AOC: A Society With Billionaires Cannot Be Moral

[OneSheep]

Sorry about your roads.

Sorry’s not good enough. Send money.

No, send some billionaire’s money.

Never mind. Truth is, a society with billionaires can be moral, especially if it allows for such freedom to earn money. On the other hand, is the billionaire moral in what he does with his money? That’s not up to me.

I get what AOC is saying, though, the bottom is getting bigger, the middle class is shrinking, and that isn’t good for the society as a whole.

 

[livnlern]

Have you been to Cuba? I have a close relative who went there recently. She said the people there are pretty poor. And the ones who do have money pay a whole lot of it for what we would consider substandard housing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I get what AOC is saying, though, the bottom is getting bigger, the middle class is shrinking, and that isn’t good for the society as a whole.

I’m not sure that’s right. I haven’t seen any numbers on it in quite some time. We are told that real wages are increasing for the first time in decades. Maybe the middle class is shrinking, steady or increasing. I don’t know. I would think, though, that as opportunity expands it take awhile to work its way into equaling wealth.

 

[OneSheep]

I can’t find any data that includes the last couple years, but up to 2016 things definitely were in a steady downhill trend. You can google “changes in wealth distribution in the US” and get all kinds of stuff.

 

[JimG]

China added 89 new billionaires last year, and now has 373, second only to the U.S. with 585.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can’t find any data that includes the last couple years, but up to 2016 things definitely were in a steady downhill trend

I have had the same experience. I think there may be a lag to government generation of some numbers. I’m not sure how they measure wealth, either.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think China will almost certainly surpass the U.S. in the number of billionaires. It’s a huge population and only the favored people get to make a lot of money. In that population 373 isn’t all that many. If one is a favored person in China, it’s probably easier to make a billion than it is in the U.S.

 

[Theo520]

I think China will almost certainly surpass the U.S. in the number of billionaires. It’s a huge population and only the favored people get to make a lot of money. In that population 373 isn’t all that many. If one is a favored person in China, it’s probably easier to make a billion than it is in the U.S.

Yes, there has been huge money to be made by those with the right connections. Their govt anoints winners and contains competition.