No ethical billionaires. Nobody comes by that much money honestly.
While I don't think it's true, I could accept the idea that it were possible to make that much money ethically. However, having that much and not doing good with it? To me that's the bigger evil. Billionaires should be extincting themselves.
Entertainers could be an exception to the evil billionaire rule, but even Swift was doing things like renting out her jet, and her shows have a huge carbon footprint as well.
If she were paying for the pollution, the profit margins wouldn’t be so high.
Also we just need to tax most of the income over $1 million a year. Like we did before the 80s greed is good bullshit started.
Here's a quick and simple example of how much $1 million ($1,000,000,000,) is compared to $1 billion ($1,000,000,000,000.)
1 million seconds equals 11.57 days. 1 billion seconds equals 31.71 years. Days v.s. YEARS!
Nobody earns a billion dollars. Imagine it's October 12, 1492. One of your ancestors is so excited about Columbus landing in America, that he starts putting aside the equivalent of 5000 dollars every single day. And through good fortune, every heir continues to do the same. 5000 dollars added to a pile every single day for over 530 years. 5000 dollars is more than most people make in a month and it accrues every. single. day. There is no interest on the money, but at the same time there are no taxes and nobody spends it on frivolous stuff like food or shelter or education or healthcare. And now, after more than 531 years you inherit it all and realize you're not a billionaire. I know it's an unrealistic thought experiment, but to me it shows that no billionaire ever earned their money.
I think ever having that money, unless it's just shit into your lap for some reason, precludes you from being the kind of person who can do that good. It takes a level of cutthroat and a degree of psychopathy to accumulate that much wealth in a single lifetime. So in essence, having and making that much are both fucked.
Are you actually that far gone?
No, but you seem to be.
For those unaware
From 2022:
Taylor Swift’s plane was identified by the report as the “biggest celebrity CO2e polluter this year so far,” racking up 170 flights since January with emissions totaling more than 8,293 metric tons.
A report published last year by Transport & Environment, a major European clean transport campaign group, found that a single private jet can emit 2 metric tons of CO2 in just an hour. To put that in context, the average person in the E.U. produces about 8.2 tons of emissions over the course of an entire year, according to the report.
https://www.transportenvironment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021_05_private_jets_FINAL.pdf
So the average person was responsible for 8.2 and Swift did 8.293 in flights?
Edit: A lot of people seem to have no idea what carbon offsets are. Here's a reasonably quick rundown:
Basically though, they are tge best market solution we have thus far yo the climate crisis. We need government to do better but in that absence, this is the closest we hve to a free market solution. While appealing, solutions like "bitching online that people should just go back to pre industrial era lives" or "hoping everyone will just vote correctly next time" are definitely fun solutions, carbon offsets have the effect of actually doing stuff in the meantime.
If we're crucifying people for things they are expected to have, are you pure evil because the phone youbhad undoubtedly used cobalt mined by children who occasionally lose their arns mining it?
A cursory google search showed that she paid double her carbon offsets for the current tour. While imperfect, carbon offsets, and people voluntarily paying into them is how we move through and past our current carbon intensive lifestyle.
carbon offsets
they are tge best market solution we have thus far yo the climate crisis
Bullshit. Carbon offsets is mostly a scam where polluters "offset" real emissions with potential if not purely theoretical mitigation. The reforestation that companies claim offset their emissions would fill more land than there is on earth in total.
Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry, to name the worst problem humanity has, is emitting MORE than ever while using the Carbon Offsets scam to greenwash their killing millions of people a year while being the main cause of climate change.
The best solution is, has always been and always will be to emit less pollutants.
Well if you really start looking into it, carbon offsets are mostly a scam.
For instance just declaring: "I will cut down this forest" without ever having the intention to do so, and then not doing it counts as a carbon offset. This is what abgreat part of companies are doing. Just saving forests that nobody wanted to cut down in the first place from being cut down. This they then sell to the consumer as a carbon offset.
John Oliver had a great segment on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8zAbFKpW0
I think people tend to dismiss carbon offsets on the basis that they are a free market solution to a problem that the free market has (mostly) caused. You could maybe blame government for lacking regulation on the free market in like the 19th and early 20th century, but me and I think most people would probably think that's full of shit and kind of kicking the can down the road, foisting the responsibility on the government and not the corporate world for basically no reason, other than that we would expect the corporate world to be a bunch of little scamps or something. I think it would be better off blaming the government for basically just being in a revolving door sort of affair with corporations, but then, I think the answer to that wouldn't be like, dismiss the government in exchange for the free market, but instead more along the lines of, you know, as you've said in response to carbon offsets, more regulations against such things.
And before you come at me for wanting top down government solutions because they're "unrealistic", and also thinking that bottom up political activism is "unrealistic", I dunno, like. If your solution is just kind of to believe in solely the free market, I really wonder what leftism you're doing there, especially if you're bringing up cobalt mines with children losing their arms. That's some iphone venezuela latte level shit, there, that whole deal just seems like nihilism. Like we all get that you can't ethically participate in capitalism, but that's not really a good argument to double down on capitalism and be like "well, if I have to...", because it's seen as "more realistic". By even that logic, it would be better off if most of us just used our excess finance to stop contributing to the climate crisis directly in our own lives, but then I dunno whether or not I can predict your response to that, based on your disdain for cobalt mining. If you don't like electric cars on that same basis, and you don't think top down or bottom up government intervention would be likely to happen, then there's not gonna be many solutions, for you, for getting rid of your own carbon emissions even from a car, outside of maybe a really shitty ebike with lead batteries that probably won't be able to take you 30 miles to your job because we live in a suburban hellscape shithole america, or whatever.
I dunno, I gotta go walk my dog. I think the most obvious solution here is just for her to not like. Fly around in a private jet everywhere. Even trucks, which would probably be the other solution, would make more sense, and for the rare inter-continental flight she could probably just take first class with like, a mask and some sunglasses on, and I dunno if anyone would give two shits about that. There's not really any reason she needs to have a private jet in the first place, so this whole argument is STUPID and DUMB.
Ahh yes, the woman who wanted to... (checks notes) hmm copyright a fucking date because she used it for an album...
Ffs there is no such thing as an ethical money hungry person.
She did actually get those trademarks:
- https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86369161&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
- https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86363039&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
- https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86838684&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
Trademarks for years (and others shit) like that are pretty common. Like this one for 2023: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77026303&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
Here is one for "LOL": https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77669187&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
She doesn't own the year, I think she is just the only one allowed to use it for merchandise, albums, and a bunch of other stuff. Basically no one in the USA is allowed to make a T-shirt with 1989 on it. Maybe it would be fine if the t-shirt has no other connection to Swift. Dunno.
She has a fuckton of trademarks. Just search for "TAS RIGHTS MANAGEMENT, LLC " on https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-information
jfc, it's actually worse than I thought
I mean, there's probably a ton of crap on her. I have no idea, I haven't read up on her, but I would assume that every billionaire has a lot of smoking guns with regard to pollution, bad work conditions and unethical handling of capital. But if the worst you have on her is that she attempted to copyright '1989', it doesn't really seem too bad.
Her private jet has the most CO2 emissions out of any celebrity. She defended that by saying she rents it out, so it wasn't all her; as if that changes how much the private jet she owns has emitted. As far as the rest of her environmental impact, it is likely no worse than other performing celebrities so not great but in larger amounts than other celebs.
She does seem to do well by her support staff. She gave out $55m in bonuses to everyone who worked on her last tour.
She has donated a lot, but I couldn't find out if she has donated over the deduction cap or if she claimed the donations. As far as I can tell the majority has been given to food insecurity charities and disaster relief. So even if it is a tax scheme, she seems to be giving in the right direction.
I am not a fan of her music, but she doesn't seem like a terrible person except that she has unimaginable wealth, a massive platform, a highly influential brand, and isn't doing as much as she could to help others.
Copyright is often quite context sensitive, it doesn't mean nobody can use that date, they just can't name an album after it.
This is, unironically, the best meme about leftists ever made.
In my experience, leftists are like Star Wars fans, in that no one hates leftists like other leftists.
The right, when issues arise, circle the wagons. The left, when issues arise, form a circular firing squad.
The let's fractured nature is both its greatest strength, allowing for innovation and new thinking, and its greatest weakness. We often fail to come together for good, when we all want perfect. We often end up with neither.
Eh, keep in mind that the right have been gridlocking each other in US Congress with the weird alt-right RINO stuff. There's infighting on both sides; the US essentially has multiple parties within each major party.
I always wonder why the workers of the world don't rise up together. We could easily take over without any violence.
Then I remember we all hate each other and refuse to work together and it makes me sad.
Because it is hard for the individual to risk being destitute if he rises up and no one follows.
The petite bourgeoisie has become invested through 401k’s and healthcare benefits in the system.
You're dead right, this comment section is one of the most tragic things I've seen in a while actually.
She's a talented performer, presumably a very hard worker, and they're seething because she... Has money? From proving entertainment, which is a completely optional thing to buy, and by no means an essential service.
There are ethical billionaires, but nobody would have heard of them because they do not advertise and show off how much of a good person they are for donating. A good person do not look for validation. Charles Feeney comes to mind who donated 90% of his wealth and died with net worth of $1 million. He also lived in a rented apartment despite having become a billionaire for managing Duty Free.
Edit: okay some have been pedantic on here about Charles Feeney and his wealth, and some of my figures have been wrong, but the overall point still stands. He was worth $8 billion, donated over 99% of his wealth and spent the rest of his remaining days with $2 million.
Incorrect. The only way to acquire a billion dollars in net worth is to exploit labor.
Doesnt matter if they donated to charity. Its a tax shelter for them. Im sure Feeneys employees would have preferred to be paid higher wages.
Maybe. But we don't know how he managed his business. His wealth was, after all, came in the 1960s and 70s at the height of air travel which he sold his items to travellers, unions were also powerful and the world was operating under the Bretton Woods agreement.
What if someone suddenly inherited 1bn from an estranged relative, or if they won the lottery? I'd say that's an ethical way of gaining that much wealth
I think what defines an ethical billionare from one that isn't, is how much they share with everyone else and how much they consume for themselves. Spending that much money properly would take time. They'd have to vet charities, hire people to help them spend it on the best things, research where to invest in (i'm talking about things like green energy) etc.
Just food for thought. I tend to like looking for exceptions to rules (idk why)
That's reeeeeeally far from a billionaire. If he donated 90% and died with a million, he died with 10% so he had 10mil.
Look things up before being pedantic about them.
If you want to be pedantic about it he ackchyually lived off $2 million. Still gave away $8 billion to charity. (and actual charity, not "a charitable organization" that is mostly a tax shelter for the family's wealth)
His donations are estimated at $8 billion. The 90% figure is wrong, not his wealth.
You're right but that's just being pedantic and my point still stands that he donated vast majority of his wealth. As of 2016, he was worth $2 million. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/nyregion/james-bond-of-philanthropy-gives-away-the-last-of-his-fortune.html,
Bill Gates is much the same, he's given away over half his net worth to charity at this point.
He's not the worse billionaire, but still done enough to get two episodes on behind the bastards: https://youtu.be/lFS9DFXtj1M
I domt think so, we have evidence of plenty of unethical practices he did when he lead microsoft in the early days.
Dunno about you all, though I'll take the slightly less villainess billionnaire that might have a positive impact for $500, Steven. Cause fuck if I won't side with the potential enemies of my enemies at this stage. Playing it cool and acting like we're doing fine doesn't seem to be doing much after all.
Keanu Reeves is pretty cool. He's not a billionaire though
That's why he's pretty cool. Also he'll probably never BE a billionaire, because he's pretty cool. The two rarely meet.
He would probably stop making money at some point because he felt he didn't deserve more.
"That is too many zeros, I just want the SAG minimum and to have fun making this project with you. Just spread the difference among the other staff as a bonus, I'll match it so they can have a great Xmas."
An ethical billionaire is impossible. Hoarding that much money in itself is unethical.
Isn't she constantly screwing her fans over with Ticketmaster and stuff? Why do people think she loves her fans?
She doesn't seem like the most evil billionaire but she definitely likes to squeeze people for cash. The blame just lands elsewhere.
She has absolutely zero control over how her show is run or sold.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift–Ticketmaster_controversy
Isn't that just deferring the blame
She chooses who to associate with She's the person holding all the power. She could easily cut out Ticketmaster if she actually wanted to. It's just easy to defer the blame on a rando corpo group that's running everything behind the scenes while she's making billions from it.
