What are the best steps to reduce the wealth of billionaires?

There are a myriad of news articles here on Lemmy that display the abhorrent influence billionaires have on our society (especially the US, where I reside). I consistently read comments where the posters appear hopeless and despondent of the situation, while others jokingly refer to the guillotine.

As for myself, I have recently found myself with a lot of free time on my hands after being laid off and want to gather ideas on what would be the best hypothetical route to solve this issue. Let me be clear: These are only THEORETICAL IDEAS and I do not condone any illegal activity.

Historical precedent: While I am not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the Occupy Movement, I do know that they were constantly attacked as being unorganized and lacking structure. It would be wise to not fall into the same pitfalls if those were accurate assessments.

Logical formulation: The foundations of the key points of the movement must be logically sound to withstand any external (and internal for that matter) scrutiny.

Motto: If a motto or slogan is chosen, it must be unambiguous so that attacks are directed to the movement, not the motto itself.

I am also aware that most people can’t spare any time to these kind of movements. Similar to the Texas seceding news, many commentators have noted that most Texans are living paycheck to paycheck and wouldn’t be able to dedicate any time to their cause. I would understand that would be same for this cause as well. However, since I have the time right now, I only ask for your ideas.

Broad issues: High cost of living (mortgages, rent, groceries, etc.) Inflation Homelessness

Philosophical underpinnings: Is there a Threshold of Greed? If so, what is too much wealth?

Possible means of reductions: Voluntary donation or renunciation of wealth past a certain point (highly unlikely) Taxation (also unlikely) Seizing assets (illegal and would most likely set a poor precedent)

It might also to organize an open database of billionaires with their respective fields (Forbes is closed) to help organize a boycott of some sort Though I suspect their fingers are in everything and it would be highly impractical.

Sorry for the word diarrhea. What are your thoughts?

LopensLeftArm,
@LopensLeftArm@sh.itjust.works avatar

The last step into the guillotine generally does the trick.

DecarbonatedOdes,

Wouldn’t the wealth necessarily just be distributed to their heirs?

bionicjoey,

That’s why the French revolution was so… Thorough

maniacalmanicmania,
@maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone avatar

Heirs are finite and have a shelf life. Guillotines are reusable.

XEAL,

That’s it.

Extinguish the bloodline, cut heads until there’s no hoarder, tax evading billionare.

kureta,

If you are at the point of guillotining billioners, you can also seize their wealth.

faintwhenfree,

Just shows how complicit people are, even when guillotineing a billionaire, we don’t know how to acquire their wealth, anyway other comments explain how to do that.

Sterile_Technique,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

Step 1: Slay the dragon.

Step 2: Redistribute its mountain of gold back into the community.

MyDogLovesMe,

Easy to say “re-distribute”, harder than hell to do equitably and fairly.

Sterile_Technique,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

While true, what’s your point? Being difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

MyDogLovesMe,

I like that thinking.

an0nym0us,
@an0nym0us@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

No. It really, really isn’t. Stop allowing those same billionaire dragons dictate the narrative. The reason wealth redistribution seems so fraught with issues is that billionaires pay to spread that falsehood.

return2ozma,
@return2ozma@lemmy.world avatar

Bezos didn’t buy the WaPo because he likes to read the news.

Illuminostro,

An upper income cap for individuals AND corporations. $250 million for individuals, $250 billion for corps. 90% taxes on revenue over $1 million. Tax idle stock at 1% per share, per quarter.

PersonalDevKit,

Probably one of the most actionable steps so far.

How do you overcome corporations basing themselves in tax minimum countries, like Apple and Google.

As well as rich individuals who base their trusts in zero tax inheritance countries.

Rich people have lots of money to “invest” in accountants and lawyers to work around rules like this.

Modern_medicine_isnt,

Yeah, there are a thousand loophole. The very rich get paid in stock or low interest loans and the like. Thier stated income is often very low to avoid paying taxes. Corporations of course can just split up into multiple corporations to avoid caps.

BrianTheeBiscuiteer,

A wealth tax does seem warranted for billionaires. I don’t like the idea of taxing something inert but honestly that’s how they make money. They borrow against thousands of shares at a time and pay zero taxes on the loan.

Joker,

The wealth tax has never sat well with me either. We are talking about taxing someone based on the value of an asset that they would need to collateralize or liquidate to pay the tax bill. That doesn’t seem right or fair to me.

On the other hand, I read today about Trader Joe’s and their suit against the NLRB and I’ve changed my mind. They engaged in a bunch of shady union-busting behavior, they got caught, and now they’re arguing the NLRB is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the NLRB has been wielding this power for like 90 years.

Where we’re at is, obscenely wealthy people who break the law are essentially giving the government the finger and saying they should be allowed to do it. They’re acting as if they believe they are powerful enough that they are no longer subject to laws. Trump and Musk are no different. I’m sure there are plenty more.

It used to be people like that were mostly normal. They would make contributions, get their way most of the time, get some pushback when they went too far, maybe kicked and screamed a little bit, but they would eventually get in line.

Now, they simply say the rules are bullshit and they shouldn’t have to follow them anymore. These people are undermining our government and subverting the rule of law. It’s time they get kicked in the teeth.

They derive their power from wealth. Although our government has plenty of problems, it’s still ours if we can hold onto it. It’s time to make a statement to anyone who dares threaten that. FAFO. I’m all for taxing these fuckers.

QuarterSwede,
@QuarterSwede@lemmy.world avatar

When the billionaires themselves are telling us to tax the crap out of them then why aren’t we?

damnthefilibuster,

Don’t have time for a longer post right now. But here’s my question about the wealth tax -

Trickle down BS and Invisible Hand BS all say that if people have wealth, they WILL reinvest it. That’s the correct thing to do.

When you drive a car, the correct thing to do is drive safely and at a logical speed. If you do irrational driving, you get a ticket.

So why isn’t it logical that if you are participating in a capitalist economy, and not doing the correct thing of constantly reinvesting your money, then the govt should fine you for it?

Wealth shouldn’t just sit around and do nothing, specially in foreign bank accounts. If it does, it should be fined… or taxed.

underwire212,

Eat them

bionicjoey, (edited )

Since this is AskLemmy, perhaps Lemmy should answer you.

jerrythegenius,
@jerrythegenius@lemmy.world avatar

Do it yourself, coward

Pistcow,

2nd amendment

otp,

The Rupert’s Land Act?

foggy,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    an0nym0us,
    @an0nym0us@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    Behead them!

    Tolstoshev,

    Education. Until the masses realize the tricks being used on them, we can redistribute all we want and it will still all funnel up to the top again.

    RememberTheApollo,

    We’ve tried that.

    They still decided horse dewormer was a better idea than masks.

    hglman,

    Yeah and it worked, now the rug has been pulled from schools for a long time.

    ohwhatfollyisman,

    we need to change the parameters of success.

    the current “world’s richest persons” list is actually the “world’s greediest persons” list. we need to all start calling it exactly that. we need to, as society, understand that having those levels of wealth is more a symptom of a sick and twisted mind rather than a consequence of “business acumen”.

    the world’s richest persons list should be recalibrated to what percentage of one’s income has been given away in taxes and donations. think about it, if you can indulge in all your necessities, comforts, and luxuries on 10% of your income and still afford to give away the other 90%, are you not 9 times “richer” than you need to be?

    separately, any company that turns an obscene profit has done so only by overcharging their customers. these companies should be vilified therefore, and not celebrated.

    DecarbonatedOdes,

    So true. And a national change in perspective is definitely achievable.

    Modern_medicine_isnt,

    I doubt it is really greed. They are competitive. It’s a different driver.

    bazmatazable,

    No matter if it is greed, competitiveness, narcissism, another personality trait or some combination of them the point was that we as a society should not consider becoming a billionaire as model behavior. By all means be the best sports player or musician or top surgeon and make as much money as you are legally allowed. Most tech billionaires are just not that impressive to justify their current net worth.

    DecarbonatedOdes,

    Since force is a clear crowd favorite: What would that look like? Angry mod surrounds home of billionaire and guillotines them on their lawn? According to Forbes there are currently 735 billionaires. That might take some time.

    jpreston2005,

    It’d be more like, load them into the guillotine, and right before you set the blade in motion, offer them one last chance. swipe your cards, enter your pins, and transfer 90% of your income to the public fund (and live), or die and we take all of it. They’ve been using the threat of violence and incarceration against us our whole lives (steal from a company, cops arrest you, company steals from you, you have to get it back yourself), why not return the favor?

    demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    Are you kidding?

    735 would take like 20 minutes in parallel if all of the wage slaves got together wherever each billionaire is and gave them what they have coming. And boy do they have it coming!

    Those who make peaceful revolution impossible (by buying up our politicians, governments, and news-media) will make violent revolution inevitable.

    uriel238,
    @uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    It took about a century in France just to go from monarchy to republic.

    nick,

    Separate them from their heads. And wealth.

    an0nym0us,
    @an0nym0us@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    Behead them!

    demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    behead them with guillotines

    an0nym0us, (edited )
    @an0nym0us@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    OP said we should behead them with guillotines which was removed by your cuck lemmy.world mods.

    Hey mods: Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk aren’t going to blow you so you can stop sucking them off.

    ChonkyOwlbear, (edited )

    A recent study has shown there is little increase in happiness beyond $500,000 in annual earnings. Based on that I suggest a cap of $500k per year or $50 million lifetime earnings.

    The former would be for most people, the latter is for movie stars or athletes who might have a few very high earning years and love off them the rest of their life.

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