World’s richest people added $852 billion to their fortunes in the first half of 2023

boem@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 496 points – World’s richest people added $852 billion to their fortunes in the first half of 2023
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Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg increased their net worth by $96.6 billion and $58.9 billion, respectively, thanks to rising share prices on the Nasdaq

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Tax the rich a lot. There really shouldn't be billionaires.

There’s no good reason for that level of hoarding beyond need. Waste of the use of money. If there’s enough money to feed everyone and we can’t, there’s something wrong here.

Related: poor are more food insecure and savings amounts decreased

They have won life. Give them a Medal, then take away all they have so they can start a NewLife+

Once someone hits $999,999,999.99, we should give them a trophy that says "Congrats, you win capitalism" and then banish send them to an island prison paradise where they are hunted for sport all their needs are met, 24h a day.

So... Is "eat the rich" still a thing?

I don't want to eat Elon Musk's flabby ass. I propose we just "beat" the rich, so that they're afraid to walk around in public.

We should hang them up like piñatas and beat them until the money trickles down

We could always cheat the rich... out of all their money and distribute it to the poor.

We should hang them up like piñatas and beat them until the money trickles down

We should hang them up like piñatas and beat them until the money trickles down

lol but inflation is being caused by poor people demanding higher wages, right?

I have mixed feelings about measuring their wealth based on share prices because they couldn't sell their shares without tanking the price, right? Elon didn't actually increase his wealth; just the value of something that he has a shitton of went up.

We could also tank the value of his stocks by not buying or using his stupid shit!. For example, anyone angry that he is rich should definitely not be using Twitter.

"Eat the rich"... blah blah blah. Much easier to just protest the rich and take our money back by not giving it or our time to the rich in the first place.

They don’t need to sell to realize gains - they take out loans against the stock value from banks for almost no interest. If they choose to, they could get large amounts of that paper gain in liquid cash through just a handful of steps.

they take out loans against the stock value from banks for almost no interest. If they choose to,

Those days are coming to an end though...

Much easier to just protest the rich and take our money back

That's pretty much what eat the rich means lol

Difference is you think it can be done simply by not spending our money with them, when in reality, like others have pointed out, they've not only made that not matter (because they can get more money anyway), and left us no choice (we can't all run off and live in the woods, and if we're not spending our money on one billionaire's products, we're spending it on another's), but they also have the police as their guard dogs, as well as governments who control militaries under their thumb, not to mention their own private militias and defences and bunkers and all that jazz.

So the only way it actually can be done (protesting the rich and getting our money back, that is), because they have left us no choice, is by force - 'When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich'

I respect your opinion, but I worry that it'll lead to violence, which doesn't really solve anything.

It's not an opinion, look around - the violence is already here, it has been inflicted on to the working class for centuries, killing hundreds of millions (at least, in all that time) for profit in war, with hunger and restricted access to water, with homelessness and poverty, with preventable disease, with climate change, with immoral laws and entire systems designed to keep large segments of the population as slave labour, which is what they used to gain their power and wealth to be in the position to impose all of this in the first place. And all that just off the top of my head, there is so much more violence that is inflicted on us daily, they've just got most people convinced that's just life, when it really really isn't. And those who actually benefit are never just going to give all of that up.

TL;DR:

It's disgusting how well their propaganda has worked. The rich are already violent on a global scale.

Yup, and yet they not only have people look up to them and aspire to be like them (believing the "hard work" myth), but also defend them when they do all this indefensible stuff that is destroying society and our planet. It really is pretty disturbing how powerful the brainwashing is.

And also obligatory MLK quote:

"I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

Was it not also MLK that said, "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a nigh already devoid of stars."?

I have mixed feelings about measuring their wealth based on share prices because they couldn’t sell their shares without tanking the price, right?

Technically this is true, but remember that the wealthy can borrow money backed up by their stocks, so no: they couldn't sell those stocks without tanking the price, but yes: they have access to even more money because of this.

I think you're exactly right. Social media is just the first thing we should be federating. Next should be farming, manufacturing, timber, construction, shipping, sales, and energy. If we crowdsource our solutions while using logic and algorithms to enforce quality control, we can exceed efficiency of the greedy ruling class and share profits among everyone who contributes so contributor ever faces starvation or living on the streets.

The billionaires can hoarde all the resources they want. If the masses stop contributing to their system, they will find that endless consumption is not as competitive as true justice and fairness.

You should check out the book "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez (if you haven't already). Based on your post, you'd probably like it a lot. There's a sequel, too: "Freedom".

They could have instead made 852,000 new millionaires or 8.52 million people could have a cool $100,000 to save for retirement or pay off debt. But the rich get richer.

Ugh. I just ate breakfast and this makes me regret it.

Eat beans?

Beans for breakfast? Do you think I'm a filthy British person? On American Independence Day? How dare you!

On this, the most Holy of American Days??

sets mushy peas ablaze

Didn't their total wealth drop significantly last year because FB and TSLA stock absolutely tanked? So their wealth is only up so much because it was down more and the market is on it's way back up.

By all means eat the rich and all that, but this doesn't paint an honest picture for anyone who doesn't follow the stock market.

I didn't read the article, just the headline, but both can be true. They lost money but made a ton again. It's no different than someone losing a huge amount in a 401k but then having even more money in the future by not selling and the market going back up.

Yeah, unopened the post and it's just "due to riding NASDAQ prices" and it's like okay. Basically just like saying my wealth increased because house prices rose. It's not a lie or anything but the title imies there was a change of assets rather than a change of valuation of assets.

I am convinced I'd be a terrible rich asshole. I'd never be able to hold on to that much money considering how fucked up the world is. That said, I have a conscience. Lacking one seems to be a prerequisite.

Hoarding wealth is like any other form.of hoarding. Its a mental illness.

If there was a monkey in the jungle somewhere who had stockpiled enough bananas, through killing other monkeys or other exploitative means, to last a thousand lifetimes and refused to share any, we would study that monkey like crazy to figure out WTF is going on there.

When a person does it and someone points out that its fucked, we say that the person pointing it out is just jealous, and if they only worked harder, they too could be sitting on a banana fortune.

meanwhile, people are dying of starvation and malnutrition

So in 6 months he can buy 2 Twitters...

Pretty sure he could buy 10+ twitters by now, that cesspool's real value must have crashed hard since his acquisition

Seems like a totally fair and appropriate system to me. Let poor people starve. Better yet, just hide them somewhere I don't have to see them. That'd be awesome. /s