General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat economic system facilitates the purchase of $500 M or $2 B yachts by MBS or Abramovich?
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-yachts-in-the-world-2017-6#256-million-the-dilbar-is-the-worlds-largest-yacht-by-gross-tonnage-at-15917-tons-over-31-million-pounds-it-was-built-for-alisher-usmanov-a-russian-billionaire-the-dilbar-has-two-helipads-an-indoor-swimming-pool-and-3800-square-meters-of-living-space-3How effective were the lectures about trickledown economics and the fables of how the rich give us the jobs or how the poor underclass consists of takers sucking from the public...!
They made fun of Jimmy Carter for wanting to reduce dependence on foreign oil.. and of Al Gore for running a chief scientist.
While U.S. citizens squabble over whether or not we can afford a $15 minimum wage or health care for all, our eyes are diverted from the excesses of the super-rich.
MBS - $560 Million
Abramovich - $1.9 Billion
Anonymous Malaysian businessman, Plated with gold, $4.8B.
Any bets on how many of the superyacht buyers came by it honestly? How many of them killed, robbed, defrauded and cheated to get what they have?
If our TV media wasnt controlled (directly or indirectly) by members of the Club, maybe thered be a regular program on the division of wealth in the world.
Were any of these yachts a just reward for finding a cure for cancer? Solving world hunger? Achieving Middle East peace? Inventing good alternatives to fossil fuels? Were they gutsy entrepreneurs with a better idea or just more willing than others to profit corruptly from the suffering of others? How about a profile of each one of these superrich and we viewers get to vote them off the island at the end? How many of them are actually WORTHY of the wealth they possess? Can democracy or freedom coexist with such inequality?
tblue37
(65,215 posts)significant consciousness raising.
lostnfound
(16,161 posts)Im talking about a TV program that actually tries to evaluate the impact and contribution (or destruction) that the owner has made to society.
That makes connections between the extraordinary wealth and how it was generated.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)So would your licensing this concept to a production company in exchange for royalties then make you one of the beneficiaries of their accumulation of wealth?
lostnfound
(16,161 posts)Life feels so damn sad today.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)However does one chase someone away on a discussion forum?
I just appreciate subtle irony when I see it, intended or not.
EleanorR
(2,385 posts)Jeffrey Epstein was deep into legal trouble when he cut a deal near his private Caribbean island with a titan of New York real estate, Andrew Farkas.
-SNIP-
The May 2007 arrangement gave Epstein an entree to the high-end world of luxury yachting, a business befitting his lifestyle and the wealthy people he spent decades courting. It united Epstein -- who would soon become a convicted sex offender and is now accused of abusing and trafficking girls as young as 14 -- with a key figure in New Yorks business and political scene.
-SNIP-
Deeper ports were in demand as the worlds wealthiest, from Dubai to Moscow, raced to acquire ever bigger yachts. Few spots in the Caribbean could accommodate these floating status symbols. IGY saw an opportunity.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-23/epstein-s-port-in-a-storm-co-owning-a-marina-with-tycoon-farkas
faymer7
(59 posts)take huge tax breaks for.