30 Comments
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Rebecca Lorentzen's avatar

Accumulated is the proper term. Many of his businesses are built on public tax money invested, yet he pays basically no taxes. Closing the tax loopholes and bringing back wealth taxes will make things more even for everyone. And the extremely wealthy really won’t miss it, except in their egotistical race to accumulate more than anyone else.

Heather MacKay's avatar

Emphasis on EGO. All the billionaires are gaping black holes of ID. There's not enough of ANYTHING to fill those holes but they definitely are willing to suck light (& life) out of every living being on the planet for even one billion more dollars in their white male pissing contest!

Hector's avatar

This is the simple truth: no one earns a trillion dollars alone. When millions struggle to afford housing, food, and basic necessities while wealth concentrates at levels beyond comprehension, it is not a sign of a healthy system. It is a sign of imbalance. Success should be rewarded, but no individual should possess more economic power than entire nations.

Sarah Olson's avatar

I agree with every word Cole. Great article.

Annie Weeks's avatar

Its the capitalist myth of the “self-made man”. Complete BS.

Ken Smith's avatar

Agreed Annie, they get ahead by stepping on the people they put beneath them.

Ken Smith's avatar

Cole, you echo the feelings I have had about affluence my whole 75 year life, and completely agree, it is system failure for humanity as a whole. It absolutely must be rebalanced with strong governmental intervention and leadership, or the Bastille will be stormed again, check 1789.

Thank you, for such clarity.

Twyla 🇨🇦's avatar

We might want to build the guillotine once more so that we’re prepared.

Kerrie Hale's avatar

I totally agree. It's obscene.

Brenda's avatar

Eye opening article, thanks Cole. Something is really going wrong in our world. One would expect Elon Musk and other indecently wealthy people to do SOMETHING helpful for humanity with all that money... but alas, we continue to be disappointed. It's high time for meaningful taxation!

Twyla 🇨🇦's avatar

People like the billionaire class, the tech bros etc. would like to “humanely genocide” us regular people and burn down North American society so they can build their technocracy on the ashes.

Not only are they hoarding wealth, they intend to use it to remove the rest of us.

Melanie Anderson's avatar

Agree 100%. Billionaires/trillionaires should pay 100% tax and eliminate world poverty. If they had any conscience they would.

Twyla 🇨🇦's avatar

The people who have consciences could not accumulate excessive wealth. We’re still waiting to hear about the Epstein files but we know that Musk is in there, so are most of the billionaires.

Lorraine's avatar

One person accumulating this amount of wealth is obscene and terrifying.

Annie Weeks's avatar

I grew up in a small town on Vancouver Island during the 1950s/60s. Most people worked in the logging industry or in sawmills. Some owned shoestores, or pharmacies, or worked as teachers. People didn’t have a lot of money, but everyone managed to a greater or lesser degree. The family with the largest house in town, which looked like a very small mansion was the owner of the building supply store. Our governments over the last 70 years have been bamboozled by industry. The ordinary people need to raise their voices. Otherwise, what is the point of democracy?

Bryan Demchinsky's avatar

Thanks a million—but not a trillion.

SJ's avatar

Thank you for this perspective!

Sc O's avatar

Thank you for so eloquently articulating everything that I believe about this. Tax them all back down to millionaires.

Unravellng Harms's avatar

The fact that this could happen at all is an obscenity.

Peter Garapick's avatar

As many have commented already , you nailed it here Cole. The world situation is obscene on many levels and it is not sustainable.

Sara's avatar

Hear, hear!!