floors
what an absolute waste

more money than sense, all it would take is for one of these super rich billionaires to take a look at how much money they earn in a year and say , you know what with 1 tenth of my wealth I could put the world to right but NAHHHHHHHHHHH everyone else can rot!

If I even won 1 million pounds in the lottery I would at least do something positive with it in my community
and use that money to generate more money to try and bring some kind of balance to the world

these guys have billions ! that makes me rage

reply to post by SaturnFX

Great idea. The problem is, HOW can the government/society persuade the filthy rich to start researching into long-term projects to benefit future generations? These billionaires have little interest, other than enriching themselves. I also think that most of those very rich persons are above the law of the land, because they can 'buy' almost anything. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor. I belong to the vast majority who are satisfied with life and enjoy a happy retirement, doing what I like, not what one expects of me!

On a very small scale, let me give you an example of how the middle-class masses are being duped into paying more entrance fees to soccer-matches all the time. Prices have risen to ridiculously high levels and in most of Europe they still get full stadiums? Well, if you are a diehard fan, you will go to any length to by a ticket. Fair enough, but not for me.

On a somewhat higher scale, look how much these sports superstars are paid?! I remember an ad some years ago, where Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf promoted a good cause, but did THEY contribute anything, when their combined wealth is probably 100 million dollars or more? I doubt very much.

Lots of money and sports go well together, but only at the expense of the common man.

reply to post by SaturnFX

Great idea. The problem is, HOW can the government/society persuade the filthy rich to start researching into long-term projects to benefit future generations? These billionaires have little interest, other than enriching themselves. I also think that most of those very rich persons are above the law of the land, because they can 'buy' almost anything. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor. I belong to the vast majority who are satisfied with life and enjoy a happy retirement, doing what I like, not what one expects of me!

On a very small scale, let me give you an example of how the middle-class masses are being duped into paying more entrance fees to soccer-matches all the time. Prices have risen to ridiculously high levels and in most of Europe they still get full stadiums? Well, if you are a diehard fan, you will go to any length to by a ticket. Fair enough, but not for me.

On a somewhat higher scale, look how much these sports superstars are paid?! I remember an ad some years ago, where Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf promoted a good cause, but did THEY contribute anything, when their combined wealth is probably 100 million dollars or more? I doubt very much.

Lots of money and sports go well together, but only at the expense of the common man.

Spookybelle
Those with massive wealth are not nearly as sinister as those who think they have a right to dictate how much someone should have.

Eventually you will start dictating what people can eat, how they can dress, and how they should live.

No thanks!

Ill leave that kind of facist dictatorship to the governments of the world. They seem to be doing a bang up job of it so far. Or havent you been paying attention??

That last part was sarcasm..I realized that if I had to make a sarcastic remark about paying attention to a comment where attention hadnt been paid to begin with, the trend would more than likely to be a further lack of attention which would eventually lead to the sarcasm not being noticed....Just wanted to make sure.

reply to post by sapien82


Thats the thing if I had a Billion Doller I would do really awsome stuff, but awsome stuff everyone can enjoy.

I mean why not? It cool to do fun stuff but even cooler to do stuff that loads can share in.

Hell first thing I would do if bring back Firefly

The only way of dealing with such problems is simply taxing the richest hard. It is simply not right when some person earns 10s of millions a year. There are people working their whole life harder than that person and yet they earn less in their lifetime.

For example, all Norway´s child benefits can be paid from the taxes of 30 richest people. And still, these people make 10s of millions a year after tax. To be honest, I believe no person in the world deserves earning even a million a year.

For most extremely rich moneymaking is like a game and the amount of money is the score. Whether they need the money or not, they would rather let the extreme sums sit in their bank accounts or spend these on pointless luxuries rather than doing something worthful. It is uncommon to see charities and giving some money to researches, but even though it seems as a large sum, it is a small % of their actual earnings. One million seems like a lot to give away, but out of the 10s of millions that is nearly nothing.

Lots of money gives people power. Power comes with a responsibility. Unfortunately most people who gain such power rather exploit it than take the responsibility, so at least I personally see the only way of the money doing something actually worthful is taxing the hell out of it. Even with 70% taxes most of the absolute top earners would still earn far more than they ever need.

You guys should really watch this video.

TheBlackHat

SevenThunders
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

pathetic lefiist administration, like the one we have now in America.

Rather than a diffuse body of self serving capitalists; you replace it with a small, evil oligarchy, who desire, not just wealth and power, but to enslave everyone and make themselves gods.

Leftists never seem to understand our basic situation. We are sinners and we are flawed. Any attempt to create a utopia on earth will end up as totalitarian nightmare with millions dead. If you could visit hell and talk to chairmen Mao, he would tell you how it works.

This is an observation and not an insult...but I notice your avatar is that of a born again Christian. and I find it very odd that someone who spiritually believes in Jesus. A man who according to the Bible would be about the most left wing person in history. A man who kicked out the money changers from the temple...gave free food to the 5000..and ultimatley sacrificed himself for the greater good. All these traits mark a SOCIALIST. I find it one of lifes biggest ironies that only in America can you find right wing Christians. Maybe you ought to re-read the Bible. I get God being a right winger, turning people to salt and numerous other atrocities :
Exodus:12:29-30 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
...but not Christ...he was the original hippy.

Also you seem to have a conflicting viewpoint...if we are sinners then dont we deserve punishment, by your own standars..sinners would deserve punishment..right? Yet you also state that you are fully against any attempt at eutopia as it would be hell on earth..well shouldnt you in fact be pushing for hell on earth if you think we are all sinners?

Stand by your convictions right wing Christian sinner...otherwise people will think your full of BS.

edit on 21-10-2013 by TheBlackHat because: (no reason given)

Actually Christ was all about individual charity but nowhere can one demonstrate that he pushed for government mandated wealth redistribution and coercive charity with other people's money. I think it a bit disingenuous to extrapolate being a socialist and a leftist from advocating individual charity.

mjfan48
reply to post by SaturnFX
On a somewhat higher scale, look how much these sports superstars are paid?! I remember an ad some years ago, where Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf promoted a good cause, but did THEY contribute anything, when their combined wealth is probably 100 million dollars or more? I doubt very much.

Lots of money and sports go well together, but only at the expense of the common man.

I'm related to a sports superstar who has earned at least $80 million in his career. He has created his own charities which he uses to help thousands of children if not more, has built a football stadium in his home country and has done much more. A lot of these people contribute out of their own initiative and will. They are not coerced to do so and never should be.

There are very scary posts in this thread. Some of you people clearly have no respect for other people's property rights. Assuming that all of these very wealthy people don't respect the property rights of others (the middle class and the poor) does not give you the right to disrespect theirs.

crazyewok
reply to post by sapien82

 

Thats the thing if I had a Billion Doller I would do really awsome stuff, but awsome stuff everyone can enjoy.

I mean why not? It cool to do fun stuff but even cooler to do stuff that loads can share in.

Hell first thing I would do if bring back Firefly

I am very into technology and related disciplines. If I had a billion or two, I'd build a state of the art institute of technology and give out scholarships to young Americans who want careers in the sciences. My quaint little town would make a great college town and so it would be good for the locals and America is falling behind in the sciences and not enough college kids want to major in things like engineering or physics. It would be cool to inspire the first person to discover practical FTL travel for example.

reply to post by Cabin


what should happen for the super rich , is not a tax on their earnings or their savings or anything like that
there should be a regulation where if they have X amount of money sitting doing nothing

over a certain threshold then this money has to be put to use for the benefit of mankind.

So say A billionaire has 1 billion sitting in his account which is just sitting there making interest and millions a year.
Then this billion should be invested to the benefit of our species !

rather than it being taxed by corrupt governments the money should goto some sort of research and development fund for future generations

something cool like that ! where their investment ensures their name is remembered for as long as our species exists , since EGO is the only thing they care about !