this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
0 points (NaN% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26613 readers
1774 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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?

top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 0 points 9 months ago

So for practical matters:

Lobbying takes time and effort, but it can be effective if done resiliantly.

Find out who in your local community has money and power. Find issues to reach out to other people and politicians on. Maybe there is a new school that would need to be build, butthe guy holding the land refuses to sell at a fair rate? Maybe there is an elderly women being kicked out of her house?

One problem is people havinga detached and abstract idea of super rich people and dont see how their immediate lifes are affected for the worse by it.

There is many people who look into the big picture, like we saw with the Panama papers and other investigative journalism. Did anything tangible come out of it? Why not? I think it is because people are not demanding for it politically. It is some abstract accepted injustice.

But through local action you can steer your community and by this you can force your political representative to adress these issues. That also means looking into the way they voted on issues and holding them accountable. Imagine they voted against an education spending bill and the next week there is a "moms for education" protest in front of his local office and it is all over local news.

Apply the pressure from the bottom up. No billionaire cares what John Doe from Springfield thinks. But they care what congress thinks. And congress cares what the members think. And the members care, what their electorate thinks. And that is where you, or everyone really, can make a difference.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 0 points 9 months ago

Also land ownership is literally extracting money from having arbitrarily exclusive access to an "inert" ressource.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Focus on making the poor people richer instead. Then you’ll realize things are going pretty good.

[–] jaek@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago

Hard to make the poor people richer when the rich are taking an increasingly large share of the pie.

[–] DecarbonatedOdes@lemmy.one 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] demesisx@infosec.pub -1 points 9 months ago

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.

[–] Coach@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago

Shop local.

Oh, yeah...and guillotines.

[–] demesisx@infosec.pub -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

we should just Go aroUnd acting lIke they are the best ever Landlords on the pLanet and there is nOthing unusual abouT them beIng the oNly people on earth familiar with thE concept of happiness, right fellow captive serfs?