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The level of wealth inequality in America is grotesque. A Pew Research report found that the richest families in the U.S. have experienced greater gains in wealth than other families in recent decades, a trend that reinforces the growing concentration of financial resources at the top. Moreover, the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. To put that into perspective, in 2018, households near the top of the income had incomes that were 12.6 times higher than those near the bottom.
At the top of that very economic ladder stand billionaires. And according to Forbes, there were 2,153 billionaires as of March, with the ultra-rich worth $8.7 trillion, and that’s in 2019. Heading into 2022, the 10 wealthiest individuals in the world are all worth more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The numbers are simply unbelievable, quite like some of their humble success stories.
But people are getting fed up with being told lies. They claim that self-made billionaires are nothing more than another case of nepotism, a common practice of power that favors relatives by giving them exclusive opportunities. We collected some of the most eye-opening arguments about it below, so be sure to scroll down and share your thoughts about this as you go.
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#2
Income inequality in the United States is at its highest level in at least 50 years, according to the government’s Census Bureau. According to Oxfam, the world’s wealthiest 26 individuals had the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the population in 2018. But 2021 was a year like no other for the billionaires, and it’s not the world still trapped in an unprecedented public health crisis.
The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented 2,755. That’s a whopping 660 more than just a year ago. According to Forbes, of those, a record high 493 were new to the list—roughly one every 17 hours, including 210 from China and Hong Kong. Another 250 who’d fallen off in the past came right back. As a result, this year we see a mindblowing 86% who are richer than a year ago.
#6
Davo gifman 2 years ago
Yes I agree. I think that's where mistakes are being made...that damn journal.
DC 2 years ago
... welders have a special place in my heart. I'm an engineer, currently working in a field requiring large hollow bodys of sheet metal ... and I had to weld as an intern, of course, too. As a student. I effed up so bad I hid some of my results in the bucket of water we used to cool freshly welded things and just left them there to rot to pieces. Then, my 2nd internship, I was assigned to a very talented welder, to assist him, and tried again ... first day - it went awesome, I thought I finally got it. 2nd day of me welding - shid again. You can learn to weld somehow, but a really, really good welder is someone born to weld. And I love that I can work with these people, who have a ton of knowledge about welding and adjacent manufactoring as well. The golden cage, I guess, isn't really for me ... or fo any engineer to begin with. Miss the dirty hands sometimes...
Tom Spade 2 years ago
Thank you both! It's how I got my start. Honesty here, I learned it in prison. I was given an opportunity and I took it. I served my time to the very last minute. Got out, got a welding job and never looked back. 30 years later, I have a decent job on a huge farm with two other companies operating from it. I now process waste veggie oil into biofuel, a million gallons a year. I still weld often, as I'm a working, blue collar manager. Cuz that's where it started for me. Hanging on with one hand, welding with the other, high off the ground. I still have my old iron work boots to this day. So that I NEVER FORGET.
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But what is the relationship between nepotism and sky-high fortune like that? Well, legally, the concerns surrounding it are few but not to be ignored. Tom Gies, a founding member of the labor and employment law practice at Crowell & Moring, says there's little out there to discourage nepotism—and nothing that explicitly forbids it.
However, trouble can arise if a company advertises a vacant job and then fills it with an employee's relative who clearly is less qualified than, say, a female or minority applicant. That can run up against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion or national origin. But the solution is more than simple: if the job opening is never publicly advertised, it's almost impossible for anyone to cry foul over nepotism.
#9
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
Every time I see Zuckerberg's photo, the first thing I think is "Damn. Someone needs to slip him some light colored contacts." Those dark eyeballs are like black holes to his soul.
#11
Legen ( wait for it ) dary 2 years ago
I'm poor because I don't have a Garage. My entire apartment have the size of ( insert the smallest size place in your house)
#13
#15
Florida, but without the beach 2 years ago
I love that Donald trump isn’t on these lists, he got more money from his dad than most of these people and still couldn’t make the list!
#18
Katy McMouse 2 years ago
I'm a legacy admission - I was granted admission to the every day rat race, just like my parents and their parents and their parents' parents.
#20
Davo gifman 2 years ago
My dad passed away; so all of our money is tied up in the afterlife market. An with my dad being a good man I'd like to think he's in heaven. An when I die...well I'm not so sure. So it looks like we will be diversifying our stock portfolio. No use in having all the deviled eggs in one basket. 😁🤪 yeah, yeah I'm leaving. 🤨 Well I know now; that it's not funny...🤣
#23
#25
thatmagicgaychick 2 years ago
Mazer- the economy is so fuckd up that a lot of people can't afford food and rent at the same time.
#27
RedstonewolfX 2 years ago
This is the slowest way to become a millionaire. No billionaire would ever spend enough on anyone but themselves to drop below $1,000,000,000.
#28
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What do you think ?
Jo Choto 2 years ago
Capitalism. That's what it is. The idea that all good things come from being rich, so the richer you are, the gooder you are. But there is limited wealth in any economy, so when some people have a lot more, that HAS to result in many other people having less.
Martha Meyer 2 years ago (edited)
It's not a really something unique to Capitalism. Ever since humans stopped living in small equalitarian hunter gatherer groups and started agriculture to live in much larger groups, some people managed to accumulate a lot more possessions than others, gave it to their children and grandchildren and then built some kind of myth around it to justify why they had all this generational wealth while other people starved. It used to be I'm better than you and deserve all my wealth because I'm ordained by God to be your king/priest/ruler". Now we just have a different myth to justify why billionaires "deserve" to be billionaires while there are still starving people.
Load More Replies... Monkey Spunk 2 years ago
The UN told Elon Musk he could end World hunger with $6.6bn, he asked them to send him a detailed plan. Last year they sent him a full breakdown, he's been surprisingly quiet about it since then. Playing the big man on Twitter as usual.
Magoomba 2 years ago
M**********r has $120 billion & the world asks for $6.6 and Musk ghosts ‘em. Shows his true colors. Same as the rest. The French Revolution gave us the template to deal with them if we get the chance.
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William 2 years ago
I get insanely rich people never thinking enough is enough. I get the insanely rich using the tools and political influence at their disposal to preserve their wealth and limit exposure to taxes. What I don't get is the regular people working hard for their money being OK with paying a significantly higher portion of what they have than the insanely rich. Electing politicians who run on the idea that somehow making the insanely rich insanely richer is somehow going to benefit society as a whole after nearly forty years of proof money in fact does not "trickle down". The wealth gap just grows faster. Capitalism works but only when you have some kind of guardrails. Otherwise it's just a real-life game of Monopoly.
Magoomba 2 years ago (edited)
I spent three years at an Ivy League university. Not as a student. I can say that IMO the students at this university were no more intellectually inclined than the students at any state university I’ve been affiliated with. As a matter of fact, except for the token minority students, most were average at best. They were, however, a lot richer so things always worked out all right.
Lucille Soderstrom 2 years ago
Communism entails that everyone gets paid the same, but it also entails that nobody has a voice, government gets to decide everything, we don't get to choose where we go to shop or play or work - y'all realize that if America goes to Communism we can't do a majority of the stuff we do on a daily basis? Freedom is NONE. Knock it off and find another way.
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Trees 2 years ago
I 100% get the snark. But if my Dad got me a job, I'd take it. As long as I didn't have to work for him or with him.
Naesil 2 years ago
Sure, most of us would and Im pretty sure most of us would behave as the "self made" people... if you always had fortune behind you how would you actually know of real world that majority of people are living in.
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Lukyan Terdal 2 years ago
When the crew of 'The Powerpuff Girls' created the character Princess Morbucks, do you think it's possibly they were trying to warn us?
Blarrg 2 years ago
23 years ago I went to work for a company a couple of (really good) guys started up. It was their company, and they made pretty good money from my work. 14 years ago a co-worker wanted to start a business in the same industry, and invited me to join in the venture. We figured it was about 50-50 whether he would make it or go under. I didn't want to bet the portion of my house I owned, so I played it safe, stayed where I was. He worked a lot of double and triple shifts, almost went under several times, but made it, and 12 years ago he hired me. He now makes a lot more money than I do because he had the guts to risk it, the determination to work for basically no pay for the first couple of years, and the luck that it paid off. He isn't "stealing" or "exploiting." He now employs about 300 people total. No billionaire, but doing well. I'm happy for him, and happy to work for him.
Tracy Sellars 2 years ago
As a young child I remember being told it is not what you know it is who you know.
Marc Graciov 2 years ago
It's all fun until you realize that people are "making jokes" about "throwing other people in lava"( i.e. killing them) with the argument to redistribute the wealth.
Lucille Soderstrom 2 years ago
And here I don't want to be no billionaire, not even a millionaire, I just wanna make enough to live comfortably. But Capitalism says no :')
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
@Bill, you're operating under the idea that "make something of yourself" equals extreme wealth. Discard that premise and assume that we're something without lots of money, and re-think.
Load More Replies...
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago (edited)
Not having rich parents, I don't feel it is safe to risk $200K or whatever But knowing my rich parents would bail me out, b/c, y'know, rich parents or influential ones. Also, it's not much vision when *your mother convinces IBM to buy from you* (Gates). When people are willing to rig the game in your favor, it's easier to win. Oh, and to exploit people ruthlessly like Musk, Bezos, et al.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 2 years ago
Capitalism. That's what it is. The idea that all good things come from being rich, so the richer you are, the gooder you are. But there is limited wealth in any economy, so when some people have a lot more, that HAS to result in many other people having less.
Martha Meyer 2 years ago (edited)
It's not a really something unique to Capitalism. Ever since humans stopped living in small equalitarian hunter gatherer groups and started agriculture to live in much larger groups, some people managed to accumulate a lot more possessions than others, gave it to their children and grandchildren and then built some kind of myth around it to justify why they had all this generational wealth while other people starved. It used to be I'm better than you and deserve all my wealth because I'm ordained by God to be your king/priest/ruler". Now we just have a different myth to justify why billionaires "deserve" to be billionaires while there are still starving people.
Load More Replies... Monkey Spunk 2 years ago
The UN told Elon Musk he could end World hunger with $6.6bn, he asked them to send him a detailed plan. Last year they sent him a full breakdown, he's been surprisingly quiet about it since then. Playing the big man on Twitter as usual.
Magoomba 2 years ago
M**********r has $120 billion & the world asks for $6.6 and Musk ghosts ‘em. Shows his true colors. Same as the rest. The French Revolution gave us the template to deal with them if we get the chance.
Load More Replies... William 2 years ago
I get insanely rich people never thinking enough is enough. I get the insanely rich using the tools and political influence at their disposal to preserve their wealth and limit exposure to taxes. What I don't get is the regular people working hard for their money being OK with paying a significantly higher portion of what they have than the insanely rich. Electing politicians who run on the idea that somehow making the insanely rich insanely richer is somehow going to benefit society as a whole after nearly forty years of proof money in fact does not "trickle down". The wealth gap just grows faster. Capitalism works but only when you have some kind of guardrails. Otherwise it's just a real-life game of Monopoly.
Magoomba 2 years ago (edited)
I spent three years at an Ivy League university. Not as a student. I can say that IMO the students at this university were no more intellectually inclined than the students at any state university I’ve been affiliated with. As a matter of fact, except for the token minority students, most were average at best. They were, however, a lot richer so things always worked out all right.
Lucille Soderstrom 2 years ago
Communism entails that everyone gets paid the same, but it also entails that nobody has a voice, government gets to decide everything, we don't get to choose where we go to shop or play or work - y'all realize that if America goes to Communism we can't do a majority of the stuff we do on a daily basis? Freedom is NONE. Knock it off and find another way.
Load More Replies... Trees 2 years ago
I 100% get the snark. But if my Dad got me a job, I'd take it. As long as I didn't have to work for him or with him.
Naesil 2 years ago
Sure, most of us would and Im pretty sure most of us would behave as the "self made" people... if you always had fortune behind you how would you actually know of real world that majority of people are living in.
Load More Replies... Lukyan Terdal 2 years ago
When the crew of 'The Powerpuff Girls' created the character Princess Morbucks, do you think it's possibly they were trying to warn us?
Blarrg 2 years ago
23 years ago I went to work for a company a couple of (really good) guys started up. It was their company, and they made pretty good money from my work. 14 years ago a co-worker wanted to start a business in the same industry, and invited me to join in the venture. We figured it was about 50-50 whether he would make it or go under. I didn't want to bet the portion of my house I owned, so I played it safe, stayed where I was. He worked a lot of double and triple shifts, almost went under several times, but made it, and 12 years ago he hired me. He now makes a lot more money than I do because he had the guts to risk it, the determination to work for basically no pay for the first couple of years, and the luck that it paid off. He isn't "stealing" or "exploiting." He now employs about 300 people total. No billionaire, but doing well. I'm happy for him, and happy to work for him.
Tracy Sellars 2 years ago
As a young child I remember being told it is not what you know it is who you know.
Marc Graciov 2 years ago
It's all fun until you realize that people are "making jokes" about "throwing other people in lava"( i.e. killing them) with the argument to redistribute the wealth.
Lucille Soderstrom 2 years ago
And here I don't want to be no billionaire, not even a millionaire, I just wanna make enough to live comfortably. But Capitalism says no :')
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
@Bill, you're operating under the idea that "make something of yourself" equals extreme wealth. Discard that premise and assume that we're something without lots of money, and re-think.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 2 years ago (edited)
Not having rich parents, I don't feel it is safe to risk $200K or whatever But knowing my rich parents would bail me out, b/c, y'know, rich parents or influential ones. Also, it's not much vision when *your mother convinces IBM to buy from you* (Gates). When people are willing to rig the game in your favor, it's easier to win. Oh, and to exploit people ruthlessly like Musk, Bezos, et al.
Load More Replies...
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