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saigonk t1_j5thkxp wrote

Reply to comment by gjazzy68 in The Irving Family is the single largest landowner in Maine, owning 1,267,792 in the state. They have also planted more than 1 billion trees across Canada and the United States. by Raz0rRamon

Good retort there. If someone makes money it isn’t a crime and it isn’t wrong, it’s how they act as a person. I don’t fault anyone being rich, they either earned it, got lucky, or were given it. All of which you or I could also do in one fashion or another.

Being jealous of those individuals is understandable, they have so much money, why don’t they give to things I want, etc.

It’s “what-about-ism” at its finest.

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gjazzy68 t1_j5tpjtj wrote

It's not! And I will try to explain you why. Your response is a classic one, that's why I was curious to hear it first. And I get it. Most people work their daily grind, thinking one day they would be filthy rich and get out of that. Capitalism is brilliant that way, make other people work to death, based on a dream. And if suddenly people can't become a billionaire for some reason, that would be the killing of that dream. And hope is important to get by.

But, being rich and being a Bilionaire is two different things. To help you visualize 1 million seconds is 12 days, 1 billion second is 31 years. It would take me, with a very good salary if you consider the American average, 6 THOUSAND years of hard work without spending a single dime to reach a billion, but only 8 years to reach a million. And although a million doesn't have the same power as it used to I'd gladly retire now, in my mid 40s, if I had a couple of that in my savings.

Nobody makes a billion by chance, and even a lottery billionaire, which is extremely rare, won't be able to hold that money for very long if they are honest folks. Because people are only able to keep their billionaire status by exploiting other people, evading taxes, buying political influence, and benefiting from inside trading information. And that's why they shouldn't exist.

If billionaires didn't exist there would still be rich people and poor people, there'd still be inequality, but it would be just a little harder for a very few group of people to keep control over the world.

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tomhsmith t1_j5udjza wrote

So what does someone do if they want to retain their company and their company becomes worth billions? They'll pay a huge amount of taxes once they sell or die.

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gjazzy68 t1_j5v3v2k wrote

They should be paying those taxes alive.

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Muted_Discussion_550 t1_j5tmrv6 wrote

Trickle down capitalism has failed that's why there shouldn't be billionaires someone who has that much money should be deemed a national security risk they can buy politicians lobby for whatever they want whether it be to keep minimum wage down or to keep cigarettes on shelves billionaires are for the most part are turning this world into a coffin

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