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Wealth inequality stands at its highest since the turn of the 20th century - the so-called 'Gilded Age' - as the proportion of capital held by the world's 1,542 dollar billionaires swells yet higher. The report, undertaken by Swiss banking giant UBS and UK accounting company PwC, discusses the roles technology and globalization play in the status quo, and appears two weeks after the IMF recommended that the rich should pay more tax to address the enormous disparity.
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Most people will listen to your unreasonable demands, if you'll consider
their unacceptable offer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday October 29 2017, @09:58AM (8 children)
I don't remember who this was. IIRC he was speaking at Davos.
What he was really afraid of was that the stark inequality might lead the common people to commit acts of violence against the rich.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @12:44PM
Possibly Warren Buffet?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday October 29 2017, @02:20PM
As a billionaire, invest a % of your money with billionaires who invest in a media portfolio containing Netflix, Apple TV, American Ninja Warrior, Survivor, America's Fucking Funniest Home Videos, Ow! My Balls!, etc.
Then invest another % with a group producing false and bankrolling political outrage, cable political TV, etc.
Finally, invest a % in personal security. Physical barriers, well-paid guards packing automatic weapons, flamethrowers, dogs, whatever. Instill a cult-like devotion and disdain for the poor in your security forces. Live out of multiple homes in multiple countries with private airstrips or helipads.
As your income rises, your spending on guns and circuses will rise (bread will already be taken care of). This is how the rich can do their part and give back to the community (of billionaires).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jelizondo on Sunday October 29 2017, @03:15PM (2 children)
There is a TED talk [ted.com] from some rich guy saying the pitchforks are coming and urging fellow plutocrats to address inequality.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @03:22PM
You'd have to be a great fool not to see that coming. Before the bribery of politicians was so egregious there was at least some hope of politicians doing something about it, but now that the SCrOTUmS have decided that there's no such thing as bribery, I have no faith of any sort that there's going to be restraint applied without violence being involved.
Part of what keeps the lower classes from revolting is a sense that they can improve themselves and their position in society. Having things like vacations and luxuries removes a lot of the incentive to riot. But, if the fewer incentives people have to maintain the status quo, the less likely they are to maintain the status quo and if the only way that they're allowed to improve themselves is through murder and mayhem, it's asking a bit much to expect them to work themselves to death so some greedy bastards can just steal all the proceeds.
A huge chunk of Americans pay no federal income tax because they aren't being paid enough to. And an increasing number of taxes are being collected at the state and local level to make up for the tax breaks at the federal level that mostly go to the wealthiest.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2017, @12:26AM
He also appeared in some websites https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014 [politico.com]
But probably they are so full of themselves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonomy [wikipedia.org] they will not pay attention.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:19PM (1 child)
There is a thing called the riot index [ssrn.com].
While autocracies and democracies show a broadly similar responses to budget cuts, countries with more constraints on the executive are less likely to see unrest after austerity measures. [emph mine]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:08PM
Do you have a point? If so, explain it.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:46PM
I don't know about an appearance at Davos, but this guy was on the radio on or about September 30.
The Ralph Nader Radio Hour [ralphnaderradiohour.com]
It takes Ralph several weeks before he has a PDF transcript of the program and that isn't ready yet for this show.
Ralph's page uses libsyn for audio, which makes you grab the file in 1 gulp or makes you start all over after an interrupted download.
It also appends a bunch of crap to the URL so that you can't just drag it and drop it onto your media player without making a copy and renaming to *.mp3.
Stupid fucking service.
Here that is from KPFT's audio archive. [kpft.org]
Pearl is on for the first ~half of the program.
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