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Opinion on billionaires.

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13567…11

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    #62
    FixitFelix
    Registered Users Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭FixitFelix


    ILoveYourVibes wrote: »
    They live on another planet and rarely have contact with normal humans. Its why they seem so odd. They don't seem to have much personality. I guess you don't need one if you are rich. They seem boring and odd. Bit awkward.

    Zuckerberg being the posterboy for odd billionaires


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    #63
    Vestiapx
    Registered Users Posts: 986 ✭✭✭Vestiapx


    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    . Private jets are drug mules anyway, generally. But why? if you don't need the money?

    Interesting you think they have their stash on the jet and use in it in a type of international waters idea?


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    #64
    ILoveYourVibes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,176 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    FixitFelix wrote: »
    Zuckerberg being the posterboy for odd billionaires
    Indeed. Nods in working class.


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    #65
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,903 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    IAMAMORON wrote: »
    Your spot on Spanish. Fair play. Like making toast on a stick over a turf fire.

    These moneyed morons are not flutes however. They know what side they want their toast buttered on for starters. Personnel chefs, yacht pilots, overpriced dolly birds, it all adds up.

    I find the yachts with the chopper pads are really just taking the piss. Who needs a yacht and a chopper? Nonsense.

    I would rather hitchhike to the Highland Games with Gemma Hayes, she could sing for our supper.

    Two things, 1. there will be no toast on a stick over a turf fire, we don't have a turf fire.

    2. I avoid them like the plague, well reading about them, because even though they have gazillions, they will never have the same approach to life that I have.

    And I doubt they will care about me, so I don't care about them AT ALL!


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    #66
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    ILoveYourVibes wrote: »
    Not true. Some jobs are kind of useless.

    My Dad's first job was to push the button for people on a lift.

    No one should be made to feel useless

    Everyone would have diferent skills.


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    #67
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    893bet wrote: »
    No. No they are not.

    If you are unable to see the point being made then it is probably not worth writing it in crayon for you.


    Does that comment make you feel better now?


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    #68
    ILoveYourVibes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,176 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    mick087 wrote: »
    No one should be made to feel useless

    Everyone would have diferent skills.
    Don't feel sorry for my father he went through uni on that job! Feel sorry for the daft idiot with too much money he managed to convince to hire him to do such a stupid job! :pac:

    It WAS a completely useless job.

    Do you know they used to have people ..ACTUAL people to take the pips out of strawberry jam sometimes to export it to the states. I mean if you didn't need the money ...what waste of time.


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    #69
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,903 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    mick087 wrote: »
    No one should be made to feel useless

    Everyone would have diferent skills.

    Well that is so true, but money talks and Bullsht walks.

    Sadly.

    But honestly and truly I have no envy of the Billionaires out there. I live my life kinda ok, not perfect but have more than enough to live on and am happy out with that.


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    #70
    893bet
    Registered Users Posts: 8,768 ✭✭✭893bet


    mick087 wrote: »
    Does that comment make you feel better now?

    I feel the same. I don’t let peasants opinions impact my mood.


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    #71
    flazio
    Registered Users Posts: 12,853 ✭✭✭✭flazio


    As people say, it's not the same being a billionaire and being worth a billion.
    If somehow tomorrow I suddenly owned The Empire State Building then technically I'd be a billionaire because that building might be worth $1 billion.(Probably isn't but work with my point here) If I had no tenets in the building paying me rent then the only way I get that billion into my account would be to sell the building. I'd actually be penniless and that building would just be a white elephant to me.
    There's a distinct difference between working hard and working smart, and to become a billionaire you have to work hard and smart.
    Now working smart might not always be by ethical means, there may well be exploitation and rule bending along the way.
    It is a core value of humanity to offer generous reward for excelling in hard and smart work. In the western world that reward is valued in money. It's the driving force for betterment of ourselves and for the most part humanity tends to benefit from it. Nobody would push themselves on a masters degree if the job at the end paid the same as the job they have now, and it's those masters and doctorate graduates that we need to improve mankind.
    Now I know that quite a few billionaires didn't even finish conventional education, but doesn't that just mean they had to work harder?
    What's the just reward then? You could well say that others did the hard work, but how do you reward those that did the smart work?


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    #72
    IAMAMORON
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,078 ✭✭✭IAMAMORON


    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    Two things, 1. there will be no toast on a stick over a turf fire, we don't have a turf fire.

    Get it on your bucket list, life is too short to be not having a turf fire.
    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    2. I avoid them like the plague, well reading about them, because even though they have gazillions, they will never have the same approach to life that I have.

    And I doubt they will care about me, so I don't care about them AT ALL!

    Would you not have a quick glance over the Hello magazine in the Dentist's waiting room?


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    #73
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    Well that is so true, but money talks and Bullsht walks.

    Sadly.

    But honestly and truly I have no envy of the Billionaires out there. I live my life kinda ok, not perfect but have more than enough to live on and am happy out with that.

    Yes money does talk your right

    But at some point the rich and poor divide will be gone.


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    #74
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,903 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    AllForIt wrote: »
    I think Bill Gates is a really good guy. The foundation he set up to help combat disease in Africa is something he had no obligation to do.

    I'm utterly applaud by the amount of people, usually stereotypical socialists that talk about him as if he were pure scum.

    He would get less criticism he never engaged in philanthropic work at all. Go figure, as the Americans say.

    Not dissing him, but our little country is still giving 750 million pa to Foreign Aid despite our own troubles.

    So that means that Billions have been donated to Africa, but they still want to come to Ireland. Hello Bill what's the story there?


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    #75
    ILoveYourVibes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,176 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    893bet wrote: »
    I feel the same. I don’t let peasants opinions impact my mood.
    You just did.

    You let yourself get snarky.


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    #76
    FixitFelix
    Registered Users Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭FixitFelix


    AllForIt wrote: »
    I think Bill Gates is a really good guy. The foundation he set up to help combat disease in Africa is something he had no obligation to do.

    I'm utterly applaud by the amount of people, usually stereotypical socialists that talk about him as if he were pure scum.

    He would get less criticism he never engaged in philanthropic work at all. Go figure, as the Americans say.

    Jump over to the tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theories forum and they have a totally different view of bill gates and his foundation :)


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    #77
    bnt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,961 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    One important point about billionaires like Bezos and Musk: the bulk of their wealth exists on paper, in the form of company shares. There are limits on how much of it they can access, since shareholders watch them like hawks for signs, so selling a lot of shares would be seen as a vote of no confidence in the company. Those limits are high enough to not matter a whole lot in practice e.g. Bezos has made $billions in cash from share sales, in addition to his salaries. But I don’t know if it’s correct to say he “has” all that wealth if he can’t access it all at will.

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



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    #78
    893bet
    Registered Users Posts: 8,768 ✭✭✭893bet


    ILoveYourVibes wrote: »
    You just did.

    You let yourself get snarky.

    No.


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    #79
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,903 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    mick087 wrote: »
    Yes money does talk your right

    But at some point the rich and poor divide will be gone.

    How come? I doubt it will be from our largesse or Bill Gates Foundation either. Sorry now.

    There seems to be no end to this Africa thing. But many of them seem to have money to come here anyway. Nigerians. Yes, let us call a spade a shovel.

    So what do we do?


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    #80
    AllForIt
    Registered Users Posts: 8,298 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    Spanish Eyes wrote: »
    Not dissing him, but our little country is still giving 750 million pa to Foreign Aid despite our own troubles.

    So that means that Billions have been donated to Africa, but they still want to come to Ireland. Hello Bill what's the story there?

    Neither have an obligation to do so though.

    We could get way off topic here talking about foreign aid, especially contentious these days due to BLM movement saying we owe Africans reparations.

    I'm sticking to my main point, that Gates has no obligation to do his philanthropic work. I mean for Gods sake, Gates is responsible in part for providing inexpensive computes, in comparison to Apple for example. What philanthropic work does Apple do. None I've heard of.


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    #81
    Gregor Samsa
    Registered Users Posts: 8,929 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    bnt wrote: »
    One important point about billionaires like Bezos and Musk: the bulk of their wealth exists on paper, in the form of company shares. [...] But I don’t know if it’s correct to say he “has” all that wealth if he can’t access it all at will.


    They have it. It’s an asset on their balance sheet, same as if you owned a few shares yourself. Even if they can’t liquidate it all at once for various procedural reasons, they can (and do) use it as collateral for finance. Go ask Bezos for a million worth of Amazon shares, explaining that they’re really worthless to him as he can’t liquidate all his stock at once, and see if he gives it to you.


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    #82
    tom1ie
    Registered Users Posts: 10,127 ✭✭✭✭tom1ie


    Brittany Large Bartender wrote: »
    Not much to say, other than they should be paying real, proper taxes, and have a moral duty not to abuse tax efficency schemes including inheritance tax evasion using trust funds.

    - The world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth than the 4,600,000,000 people who make up 60% of the planet’s population.
    - The 22 richest men in the world have more wealth than all the women in Africa (600m, set to double by 2050).
    - Getting the richest 1% to pay just 0.5 percent extra tax on their wealth over the next 10 years would equal the investment needed to create 117 million jobs in sectors such as elderly and childcare, education and health.

    If they don't pay more, and when the robots take all the jobs, no doubt they'll likely have a social rebellion on their hands, with the globe heading for 10bn folks.

    Is this based on cash at the billionaires disposal?
    I wonder how rich these billionaires are when you deduct debt and when you factor in how much of the wealth is tied to the stock market, where if they tried to liquidate their stocks it would cause those stocks to plummet in value.
    Is there a list of cash rich billionaires?


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    #83
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,903 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    Bill Gates needs to look at how the countries he is philanthropic about actually work.


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    #84
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Brittany Large Bartender wrote: »
    In 2018, billionaires paid a smaller portion of their income in taxes than average (working class) Americans. That's the first time that has happened in history.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/american-billionaires-paid-less-taxes-than-working-class-wealth-gap-2019-10?r=US&IR=T

    He still paid $6,938,744. Which reflects what I wrote, in that they pay more than most individuals. Sure, the other individuals are on a higher tax rate, but the returns on the billionaires is higher even with the lower tax. Add in what I said about lifestyles and the cost of those lifestyles, and there's even more tax being paid on luxuries, all of which goes into the economy.

    Nah. I don't feel the need to tax them higher just because they have more money. Their tax returns already funnel into the economy, which is a benefit. Could they pay more? definitely, but I'm not particularly bothered by them paying lower, as long as the actual intake is quite a bit higher than the average joe.


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    #85
    Mad_maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,505 ✭✭✭✭Mad_maxx


    mick087 wrote: »
    All staff are key staff.

    Without the warehouse staff who would work in the warehouse.
    The majority of the workers are easily and quickly replaceable because some employers are allowed to get away with this.

    more politics


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    #86
    Mad_maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,505 ✭✭✭✭Mad_maxx


    mick087 wrote: »
    Without the staff the employer is likey to have no business.

    Yes staff do create the wealth and the owner then controls the wealth. No staff no wealth.

    All people in no matter what job they do should surely be as valued as anyone else in any other job.

    Alexander Fleming does deserve the recognition for what he brought to mankind.

    they are valued , they are paid ( perhaps they do deserve more pay but thats different )


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    #87
    4068ac1elhodqr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    tom1ie wrote: »
    Is this based on cash at the billionaires disposal?
    I wonder how rich these billionaires are when you deduct debt and when you factor in how much of the wealth is tied to the stock market, where if they tried to liquidate their stocks it would cause those stocks to plummet in value.
    Is there a list of cash rich billionaires?
    Perhaps read the article itself, those figures were taken from:
    https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/worlds-billionaires-have-more-wealth-46-billion-people
    Consider also the below-average working class tax paid (using fiscal accounting tools and techniques).

    The vast majority of them made real serious gains during the COVID thingy, while the average Joe/Jane (also with zero stocks) certainly did not.

    Also they can liquidate their ever-growing stocks in a gradual manner if they need a new superyacht or something to toy about in for a season.
    Stock holdings can also be used as leverage for a new mansion or five, most tech stocks are highly rated and better security than a 9-5 jobber.


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    #88
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    Mad_maxx wrote: »
    they are valued , they are paid ( perhaps they do deserve more pay but thats different )

    Yes some are very good employers.
    In one company you could have some that are treated well paid bonus etc and within the same comapny some paid a low wage and not treated in a good way.

    At the moment we live in a socitey that wants and encourages this. But is it right? Thats up to each person to decide.


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    #89
    4068ac1elhodqr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,586 ✭✭✭4068ac1elhodqr


    Deleted User wrote: »
    He still paid [$xxx,xxx,xxx] Which reflects what I wrote, in that they pay more than most individuals.
    Issue you are overlooking, is that it's a lower percent '% 'than most individuals, regardless of whatever $xxx,xxx,xxx was paid. There is a duty to 'pay a fair share' (or percent).

    That's even before considering the various accounting tools and schemes at their disposal.


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    #90
    mick087
    Registered Users Posts: 1,122 ✭✭✭mick087


    Mad_maxx wrote: »
    more politics


    In my defence part of the question was "Global Inequality is a big problem"
    Politics would be involved in that.


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    #91
    Greyfox
    Registered Users Posts: 3,726 ✭✭✭Greyfox


    flazio wrote: »
    Nobody would push themselves on a masters degree if the job at the end paid the same as the job they have now, and it's those masters and doctorate graduates that we need to improve mankind

    Although some rich people do improve mankind the truth is most wealthy people are not improving mankind.


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