PiercedViking
101624
1751
33
Mar 14, 2023 4:04 PM
PiercedViking
101624
1751
33
ctriis87
If you make 10x minimum wage ($71.50/h) @ 60h/week x 52 weeks/year from age 20 to age 65 you will make 1/100th of $1 billion.
hellospacemonkey
They also are not "worth" billions, they have "access" to billions of dollars. Their vote is equal to one.
Freeflare
There's a few exceptions of people making it from little/modest means, but it's hard to argue with the 'labor equivalent' part.
georgedragonslayer
That's doable. I make about $100K a year. So, I have about 10,000 years of working to get to ̶$̶1̶0̶B̶ .. Err $1B.
alwayspositive444444
$5k x 200 days = 1 mil. 5k x 479 YEARS = 1 bil. Crazy.
threenotch23
So, you’re saying Jay-Z didn’t earn his $? /s
CaptainRuse
Not true. Im sure adjusted for inflation, some wild west outlaws got close to a billion and they worked pretty hard and risked a lot.
BadderBob
I can't find this person on Twitter.
justanotherdude6710
Hey, stealing is hard work... and charging fees for a service is legit and does involve effort.
madeejit
Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
justthissideofnormal
Invent a product that one billion will pay a dollar a year to use. Most workers only have one customer.
CraftyGiant
I mean.. I'd dig ditches for $11000 an hour.. But they sure aren't
psmith00
Man, I'd be happy to win a few million on the Lotto. Set me up for life, it would. I wouldn't be working, either.
Farzhad
What about the person(s?) that invented how to make fire? Is that worth a billion dollars after adjusting for inflation?
Mistruths
no because lightning does it for free pretty often.
HothAintHot
If you're a million minutes old, you're still wearing diapers. If you're a billion minutes old, you might have met Jesus when he was alive.
CrunchBuries
What about someone like Jay Z.
Noblert
Steven Spielberg?
digitalagriculture
Did he act in, edit, and distribute the movies all on his own?
rlanthony
The average lifespan is 77.8 years. That's $2.4 billion at $1/second for an entire life. $3600/hour.
SuedeWilson
If billionaires used their wealth to increase the wealth of all like trickle-down econ said, then there wouldn't be any billionaires
nitrojunky24
If can become a billionaire from hard work then the us dollar is worthless.
dbox
Oprah?
jscuster
At some point in the coming decades there will be athletes who have “worked” for a billion dollars. There are already many over $500m.
Temzilla
Athletes have one of the most meritocratic fairly payed jobs in the world, and they are still being exploited for their surplus labor value.
jscuster
All because companies are so desperate to sell you stuff via ads they offer insane sums to get athletes to perform on television for you.
xovoxovox
I plan to be the first person to give 1 billion $1 blowjobs.
deanbrah
that's incredible! What an amazing goal!! where does one sign up to assist you on this momentous journey? asking for a friend
woozle
I thought it was because they worked a gorillion times harder than the rest of us
sithrakhatesyouequally
Haven't heard gorillion before. I like it.
BubblesTheFish
1000 gorillions is 1 harambillion
Othernate
PrincessWendyB
Behind EVERY large pile of wealth is a theft- and usually there are SEVERAL.
thri1
That's not true. I'm a billionaire, and I guarantee that I worked incredibly hard to become the youngest CEO ever in my family's company. /s
ObviousPidgeon
“As a gay black guy….”
zHurk777
"Who walked on the moon..."
availlableusername
But you can work for a hundred billion dollars. (Economists hate this simple trick).
DavidBrooker
I bought a few of these. It made sense as a charity: Zimbabwe was in dire need of hard currency (local currency was useless, so they 1/2
DavidBrooker
used South African Rand, Euros and US dollars instead) for daily needs. You got a cute novelty, they got badly-needed hard-money. You 2/3
DavidBrooker
over-payed by several orders of magnitude on nominal exchange, but the charity value more than made up for it. 3/3
quade
Nobody's paid taxes on a billion dollars, either.
manystripes
Unless you win the lotto, in which case you can bet you're going to get as little of that billion dollars as the government will let you
alwayspositive444444
Of course not. It’s not income. It’s assets. Very different.
Hurch
When buying politicians is cheaper than paying your fair share in taxes, this will happen. The U.S. has the best politicians money can buy.
Curryfrenchfries
It's almost embarrassing how cheap they get bought for too, the incentive of keeping their job makes them pennies on the dollar bribery.
Curryfrenchfries
Relative to what they're giving out it's typically amounts barely around 6 digits in the right moments.
C141Clay
Basic stuff: You pay taxes on INCOME, not established wealth held. On earnings REALISED after SELLING an investment, not investments held.
thorinc
You pay property tax on a house every year based on assessed value, even though you didn't sell it.
C141Clay
Very true. I pay my property . (And) I would support changes to tax wealth. I am pointing out the current rules.
denimdenis
Shhh you’ll give the poor dud and his boot licking agenda a scare with that use of logic
C141Clay
Not at all man. Change the tax laws regarding wealth, I'm for that. Just know the basics as well (which is not indicated by many comments).
TheCouncilofRicks
Obviously you morons don't realize how awful taxing unrealized gains would be. This will hurt the common man more than anything else. 1/2
Curryfrenchfries
The point is it already is for 99% of people who have invested in an asset that life and government told them to, homes.
TheCouncilofRicks
There's needs to be a wealth tax instead 2/2
stupidlystupendous
There's 600 billionaires in the US. ≈0.0002%. No American will ever be a billionaire by simply working hard. Don't buy into their propaganda
LetOffSomeSteam
It’s also ironic that this community blames just 700 people for so many of this country’s problems. What about the millions of millionaires?
Rubbertje
And yet nobody sees the combination of luck and the power compound intrest. Of course they didn't work for it. They didn't have to...
welluhwhatdoyouwantmetosay
That was two years ago. There are now over 700 billionaires in the US.
zHurk777
Rounded, the percentage is still the same, though.
stupidlystupendous
Oh, they've had spawns... Great.
Aldante92
Don't talk about Scrooge McDuck that way, he earned his money by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties!
Aldante92
All he had to do to become a billionaire ethically was be fictional and be written that way! Other billionaires are parasitic shitstains tho
WarlockSniper
Sad, innit. The only ethical billionaire is fictional.
Richkonfusion
Roger Penske would like a word.
stupidlystupendous
"Penske was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1937.[1] His father, Jay, was a successful corporate executive for a metal fabrication company"
stupidlystupendous
Who? This guy? This guy with the rich dad? Completely different from all the other guys with rich dads?
freezingpilot
Tax them or eat them.
stupidlystupendous
In-fucking-deed
C141Clay
Basic stuff: You pay taxes on INCOME, not established wealth held. On earnings REALISED after SELLING an investment, not investments held.
freezingpilot
You can pay taxes on anything the government decides to tax you on. I stand by my statement, tax them, or eat them.
stupidlystupendous
And where does the fucking "established wealth" come from. Fucking INCOME! That they DIDN'T. PAY. TAXES. ON. Which is the fucking problem!!
C141Clay
Um... Ok. That is being done, and has been. If I leave money ( Ha!) to my children when I croak, that is taxed right? Why the down vote?
C141Clay
I inherited a little once, it was looked at, but was not enough to be taxed. Are you talking about stopping generational wealth/inheritance?
C141Clay
I'm for increasing income taxes on Corps. and high income, but once you have $...it's yours. Profits on investments ARE taxed when realized.
C141Clay
Seems you want static money in the bank to slowly be absorbed via taxes for the wealthy. One does not store money like that, one invests.
creepymountainman
But you could be a multi millionaire
datester35
The US has 22 million millionaires. That's much more reasonable.
stupidlystupendous
I'm fine with that. If that's the cap and all profit above that gets taxed. Perfectly fine
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Kaleopolitus
Are you unfamiliar with the concept of government..? Not saying the USA government would make good decisions here but... THEY would say.
SavageDrums
$100M is the absolute cap. You can still be a greedy asshole with that much.
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WaveMotionGum
Based on inflation from when the term was coined, Millionaire needs to be updated to mean 30+ million.
WaveMotionGum
1 Million wont even let you reliably retire anymore.
lostlittletimeonthis
Depends the age at what you get the money and where you'll live
trickflo
Lifes a lot cheaper when you have money if youre living paycheck to paycheck its impossible to make money off your money but if you have 1/2
trickflo
1mil in hand can do lots of things to make money as well as be more "thrifty" by stocking up on sales or getting discounted yearly subs
DavidBrooker
I suspect that about a quarter million dollars a year - the typical salary of a mid-career lawyer or physician, or on the higher end 1/2
comacomacomacomachameleon
what about a software engineer? 250k is what we pay someone with a degree and a couple years of experience. Senior SWE ~350k.
Spiffytown
You pay someone a quarter million a year. In 4 years, with ZERO spending, they are a millionaire. How many years to billionaire?
bogongenerator
comacomacomacomachameleon
yeah but we pay similar to Amazon, FB, Google, Microsoft... lots of tech companies pay in that range
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zHurk777
No, because when you do that at least 99% of the earnings are by the employees.
AnotherDiscordianAtLarge
Unless you can clone yourself & work those other locations simultaneously, you still not working for it, you're exploiting it from others.
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A3rdParty
This person is implying the world would be better if someone else started separate businesses instead of you opening more and profiting >
A3rdParty
from their labor. It's a vision of an ideal world, not the one we are in.
BigBullsFan
If I open other spots and pay people salary and benefits to work there, I’m exploiting them?
Mithi
If you pay them FAIR salaries you will not become a billionaire.
Temzilla
If you profit off of their labor, yes. You are extracting the surplus labor value. It's what "exploitation" means in this context.
BigBullsFan
According to that logic, every employer everywhere in every field is being exploitative.
Iguessitstimetojoin
You would be taking profits from the efforts of their labor. I believe that is what they were getting at.
BigBullsFan
Don’t all employers profit from the work of their employees?
GuysJustWannaFish
Yes, you can "get" more money, but you are not "laboring" for that money. You won't work shifts at all the different stores
BigBullsFan
If I’ve multiple locations, and each of my employees gets fair wages and benefits, I’m failing to see how it’s exploitation simply because
BigBullsFan
I’m not also pulling shifts at each location. Is the CEO of Bank of America exploiting tellers b/c he’s not also working as a teller at each
BigBullsFan
B of A branch?
Kitehammer
Yes. It's not complicated.
epicfail48
...yes? BOA's CEO is making $30 mil a year, the teller is making $40k, and the teller is responsible for the CEO getting that salary
GuysJustWannaFish
Yes. He is getting some of the fruits of their labor. They might get a "fair" share, but the ceo is also getting a "fair" share from them
DavidBrooker
of technical jobs like engineers - is about as much as you can make from the value of your labor, rather than proximity to capital. 2/2
Serenitis
At that income, IF you had exactly zero expenses ever & saved everything, it would take you 4000 years to reach 1B.
comacomacomacomachameleon
that's assuming zero growth in your money. Investments compound.
VirtualNaut
A3rdParty
This does discount entertainers/creators that do "labor" in pursuit of more money. Few at the 250k but authors work hard and can earn more.>
A3rdParty
Otherwise, yeah. Artists/authors/actors/musicians/singers work very hard in most cases. May just be an exception to prove the rule.
DavidBrooker
Is that an exception though? Most entertainers who make more than that do so because of their proximity to capital.
A3rdParty
Ehh. A buddy self publishes on Amazon. Always writing (400 page book a month) so he certainly works. Also brought in $700,000 last year. >
Syrpynt
The only way you make THAT much money in those industries is if you know somebody (nepotism) or your career is +2 decades ripe.
Syrpynt
Yet the careers are sold to students that they'll make 1/2 that starting. They get 1/3rd + weak raises--& wonder why our gens are bitter.
DavidBrooker
Re: 2 decades, I did explicitly specify mid-career.
Syrpynt
Yes and my point is that it's sold as "immediately 6-figures starting", especially computer science. Advertisement vs reality is a problem.
Syrpynt
It floods those job markets with eager kids, and saturates any leveraging power to those who actually have a passion for that field.