BILLIONAIRES

[bats]

You keep saying that bats but the richest man in the world use to live in California, he still has a Tesla plant in Fremont. I think talking about state taxes is germane to the topic.

I was trying to keep this particular thread on topic because, in these days of increasing income inequality, the question of whether billionaires have so much wealth as to be a net negative for society is being asked more often.

 Fundamentally, it's not a question about our system of taxation or differences in taxation between states (or even between countries). It's about whether society should prevent individuals from accumulating extreme wealth.

That question is usually asked in the context of whether it's good for a democracy to have some people who've accumulated so much that it exacerbates existing economic disparities that make things better for a few at the expense of the masses.

Google the topic. You'll get lots of results.

[Danno]

Hand out, Musk got $1.5 Billion of our tax dollars for Space X. Fucking ridiculous.
Big Oil gets $400 Billion/ yr

It's hard to understand this line of shallow thinking.  Maybe I shouldn't have gone to college to earned a bunch of wealth and just went to a vocational school so that I could just get by and wait for a handout!  Not the American dream is it?

[Hobby]

The super rich need to pay their fair share of taxes...

[Fathernature69]

I was trying to keep this particular thread on topic because, in these days of increasing income inequality, the question of whether billionaires have so much wealth as to be a net negative for society is being asked more often.

 Fundamentally, it's not a question about our system of taxation or differences in taxation between states (or even between countries). It's about whether society should prevent individuals from accumulating extreme wealth.

That question is usually asked in the context of whether it's good for a democracy to have some people who've accumulated so much that it exacerbates existing economic disparities that make things better for a few at the expense of the masses.

Income inequality is an interesting topic.  You are correct, most industries have become oligopoly which has resulted in less competition and rising prices.  At the same time thst has created less opportunities pushing down wages. 

50 years ago we woukd of broken up these larger corporations (think ma Bell, for us old folks).   

This thread was about about taxing billionaires.  My issue is the discussion always starts about taxing billionaires, but when the legislation is written rarely does affect the billionaires as billionaires have the ability to get together with big government and push those billionaires tax increases down to the middle class. 

[bats]

Income inequality is an interesting topic.  You are correct, most industries have become oligopoly which has resulted in less competition and rising prices.  At the same time thst has created less opportunities pushing down wages. 

50 years ago we woukd of broken up these larger corporations (think ma Bell, for us old folks). 

This thread was about about taxing billionaires.  My issue is the discussion always starts about taxing billionaires, but when the legislation is written rarely does affect the billionaires as billionaires have the ability to get together with big government and push those billionaires tax increases down to the middle class. 

Understood. It's more of a philosophical discussion than a practical one. That might change after us old folks are gone, though.

[Danno]

CEO's pay

[Fathernature69]

CEO's pay

That woukd fall under income inequality subject...but totally agree. 

It used to be CEO pay was about 10X average worker salaries, but today has grown 1000% since 1978. 

https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2022/

Until the middle class demands the parties start to recognize the parties will cater to "sounds good legislation" instead of change to stop the shrinking middle class. 

https://www.newsweek.com/america-middle-class-shrinking-1913772#:~:text=A%20study%20based%20on%20government,to%2051%20percent%20in%202023.

[Hobby]

More needs to be done to help us seniors and middle class.  I would like to see prices fixed so that when billionaires have to pay more they can't raise prices to pay off the increase.

[dogwalker]

Price fixing, as great as it sounds in theory, is often a disaster.  The same price fixing that limits CEO salaries would also limit the salary of the average worker for example.  It's also completely counter to a market economy where supply and demand determine prices-----a bit like communism, another disaster.

[Fathernature69]

Capping price will not work out well.

The USA had a cap on the amount gas companies can charge during the oil embargo of the 1970s. 

I remember being very happy when gas proces were capped, but I also remember sitting in lines that stretched around the block to fuel up with gas. 

I remember one station in Sacramento where we sat in line for 35 minutes to get gas and we were getting close to fuel pumps when an attendant came out and put out these orange cones closing the pumps.

They had run out of gas.

[HighStepper]

Hand out, Musk got $1.5 Billion of our tax dollars for Space X. Fucking ridiculous.
Big Oil gets $400 Billion/ yr

•   Elon Musk's companies (Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity) have received billions in government subsidies over the last two decades.
•   In 2021, Musk has opposed higher taxes for the rich, and said the government shouldn't control "capital."
•   He recently said he opposes government subsidies. One of his companies accepted them as recently as April.
Tesla accepts "certain payroll benefits" from the federal government's $600 billion 2020 pandemic stimulus Link

[Danno]

only in California, Standard, and Shell stations are about a dollar more that other stations. This isn't the case in any other state.
Don't believe me, get app gas buddy.
the guy that is investigating why we pay more here. has found that there is about 60 cents per gallon that is just them ripping us off.

[Fathernature69]

only in California, Standard, and Shell stations are about a dollar more that other stations. This isn't the case in any other state.
Don't believe me, get app gas buddy.
the guy that is investigating why we pay more here. has found that there is about 60 cents per gallon that is just them ripping us off.

The problem is big government and big oil walk hand and hand.

Best example of this is Gavin Newsom relationship with PGE.  Ask anyone with PGE electricity how that is working for them?

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/abc10-originals/pge-gavin-newsom-lobbiest/103-2fc7d4f4-a0e0-492d-ac1d-ec674e58a67b

[zoezane]

https://x.com/mmpadellan/status/1831795121714872536

This is hilarious. Trump's Projections on the people (direct video right to the traitor's mouth). 

[Blkfyre]

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Talk about inequality...