Bill and Melinda Gates to divorce after 27 years of marriage.

[ort]

Hey man, I fought in the great Apple/PC wars of 90s and early 00s. I could have told everyone that Bill Gates is a true motherfucker. It should be common knowledge.

[Guest]

Notch made his billion+ without taking advantage of the poors, but he’s a terrible person for other reasons.

[SaysWho?]

I'm a billionaire and all I do it donate to charity so fuck y'all mommafuckers

[mclumber1]

15 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

I'm a billionaire and all I do it donate to charity so fuck y'all mommafuckers

 

Says who?

[Brick]

There is that meme of Tom from Myspace getting his money from selling it, and then just fucking off to enjoy his life. 

 

JK Rowling probably didn't exploit anyone by writing extremely successful children's books, but she is a transphobe so unfortunately there's that. 

[Keyser_Soze]

22 minutes ago, Brick said:

JK Rowling is a transphobe  unfortunately

 

I thought we were supposed to be pointing out good billionaires 🤔

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

17 minutes ago, Brick said:

There is that meme of Tom from Myspace getting his money from selling it, and then just fucking off to enjoy his life. 

 

JK Rowling probably didn't exploit anyone by writing extremely successful children's books, but she is a transphobe so unfortunately there's that. 

Tom is extremely rich, but he's not a billionaire. To be a tech billionaire you almost certainly have to engage in some type of monopolistic or monopsony-like behavior.

 

JKR might possibly be the closest billionaire who not only actually earned her wealth, but who probably most ethically did so. Even still, the existence of billionaires in an of themselves is problematic as I, er, Robert Reich said in @SaysWho?'s post

[Amazatron]

Closest I can think of is Warren Buffett. Just chillin in Omaha.

[Kal-El814]

5 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

JKR might possibly be the closest billionaire who not only actually earned her wealth, but who probably most ethically did so. Even still, the existence of billionaires in an of themselves is problematic as I, er, Robert Reich said in @SaysWho?'s post

 

I’d assume that a non-trivial amount of her wealth comes from licensing rights and merch, so… I dunno about that? Once your brand is on sneakers you’re probably in dubious moral territory at best.

 

Notch is… kinda the closest I can think of also. Weird.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

7 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

I’d assume that a non-trivial amount of her wealth comes from licensing rights and merch, so… I dunno about that? Once your brand is on sneakers you’re probably in dubious moral territory at best.

 

Notch is… kinda the closest I can think of also. Weird.

I mean if we're getting down the supply chain for the sources of wealth for those who generate wealth from their IP it gets quite messy, and no one in the west, and I mean no one, is innocent. Not only the clothing and the sneakers and the paper for the books they're written on, but the silicon, and copper, and gold, and rare earth metals for the microprocessors and other computer parts are almost certainly mined with supply chains that use forced/slave labor, child labor, horrendously bad environmental protections, and corruption/graft/violence/murder to enforce these supply chains. It's part of why it's very credible to say that there's no ethical consumption under capitalism. It's exploitation all the way down, but some of the worst is outsourced to the global south.

[Guest]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I think Notch is probably the only one, though you maybe get into grey territory there because he took blood money from Microsoft. But as far as I know, he paid his team well and everybody at Mojang got paid handsomely in the sale to MS.

[SaysWho?]

1 minute ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

I mean if we're getting down the supply chain for the sources of wealth for those who generate wealth from their IP it gets quite messy, and no one in the west, and I mean no one, is innocent. Not only the clothing and the sneakers and the paper for the books they're written on, but the silicon, and copper, and gold, and rare earth metals for the microprocessors and other computer parts are almost certainly mined with supply chains that use forced/slave labor, child labor, horrendously bad environmental protections, and corruption/graft/violence/murder to enforce these supply chains. It's part of why it's very credible to say that there's no ethical consumption under capitalism. It's exploitation all the way down, but some of the worst is outsourced to the global south.

 

Yup, I dunno if it's fair to single out billionaires on the murky territory of shoes.

 

Besides, as we know, the Illinois governor is the only good billionaire.

 

  

On 1/7/2021 at 7:37 AM, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

The only good billionaire, and that's probably because I don't know that his wealth comes from either slavery or nazis

 

[SaysWho?]

Look at these ahead-of-their-time fuckers:

 

On 2/26/2021 at 4:01 PM, Fizzzzle said:

A reminder that the Oxford vaccine was originally supposed to be open source so anyone could make it, then Astra Zeneca bought it and Bill Gates stands to make a very large amount of money from it.

 

On 2/26/2021 at 5:31 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

This is our daily affirmation that there is ABSOLUTELY NO SUCH THING as a "good" billionaire.

 

[MarSolo]

Good billionaire:

 

I’m assuming he’s a billionaire with all that Star Wars and Indiana Jones money. Let me have this one.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

10 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Yup, I dunno if it's fair to single out billionaires on the murky territory of shoes.

 

Besides, as we know, the Illinois governor is the only good billionaire.

 

  

 

Class traitor rich are good, actually

[Brick]

37 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I thought we were supposed to be pointing out good billionaires 🤔

 

That's why I mentioned it! She probably didn't exploit anyone to get her wealth like Bezos and Musk do by not allowing unions and overworking people with low wages, but on a personal level it turns out she's kind of shit. 

 

Maybe George Lucas? Made Star Wars, earned billions, gave back to charity, pissed off his rich neighbours by building affordable housing, created one of the most successful independent film companies employing many talented people before selling it to Disney so he could enjoy retirement. (In before someone makes a joke, "yeah but he ruined my childhood with the prequels") 

[Keyser_Soze]

9 minutes ago, MarSolo said:

Good billionaire:

 

I’m assuming he’s a billionaire with all that Star Wars and Indiana Jones money. Let me have this one.

 

Good billionaire bad pilot?

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

32 minutes ago, Brick said:

 

That's why I mentioned it! She probably didn't exploit anyone to get her wealth like Bezos and Musk do by not allowing unions and overworking people with low wages, but on a personal level it turns out she's kind of shit. 

 

Maybe George Lucas? Made Star Wars, earned billions, gave back to charity, pissed off his rich neighbours by building affordable housing, created one of the most successful independent film companies employing many talented people before selling it to Disney so he could enjoy retirement. (In before someone makes a joke, "yeah but he ruined my childhood with the prequels") 

Sold to Disney though

[Jason]

19 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Sold to Disney though

 

But by that logic Notch doesn’t count since he sold to Microsoft.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

But by that logic Notch doesn’t count since he sold to Microsoft.

 

Yeah but didn't Notch turn out to be pretty shitty anyway?

[Jason]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Yeah but didn't Notch turn out to be pretty shitty anyway?

 

But nothing relevant to how he became a billionaire.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

But by that logic Notch doesn’t count since he sold to Microsoft.

As I mentioned, he does have that MS blood money

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Billionaires don’t have actively to do anything harmful to be condemned - their mere existence causes sufficient harm in and of itself.

[Anathema-]

I would be a good billionaire. The best. 

[Brick]

OK we need to put this to a test. Everyone procure me enough money to become a billionaire, not a huge amount, maybe just 2 or 3 billion dollars, and after your donations to me we'll see if I become a monster, or stay as your humble, lovable Brick. 

[marioandsonic]

If I somehow became a billionaire, I'd probably give most of it to friends, family, and charity.  There's only so many Ferraris and luxuries I'd want to own.  Hell, I doubt I'd even buy a big house.

[SuperSpreader]

Give me the billions and I'll show you what I can do. 

[ort]

What this really tells me is that Melinda Gates has a good PR firm.

 

All of this is obviously a coordinated well- timed hit job.

[Fizzzzle]

I could never be a billionaire because after making enough money that I don't need anymore, I would just... stop. I'd be like Tom from Myspace and just like fly around the world taking pictures of things.

[Brick]

7 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

I could never be a billionaire because after making enough money that I don't need anymore, I would just... stop. I'd be like Tom from Myspace and just like fly around the world taking pictures of things.

 

There's a point where you have to ask them when is enough money enough. Watching The Office last year there is a line Cathy Bates says to Dwight when he gets a bunch of money along the lines of the smart thing to do with money is to invest it to get more. Sure yeah, if you come into a bit of money, like the average person, Hell even for "less rich" people that earn $3 million, but let's say I somehow came up with $270 million. Why do I need to invest it at that point? Why not just go, "nah I'm good" and just spend it to enjoy it? I have more than I'll ever really need, and yeah I could put half of it away for my family, and still have enough to enjoy life, so really why do I need to invest it in stocks, property, etc. to grow it and make more? That's a paltry amount compared to the likes of Bezos, Musk, Gates, or oil tycoon who have hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, and still are trying to get more. It's like they think of life as an arcade game and the dollars are the high score. 

 

If I had billions of dollars I'd be buying myself luxury items, trips, experiences, sure, but I'd also be giving back by investing in things to help end world problems like hunger, clean water, climate change, etc. I also wouldn't be exploiting my workers, and I'd allow them to unionize and have good wages. Now I know some would say, "well if you did that then you wouldn't be a billionaire" and well if you can't become a billionaire without exploiting others, THEN YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE A BILLIONAIRE! 

[ort]

If it's just going to be sitting in a bank account it's not doing anything for anyone. Why not invest it?

 

If you're smart and frugal, you can set it up in some sort of trust that pays you an allowance and just never worry about it at all.

[Brick]

6 minutes ago, ort said:

If it's just going to be sitting in a bank account it's not doing anything for anyone. Why not invest it?

 

If you're smart and frugal, you can set it up in some sort of trust that pays you an allowance and just never worry about it at all.

 

Something small like that sure, but I'm talking about things like, "well you gotta buy this stock, and get shares in this company, and that company, then buy this land, this property, and don't forget to earn enough so you can then buy this company and merge it into your own, and all this so you can triple your wealth", but I'm already rich enough. Again for people like you and I, or even the lesser millionaires, of course it makes sense to grow the wealth, but for people who already have 57 billion dollars? 108 billion dollars? Nearly 200 billion dollars?! It's just pure greed at that point. Like if I won the lottery and got $60 million, do I really need to invest it in order to grow it and double it? Why can't I just take the winnings, and simply enjoy the rest of my life of luxury spending it on the things I want? Why take any unnecessary risks trying to turn it into 247 million dollars? 

 

Think of it this way, if I gave you a lifetime supply of toilet paper would you really feel the need to go out and buy more at Costco when they have a sale? How much do you wipe your ass that a literal lifetime supply wouldn't cover you? That's what these people are doing; they have more money than they will possibly ever need, and yet all they do with it is use it to get even richer at the expense of everyone else. Bezos wants to become the world's first trillionaire. Why? Just so that he could say he did it?! 

[Guest]

I actually don’t believe it is pure greed. It can be greed, and probably often is, but a big part of it is the innate desire in humans to create things. For some, creativity is an artistic endeavor, for others it may manifest in parenting, and others it is in business. I have always wished I were artistic, but I’m just not. At all. But I enjoy the creative process of envisioning something in business and building the structure that supports it. I actually find running businesses tedious, but creating them is fuuuuuun and exciting. I don’t think being disgusting wealthy robs a person of all human instinct.

[SimpleG]

12 minutes ago, Brick said:

Think of it this way, if I gave you a lifetime supply of toilet paper would you really feel the need to go out and buy more at Costco when they have a sale? How much do you wipe your ass that a literal lifetime supply wouldn't cover you? That's what these people are doing; they have more money than they will possibly ever need, and yet all they do with it is use it to get even richer at the expense of everyone else. Bezos wants to become the world's first trillionaire. Why? Just so that he could say he did it?! 

Power

As his fortune grows so does his power. Look how much power alone AWS grants him, politicians bend to his will when he want to open something new. 10 million means never working but you are still a no body. 100 millions is so much you would struggle to make a dent and yet you would still be a nobody. His level wealth means US presidents speak his name.

[Fizzzzle]

4 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I actually don’t believe it is pure greed. It can be greed, and probably often is, but a big part of it is the innate desire in humans to create things. For some, creativity is an artistic endeavor, for others it may manifest in parenting, and others it is in business. I have always wished I were artistic, but I’m just not. At all. But I enjoy the creative process of envisioning something in business and building the structure that supports it. I actually find running businesses tedious, but creating them is fuuuuuun and exciting. I don’t think being disgusting wealthy robs a person of all human instinct.

Let's say you do become disgustingly wealthy. Do you think you could channel that energy into things like building charities or like building fresh water systems for people in india or something where profitability is not the objective?