Anyone else see the problem here?

[kpete]

Public Citizen
Oct 25

Wealth of Mark Zuckerberg:
2009: $2,000,000,000
2021: $117,600,000,000

Wealth of Jeff Bezos:
2009: $6,800,000,000
2021: $192,200,000,000

Wealth of Bill Gates:
2009: $40,000,000,000
2021: $132,400,000,000

Minimum wage:
2009: $7.25
2021: $7.25

Link to tweet

?s=20

[BlueJac]

1. Everything looks good for our special people who don't pay taxes!

[czarjak]

2. Just the results of the Sean Hannity advice...

“Work hard and play by the rules, you too can be a success in America”?

[leftieNanner]

3. Pshhh! Sean Hannity!

He's only worth a paltry $250,000,000.

What a slacker!

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. The disparity is accelerating at a rate that is beyond comprehension.

It's just not the top 1/100th of the 1% - the growth numbers at the top of the curve are staggering.

[Stuart G]

6. Minimum Wages are set by states...In Illinois...$11.00 an hour....here is a link:

Here is a link to see what each state has set the minimum wage...

https://www.paycor.com/resource-center/articles/minimum-wage-by-state/

States have different rules on this...for example....in California...if there are more than 26 employees the minimum is
$14.00...less than 26....$13.00 an hour...hit the link to see how the states differ...(and they do)

[getagrip_already]

7. and in MA, it's $13.50.. to be $15 by jan 2023

And the world hasn't ended. Businesses are still hiring (and filling job openings).

Imagine that.

But it is still laughable compared to the elite wages who react with scorn at even meager increases.

[Stuart G]

9. Thanks for posting MA's wage..going up...also true in other states..

[rickyhall]

19. One of the richest states, Texas, is still $7.25 along with 20 others.

[soldierant]

28. It's good that some states to have a higher minimum wage.

It's not good that some don't. The ones who don't., don't because they don't have to.

There is absolutely justification for the Federal goverment to set a higher minimum.

[spooky3]

36. The federal FLSA sets the minimum wage for most businesses, but states can set higher

Minima. So can cities.

[BSdetect]

8. It's called Negative Trickle Down Economics.

[HUAJIAO]

18. I refer to it as golden showers.

[Mr. Evil]

10. $442,200,000,000 between the 3 of them.

Oh, but, they're such generous philanthropists. (jerking off motion with my hand) They only do that for the tax deduction incentives. There is no reason one person should be allowed to accumulate that much personal wealth. Instead of taxes, they should be made to fund small business entrepreneurs across the country. Start with maybe 20%. That's $88,440,000,000 that could help multiple people with great ideas and plans to help themselves, their communities and provide an innumerable amount of jobs.

Since they hate taxation, maybe they'd be more receptive (they wouldn't) of an idea like this. My business ideas would certainly benefit and I'm quite sure there are thousands more that would, also.

Just a different angle. Thinking out loud, so to speak.

[Hoyt]

11. Bet there is not one person in companies owned by those folks making $7.25/hour. I've worked for

small companies and big companies. The bigger ones paid better and had better benefits.

With that said, $7.25/hour is unconscionable. Fortunately, there are not very many people working at that level nowadays.

Personally, I don't care how much those people are worth on paper. It's not reality for most of us.

[Nasruddin]

12. Obvious

Bill Gates is just not keeping up. What can we all do to fix that?

[FakeNoose]

24. He's been giving it away for the last 10+ years

I remember that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both started foundations to give away a lot of money in their own lifetimes. I can't remember when they started, but it was after the 2008 stock market crash. Now that he's divorced he might not be so anxious to give it all away. His ex-wife Melinda is very wealthy now, also Jeff Bezos' ex-wife.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

13. Dunno...don't see the problem? 😎

[lagomorph777]

14. I had a boss, every time he heard the word "problem," he'd say "opportunity?"

I think that applies here. Lots of resources ripe for the picking.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. And lots of people were selling books on eBay by 1999, but only Bezos is Amazon

And FBook is really outrageous. Tired of these gazillionaires starting a business in a college dorm. What connections pointed him in that direction? MySpace held the cookies at that time. The world seems very crooked to me.

[Firestorm49]

16. It's not their fault. They built the businesses.

I also believe that such success demands a social obligation. But as long as our system of government rewards wealth over the betterment of society and our politicians promote greed with vigor, then so be it.

The average Joe and Joan don’t have lobbyists. We say that our party is the party of the common man, and our party will have the best interest of the common man and America first, but look before your eyes and tell me how well the whole thing is working out. Yes, I have the list of Democratic accomplishments over the years, but the tide of change has altered expectations for what may be some time to come.

Don’t blame the successful business person. Blame the stupid system.

[BoomaofBandM]

17. They pay big for the system to be corrupt. They pay big to keep the system corrupt.

They do not fight for social networks. They do not fight for affordable anything for anyone else but them. They may not have started corrupt, but they are now.

[appalachiablue]

32. ++

[ck4829]

22. Policy failures.

[Torchlight]

30. What if the successful business person is

doing their best to not just maintain, but also strengthen the "stupid system" that allows them while denying others?

Sometimes it's not just one or just the other. Sometimes it's a dynamic of both, or even many.

[Ilsa]

20. This is how DEMOCRACIES FAIL!

That's too much wealth, or power, in the hands of a few. And there are just enough "poor" people in government to take a tiny share in return for legislation that is safe for the billionnaires, and they'll say to themselves, "I got mine, screw you."

[BobTheSubgenius]

26. I've said this many times in the past, but I guess once more won't hurt.

It's not poverty that causes revolutions, it's inequality. People will suffer all kinds of deprivation if everyone is pulling just as hard on the oars as they are. Sometimes, it will even create solidarity, not destroy it.

[Stuart G]

40. Yes....totally correct...not poverty, but inequality......A very long time ago,,,,,

I studied the ..French Revolution....and that proves the above........................................

It wasn't the poor that started it, it was the ...inequality ...in the French legislature that started...

No........I do not remember the name of the French Legislature....??..."Estates General?"...is that it...?

Well.........after the Revolution in France..which was supposed to restore fairness and equality to the government...
.................someone came to power that did the exact opposite .............Let's see think back Stuart...

oh...I got it.... ...A fellow named ...."Napoleon Bonapart... Is that it??

Thank You....

[ck4829]

21. This is not money you make by wage working

If you could work the minimum wage literally every single hour of the year, you'd make a whopping... 63,510 dollars at the end of the year (And that's before taxes).

If you earned 10 times the federal minimum wage (ten times!) and could still work every single hour of the year, you STILL wouldn't make a million dollars.

We need to rethink the whole economic system I think.

[IronLionZion]

23. Electric surfboards aren't cheap

I guess they are around $12,000

[dalton99a]

25. Well, somebody has to pay for the spaceships for our overlords

so they can watch global warming from space

[Polybius]

27. I wish they listed Musk

I would love to see his net worth in 2009.

[Stuart G]

31. I looked this up...In 2009 Musk was borrowing money to stay alive...

At least that is what one article said..I remember reading that he had invested in a number of loosing companies...
All his wealth came from his ownership of "Tesla.." (and Tesla stock)

...At least it is a..."self made fortune."...Not inherited as many others are..

...Bill Gates is also a "self made billionaire" not inherited...Gates made it from a company called.."Microsoft"
I am guessing that all of us...have heard of ...Microsoft...??

It is the stock market (and the price of stocks these people own).... ...

[LudwigPastorius]

37. Musk: "self made"

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/elon-musk-sells-the-family-emeralds-in-new-york-2018-2

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

[Stuart G]

38. Thank You for posting...K and R..I didn't know this about Musk....What does one say?

I guess I got it wrong...not the first time, and won't be the last time....

[Stuart G]

39. About getting things all wrong..........................an example....for all to think about...

...When I was young....(a very long time ago) and learning to write with a pencil...I noticed that there

was a thing...at the end of the pencil....called......an eraser .....and ...

if you ....make a mistake.....well you can erase the mistake.....Now..............................on this idea.....

on these computer machines.................Is that what the ...delete key is for?................................
Of course, you don't have to answer that one...I understand...:.............................................

[LudwigPastorius]

41. He's got a good PR machine.

...and tons of fans who want to believe what he puts out there.

[TeamProg]

29. "I see no way to fix this!" - Republicans n/t

[Shermann]

33. The good news is that the national average wage index shows a bigger increase than zero every year

But those entering the workforce at the bottom of the great pyramid scheme start ever farther down.

[Jakes Progress]

34. Wouldn't be this way if we still had Union power.

[JanMichael]

35. They could buy probably a quarter of the overpriced rental properties in America

And drop the rents for everybody not just income qualified. If the rents are 1500 a month for two bedroom they can drop it to 900 or 800, take it back to 2010.

I think I'll email all three and say hey give our 501c3 500 million a piece and we will buy even at stupid prices thousands of rental properties and drop the rents. They can write it all off and still have billions of dollars.