• rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    16 days ago

    Billionaires mean that workers are exploited and underpaid somewhere in the chain. Support for billionaires means support for exploitation and resource extraction from actual workers (and the government initiatives and representatives they pay for).

    Their money doesn’t come from nowhere, it comes from us. It comes from income taxes spent on subsidies, it comes from stock dividends paid for by mass layoffs, it comes from not having to pay a commensurate fine when hundreds of thousands of gallons of pollutants leak into the water we drink and fish in.

    “Absolutely supporting billionaires” is a decidedly uninformed position.

    • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 days ago

      In a very real sense the money doesn’t even exist. It’s the worth of their holdings… Which for some reason they can often borrow against… that adds the extra 2 or 3 zeros.

      • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        16 days ago

        Yeah, that’s why I specifically mentioned dividends. A lot of executives are also paid bonuses on their salaries based on stock performance, so they can “double dip” in these cases too. This is on top of lobbying for deregulation.

        Must be great to not have to worry about money and be able to simply fire other people if it ever becomes a concern; it just further goes to show that these people don’t actually add value to even their own companies.