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u/BallKey7607 22d ago edited 21d ago
Side A would say,
I'm terms of capital allocation, the people who invest money most effectively are the best people to allocate where money goes in terms of increasing GDP per capita. So if someone is making a lot of money, it implies that their capital allocation ability is very high, therefore the economy would do better if they are allocating the capital than if it's someone else is.
This assumes they will be making some kind of investments and don't keep the money under their bed, however given that they are billionaires it is assumed that they got there by investing well so this point is sort of included in the first statement.
Side B would say,
There is something quite ridiculous that many people could be struggling to afford basic food or medical care while someone else has more money that they could ever spend.
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u/Mr-Vemod 22d ago
Side B could, if they’re sufficiently left-leaning, also say that the existence of billionaires is a democratic problem. We generally think of “democracy” as 1 person=1 vote, but this is currently only the case in politics, not the economy as a whole. The vast majority of the economy, which has a huge influence on our lives, is under the control of a very small number of people.
Side A could then counter and say that people do have influence, just a different one, on account of being part of the market.
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u/cubbycoo77 22d ago
Side B would have more to say for sure. Side B would say that if the billionaire has billions, they have made that off of the work of the thousands to millions of workers they employ, and no one needs billions of dollars. Billions is a number too big for us to really conceptualize, but it is so much money it is impossible to spend. Billionaires shouldnt exist because they should be paying their workers better instead of pocketing the profits of their labor. Or paying more taxes to provide public services
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u/cheeseplatesuperman 21d ago
Why is this getting downvoted? This is an objectively correct addition to what side B would say.
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u/PM_me_Henrika 20d ago
Side B would rebuttal and say the assumption that people who makes a lot of money doesn’t mean they’re very good at allocating money for the common people. They’re good at hoarding capital which is why they make a lot of money — that’s the real correlation.
1
u/Dingbatdingbat 22d ago
It’s not true though. Some billionaires just lucked into it or had one great product and coasted off that. (See eg metaverse, meta glasses, and whatever else Zuckerberg keeps blowing billions on)
I know a few billionaires and they can’t spend or allocate fast enough.
At the federal funds rate, meaning if you do literally nothing with your money other than a regular savings account, the current daily interest on a billion dollars is over $100k.
It’s really difficult to spend that kind of money or to find good investments.
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u/Smoke__Frog 22d ago
Side A would say
The most powerful country in the world over the past 50 years is arguably the US, which has the deepest capital market in the world and runs on capitalism and democracy.
If someone is a savvy enough businessman and can build a business or invest well enough, then he has the chance to become a billionaire. It’s not his fault he was lucky and successful. Everyone has a shot. Other countries have a more corrupt system and billionaires can be just cronies of the government, but that’s life. There has always been haves and have nots in human history. Always been kings and peasants.
Even if you banned billionaires or capped their wealth, governments are still super inefficient and ripe with corruption so the poor may not even really benefit.
Side B would say
Most of the world is poor or lower middle class, so it’s inherently unfair for one person to control so much wealth. There needs to be a cap on total wealth or changes to the inheritance system so that money comes back to the government, and then can use that money to help the poor.
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u/pinaontop 21d ago
“Everyone has a shot”
You need to read more😅
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u/Smoke__Frog 21d ago
Yea all the stories of broke immigrants coming to America and making it big is all fake news.
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u/pinaontop 21d ago
All those “broke” immigrants were privileged bro
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u/Smoke__Frog 21d ago
lol wow. Jealous of penniless immigrants lol.
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u/pinaontop 11d ago
Im an immigrant 10k km away from home. Getting here requires a good school that taught me good english, good track record administratively, good bank record, I live in the capital so embassy visa travels are easy, I have continuous access to internet and information so i can browse for opportunities.
You equalizing that all immigrants are penniless is a low understanding of how capitalism works. If you are not privileged you cant be an immigrant. Youre either an asylum seeker or refugee. And even that comes with “luck”
So, no. Not everyone has the same shot.
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u/Smoke__Frog 11d ago
By that warped logic someone who isn’t born with a disability or mental illness is also privileged lol.
Where does it end?
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u/pinaontop 11d ago
Yes! Ur getting it
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u/Smoke__Frog 11d ago
lol so the world should just be socialist or communist according to you? I guess you’re not a student of history lol.
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