Billionaires Made So Much Money Last Year They Could End Extreme Poverty Seven Times

[Tehon]

Oldlady supports people being able to nuke other countries. Even doesnt mind paying for it. Wow. My mind is fucking blown right now

It's the reality. I didn't say I liked it or didn't like it. That is what it's for. You asked, so I told you.

He didn't ask, he made a critical statement.

You justified it.

There is no left wing in this country. Sad.

Don't judge the left wing by me. I'm an Independent and I tend to be a bit hawkish.

I see. I did not realize that about you.

Not too many doves in this country these days.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Billionaires Made So Much Money Last Year They Could End Extreme Poverty Seven Times

where is the humanity? WHERE'S THE HUMANITY? Show some heart, people, show some heart!

Why would having billions of dollars be able to end extreme poverty when trillions of dollars have been wasted and still there is poverty?

War on poverty cost
The War on Poverty has cost $22 trillion -- three times more than what the government has spent on all wars in American history. Federal and state governments spend $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars on America's 80 means-tested welfare programs annually.
The War on Poverty Has Cost $22 Trillion
ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?article_id=25288

 

[Tehon]

This is the system that our society has championed.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
Adam Smith Wealth of Nations, Book 1 Chapter 2,Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labour

and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

What advantages do they have over you?

Who?

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

 

[Moonglow]

Billionaires Made So Much Money Last Year They Could End Extreme Poverty Seven Times

where is the humanity? WHERE'S THE HUMANITY? Show some heart, people, show some heart!

If everyone was equal who would we have to look down on and offer character assassinating humor?

 

[Moonglow]

What advantages do they have over you?

Who?

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

And an attitude that you don't care who you have to destroy to get that billion...

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

What advantages do they have over you?

Who?

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

God had nothing to do with your abilities?

The definition of god given refers to something, usually a talent or ability, that is either innate (not learned) or that is so extraordinary that it could only have come from a higher power. An example of God-given talent is the skill that the best Olympic athlete has within his field.

God-given dictionary definition | God-given defined
www.yourdictionary.com/god-given

Mine were to fix Aircraft.. I went to Saudi Arabia and fixed their jets and made quite a fortune.

 

[Tehon]

Who?

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

God had nothing to do with your abilities?

Didn't give me shit.

 

[Moonglow]

Who?

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

God had nothing to do with your abilities?

The definition of god given refers to something, usually a talent or ability, that is either innate (not learned) or that is so extraordinary that it could only have come from a higher power. An example of God-given talent is the skill that the best Olympic athlete has within his field.

God-given dictionary definition | God-given defined
www.yourdictionary.com/god-given

Mine were to fix Aircraft.. I went to Saudi Arabia and fixed their jets and made quite a fortune.

Just your USAF training...

 

[boedicca]

Iowahawk has done the math. See how long the Billionaires can support everyone...it's 5 days just to cover government spending.


Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day

Seems like these days I hear a lot of whiney whiners whining about "out of control government spending" and "insane deficits" and such, trying to make hay out of a bunch of pointy-head boring finance hooey. Sure, $3.7 trillion of spending sounds like a big number. "Oh, boo-hoo, how are we going to get $3.7 trillion dollars? We're broke, boo-hoo-hoo," whine the whiners. What these skinflint crybabies fail to realize is that $3.7 trillion is for an entire year - which translates into only a measly $10 billion per day!

Mister, I call that a bargain. Especially since it pays for all of us - you and me, the whole American family. Like all families, we Americas have to pay for things - health, food, safety, uncle Dave America with his drinking problem. And when little Billy America wants that new quad runner they promised, do Mom and Dad America deny him? No, they get a second job at Circle K, because they know little Billy might have one of his episodes and burn down the house.

So let's all sit down together as an American family with a calendar and make a yearly budget. First, let's lock in the $3.7 trillion of critical family spending priorities; now let's get to work on collecting the pay-as-we-go $10 billion daily cash flow we need.

12:01 AM, January 1
Let's start the year out right by going after some evil corporations and their obscene profits. And who is more evil than those twin spawns of Lucifer himself, Exxon Mobil and Walmart? Together these two largest American industrial behemoths raked in, between them, $34 billion in 2010 global profits. Let's teach 'em both a lesson and confiscate it for the public good. This will get us through...

9:52 AM January 4
Okay, maybe I underestimated our take. But we shouldn't let Exxon and Walmart distract us from all those other corporate profiteers out there worth shaking down. In fact, why don't we grab every cent of 2010 profit made by the other 498 members of the Fortune 500? That will net us another, let's see, $357 billion! Enough to get us to...

2:00 AM February 9
So we're running out of corporate cash, but look - it's Super Bowl time! As we all know, the game has become a crass disgusting festival of commercialism. So let's take all the TV ad money spent on stupid Super Bowl ads, and apply that to government needs. That would be $250 million, enough to fund us for, let's see... 36 minutes. The half time show, at least. But why stop there? Let's take every cent of ad money spent on all 45 Super Bowls, a cool $5 billion, which would cover us until...

2:00 PM February 9
Speaking of sports, why should the players be immune to our pressing public needs? Lord knows professional athletes make obscene salaries for playing a dumb game. So let's take the combined salaries of all players in the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL. Hey, they've got endorsement deals, they'll hardly miss it. Throw in the total winnings of everybody on the PGA tour and NASCAR, and we get $9.4 billion, enough to get us through until...

1:00 PM February 10
Okay, it's time to stop messing around. Athletes aren't the only ones greedily raking it in. What about America's rich - those fancy pants fat cats living the high life in the above-$250,000 income bracket? According to IRS statistics, these 1.93% of US households are hogging 25% of US income. And why do they need it? For crying out loud, they probably stole it anyway. I say let's take 100% of every penny they make above $250,000. They can use the rest to pay their state and local taxes. Now we're talking big bucks, brother. How much? Let's see...

A: Number of US households: 116,000,000
B: Average US household income: $68,000 (median = $52,000)
C: Total US household income (A * B): $7.89 trillion
D: Percent of households above $250k income: 1.93%
E: Number of households above $250k income (A*D): 2,238,800
F: Percent of national income earned by households making $250k or more = 25%
G: Total income of households making $250k or more (C*F): $1.97 trillion
H: Total income of households in excess of $250k (G - E*$250,000) = $1.412 trillion

Alright! Take that, fat cats! Our $1.412 trillion windfall has us covered for the next 141 days, or until...

6:00 PM July 2
Well, I guess maybe there are a few items we can cut from the budget. Those quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example. Why don't we end all funding for those wars, and bring our troops home to march in the Fourth of July parade? That would save us $105 billion Afghanistan and $159 billion in Iraq, a total of $264 billion - enough savings to cover us until...

4:00 AM July 29
Summer blockbuster season! And of course the biggest blockbuster of all time was Star Wars. To punish George Lucas for those stupid sequels, let's confiscate every penny of revenue generated by the Star Wars franchise since 1977 - movies, TV rights, books, toys, action figures, everything - which nets us $25 billion. Enough to keep the lights on until...

4:00 PM August 1
Well, there's plenty more money in Hollywood to go after. So, for the national good, let's evict everyone in Beverly Hills and sell their homes at current market value. 15,000 homes at $2 million per gets us another $30 billion, paying the bills through...

4:00 PM August 4
The kids will be going back to school soon, so we're gonna have to bring out the big guns and really go after those moneybag plutocrats like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Between 'em, those two bastards have amassed a combined fortune of $100 billion. What kind of jerk needs that kind of money? The worst thing is they're shielding it from the public treasury using the oldest trick in the billionaire playbook - by continuing to live. Once they kick the bucket, and after we close the estate tax loopholes, the American public will get the 50% of their ill-gotten loot we so richly deserve. So let's say we arrange a couple of unfortunate "accidents" for Mssrs. Gates and Buffett. Now we've got another $50 billion for the US coffers, enough to get us to...

4:00 PM August 9
Aw, screw it. There are plenty more American billionaires to go after - 398 more to be precise, according to the latest Forbes 400, with a combined total net worth of $1.29 trillion. 398 more "accidents," 398 more estates taxed at 50%, and we've got another $650 billion to tide us through...

4:00 PM October 13
Crap. Okay, let's just kill all the billionaires and take all their money. Add in another 100 or so of the almost-billionaires, and that buys us an additional 73 days until...

4:00 PM December 25
Merry Christmas! Just one more week to go. In the spirit of the season, let's give the surviving conservative wingnuts a few of the budget cuts they've been bitching for, like getting rid of foreign aid. This saves $50 billion - getting us to...

4:00 PM December 30
Only 32 hours to go! To cover the remaining $12.5 billion vital federal program tab, let's pass the cash bucket and demand every surviving American man, woman and child to kick in another another $40 bucks. I'm pretty sure they will, after all those previous "accidents."

Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day

 

[Moonglow]

I posted your own statement and you don't know who you were talking about?

It was a statement made by Adam Smith so I will assume you to be asking what advantage the butcher, brewer and baker have over me.

The advantage they have over me is the skill of their trade.

Don't you have a God given skill that puts you equal to them?

God didn't give me a skill. I developed it by my own effort. Yes, it puts me on par with them.

But trade craft alone didn't create billionaires. That was accomplished via capital.

God had nothing to do with your abilities?

Didn't give me shit.

That's all he has....

 

[OnePercenter]

Billionaires Made So Much Money Last Year They Could End Extreme Poverty Seven Times

where is the humanity? WHERE'S THE HUMANITY? Show some heart, people, show some heart!

Actually, all we have to do is this:

-Base Federal tax for corporations at 30% of revenue.

-Raise minimum wage to $23.50/hr. Based on where minimum wage should be using 1970-2018 rise in food, shelter, and transportation.

-Eliminate all business subsidies (deductions/write-offs/write-downs) except for employee expenses which are deducted dollar-for-dollar on all city, state, and Federal taxes and fees with the Feds refunding city, State, and fees.

-Companies with unlimited employees; employee expenses above the deduction are subsidized at 100% with funds usually give back to the States.

-Adjust Social Security and private/public retirement and pension payments using 1970-2018 price structure.

-Remove the FICA limit.

-Back down ALL costs, prices, fees, to January 1, 2009 levels and hold them for 10 years which will eliminate inflation.

-Recall ALL off-shore investments tax free, and disallow any further off-shore investments.

-Make inversion illegal.

My plan would reduce business costs for employees and taxes to 30%. That's a 15%-30% drop.

My plan would put BILLIONS into the economy daily.

My plan would put the $100 trillion plus currently owned by corporate America back into the economy.

My plan would end all welfare.

My plan would significantly increase social security and pension payments.

My plan would hold prices for 10 years, thus eliminating inflation.

 

[OldLady]

It's the reality. I didn't say I liked it or didn't like it. That is what it's for. You asked, so I told you.

Maybe you should be clearer on your justifications because you certainly implied support.

You seem to be opposed to military allies. You have an extreme position if you are so isolationist that you want to go it entirely alone.

I think allies are crucial. But that doesnt mean we should keep them from going into debt at OUR expense.
Wanting people to pay their fair share means i dont want allies? Lol Are you reading a Republican/Democrat war mongering manual or something?

So, you think Israel is ready to stand on its own two feet? What do you mean, "fair share?" You been listening to the Great Orange Turd again? WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THEIR FAIR SHARE? All of it? No more aid?

LOL why not? Why doesnt anyone give us aid? We give almost 150 countries aid, we pay more for globalist programs like NATO and the UN... i can go on for a while. Would you like me to continue?

Well, when China and Russia stop making "buds" around the world by offering foreign aid, then we can quit, too.

 

[TNHarley]

Maybe you should be clearer on your justifications because you certainly implied support.

You seem to be opposed to military allies. You have an extreme position if you are so isolationist that you want to go it entirely alone.

I think allies are crucial. But that doesnt mean we should keep them from going into debt at OUR expense.
Wanting people to pay their fair share means i dont want allies? Lol Are you reading a Republican/Democrat war mongering manual or something?

So, you think Israel is ready to stand on its own two feet? What do you mean, "fair share?" You been listening to the Great Orange Turd again? WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THEIR FAIR SHARE? All of it? No more aid?

LOL why not? Why doesnt anyone give us aid? We give almost 150 countries aid, we pay more for globalist programs like NATO and the UN... i can go on for a while. Would you like me to continue?

Well, when China and Russia stop making "buds" around the world by offering foreign aid, then we can quit, too.

Yes, lets shape our foreign policy after those totalitarian regimes.

 

[EGR one]

Yet without all of those things, America would not be America. Our military can't administer itself out of a paper bag, but without its behemouth blundering around, opportunistic countries would be crowding together to form blocs of America haters. Foreign aid is essential to quieting unrest where we don't want it. Free shit for illegals means what? Not letting them die on the sidewalk outside the hospital? Making them steal for their meals? Ensuring their children are not only isolated but ignorant?
Grand plan, TN

I believe in a strong military but it doesnt take 700B a year to accomplish that.
We are giving foreign aid to countries that dont fucking need it. Why cant THOSE countries run up their own debt?
We give israel 3B a year average and that goes directly to our debt because Congress sucks dirty prison balls. Do you knwo what Israels debt is? Like 200B. Do you know how many israel debts it would take to equal ours? Want to discuss more countries? We also give weapons to terrorists and dictatorships. Yes, that really keeps the peace LOL
Fuck all illegals. Cut of all incentive. THATS how you stop illegal immigration. Bullshit band aids dont work. Havent worked in DECADES. How long does it take for a human to learn from mistakes?

We give israel 3B a year average and that goes directly to our debt
Yes. It's military aid and it is to keep our one real ally in the Middle East ready to nuke Iran if necessary. The debt we have is not their problem.
I think there is a gentler way to approach the illegal question. Crack down on their employers and increase quotas if it is true we need that many more guest workers here. Being realistic is better than being inhumane.

Its OUR problem OL.
Why is them being able to kill 150K innocent people our problem?
Why cant they get their own military equipment? Why do WE have to go in debt for them? Its ridiculous.
You want to put quotas on crimes? Lol OMG
Cutting off incentive is realistic. Emotion has no place is policy decisions. Look at Rome.

And they DO own their own equipment. Do you think they run their military on 3 bil a year? LOL

Yes, we give them money to buy our weapons. That would mean they own them. We dont rent them
Nice subsidy for the military complex though

The military/industrial complex is millions of well paying jobs for American citizens. The vast majority of the billions of dollars that our government spends on military readiness goes right back into our economy.

 

[OldLady]

You seem to be opposed to military allies. You have an extreme position if you are so isolationist that you want to go it entirely alone.

I think allies are crucial. But that doesnt mean we should keep them from going into debt at OUR expense.
Wanting people to pay their fair share means i dont want allies? Lol Are you reading a Republican/Democrat war mongering manual or something?

So, you think Israel is ready to stand on its own two feet? What do you mean, "fair share?" You been listening to the Great Orange Turd again? WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THEIR FAIR SHARE? All of it? No more aid?

LOL why not? Why doesnt anyone give us aid? We give almost 150 countries aid, we pay more for globalist programs like NATO and the UN... i can go on for a while. Would you like me to continue?

Well, when China and Russia stop making "buds" around the world by offering foreign aid, then we can quit, too.

Yes, lets shape our foreign policy after those totalitarian regimes.

You do know what I mean, don't you? We make friends first so authoritarian regimes with huge militaries won't elbow their way in and make allies out of countries that are strapped for cash or resources.
You could be right that it's time to take a look at what we spend and why. Times do change.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Billionaires Made So Much Money Last Year They Could End Extreme Poverty Seven Times

where is the humanity? WHERE'S THE HUMANITY? Show some heart, people, show some heart!

Pay Top Students, or Someday Nerds Will Man Up and Make the Plutocratic Parasites Pay

Invest in the talented and so much will be produced that we could afford to pay a minimum wage of $30 an hour. The billionaires will still have their same playthings, but they won't be the only ones with no economic worries.

 

[nancy_mew]

I'm pretty sure the billionaires would never comply

 

[baileyn45]

I'm always rather skeptical of claims such as the one in the op. Even at 5.8 trillion for how long could you end extreme poverty? Just running through some quick numbers, I believe in 2011, 15% of the world lived in extreme poverty. Just for argument's sake, say that the world population is 7 billion, 15% would be 1.05 billion people. 5.8 trillion works out to like $5500 each. I don't think that would permanently end extreme poverty.

Keep in mind the majority of those billionaires aren't sitting on cash. The majority of that wealth is tied up in the worth of their interests of businesses.

In addition, I don't think people realize how much progress has been made globally in the last 30 years. Regardless of how it's measured there have been major declines in extreme poverty. Certainly a long way to go but it would appear we're moving in the right direction.

Did we really reduce extreme poverty by half in 30 years?

 

[there4eyeM]

The madness of materialism will destroy humanity if wisdom continues to escape the majority.

 

[Toro]

I was thinking about this yesterday..
Every hour Jeff Bezos makes enough money to pay 4 people a livable yearly salary. 4 people every HOUR.

Good for him.