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The level of wealth inequality in America is grotesque. A Pew Research report found that the richest families in the U.S. have experienced greater gains in wealth than other families in recent decades, a trend that reinforces the growing concentration of financial resources at the top. Moreover, the wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. To put that into perspective, in 2018, households near the top of the income had incomes that were 12.6 times higher than those near the bottom.
At the top of that very economic ladder stand billionaires. And according to Forbes, there were 2,153 billionaires as of March, with the ultra-rich worth $8.7 trillion, and that’s in 2019. Heading into 2022, the 10 wealthiest individuals in the world are all worth more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The numbers are simply unbelievable, quite like some of their humble success stories.
But people are getting fed up with being told lies. They claim that self-made billionaires are nothing more than another case of nepotism, a common practice of power that favors relatives by giving them exclusive opportunities. We collected some of the most eye-opening arguments about it below, so be sure to scroll down and share your thoughts about this as you go.
Image credits: petergyang
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#1
Trees 3 years ago
Shame they'd just make shell company after shell company all not exceeding $999m. You don't even make $50m without working the system with help from multiple people who specialize in hiding money.
Excited Panda 3 years ago
I don't think some of you understand why these guys are billionaires. It's not like they have lots of money stashed away in a bank, just sitting and doing nothing until they decide to spend some. It's because they have lots of stock, likely in the company they run. If they had to "give up" some of that stock, they would sell it. THEN they would have cash in the bank. But first someone would have to BUY it. For them to divest themselves of $500 million, someone (or more likely lots of someones) would have to come up with $500 million. Where are they supposed to come up with that much money, unless they already have it? Even if it was a 100% tax and the government got it, he/she still has to sell the stock to SOMEONE. You don't pay taxes by giving the IRS a bunch of stock. They have that much money only on paper. To get cash for it others have to buy it. Can you imagine what it would do to the value of Amazon stock if Jeff tried to sell $10 billion worth in one week?
RedMarbles 3 years ago
Well, I'm sure there's a solution to making such adjustments that wouldn't require the dumping of $10B in stock in one week and the resulting disruption. The adjustments could be done gradually, with new rules created preventing individuals from amassing such astronomical portions of the pie in the first place.
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Neville Nicol 3 years ago
Only one way to get rich from nothing. Be a crack, gambling and alcohol addict, invent a pillow company, make a billion dollars, spend millions of it convincing people Donald Trump should still be President
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#2
Lauren Caswell 3 years ago
I'd say go for the weak patch over his heart, but what heart?
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Oak Middleman 3 years ago
And every single billionaire is still trying to make more billions in which to hoard and not help. Disgusting.
Lady of the Mountains 3 years ago
......bill gates quit his job to give away money full time.....dave ramsy quit his to educate people about money.....don't put a blanket stereotype on these people, it is not a crime to have money
#3
Lily Mae Kitty 3 years ago
Sheesh, Rothschild money started way back in the 1700s. I believe the 1st one made money dealing in coins.
Income inequality in the United States is at its highest level in at least 50 years, according to the government’s Census Bureau. According to Oxfam, the world’s wealthiest 26 individuals had the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the population in 2018. But 2021 was a year like no other for the billionaires, and it’s not the world still trapped in an unprecedented public health crisis.
The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented 2,755. That’s a whopping 660 more than just a year ago. According to Forbes, of those, a record high 493 were new to the list—roughly one every 17 hours, including 210 from China and Hong Kong. Another 250 who’d fallen off in the past came right back. As a result, this year we see a mindblowing 86% who are richer than a year ago.
#4
Monday 3 years ago
Just goes to show how biased the media is too...they have an actual hardworking billionaire who didn't start off rich but they stick a Kardashian on the cover cause that'll sell more magazines.
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TheDivineMsM 3 years ago
I'd much rather support Pat McGrath than a Kardashian/Jenner any day.
Andy Acceber 3 years ago
Pat McGrath was more self-made than Kylie, but her "in" was more who she knew. In the 80s, she just so happened to hang out with John Galliano and Alexander McQueen.
Davo gifman 3 years ago
I'd like to think that if Kylie Jenner got passed over she would raise hell; an cry around like a little bitch. An I bet this lady Pat McGrath isn't even sweating it a bit. Because she's probably too busy working on her next billion. Mad respect to miss McGrath for working her ass off to achieve her success. Jenner eh...not so much.
#5
Jo Choto 3 years ago
There's just no good reason to be a billionaire. Having said that, billionaires don't actually have a billion in cash. They were worth that much because they have businesses of that value.
Ivana 3 years ago
You can only become a billionaire via the exploitation of others. If you weren't exploiting laborers then you wouldn't have billions because you would have paid your staff their worth and paid a high price for the raw materials being gathered from people making less than a dollar a day.
Walking On Sunshine 3 years ago
What is worse, in the US, are the billionaire-defender welfare garbage. You know, the ones who rail against taxing billionaires while taxpayers support *them*? Oh, what do we call them? It's on the tip of my tongue.
Laurie Lee 3 years ago
MOST people starve to death??? Come on, there are truths in what you say, your sensationalism makes you appear uninformed or lying.
Michel Jung 3 years ago
Ignoring that not "most human beings starve to death". It's easy to point to others and call them moral monsters. But do we hold ourselves to the same standards? For instance, what's on our dinner plates? Is there any good reason for consuming animal products that come from an industry so evil that it IS actually unparalleled? I suggest we look at our own actions first before blaming others.
Rob Detmar 3 years ago
Hardly the point, which you obviously missed. Me stopping eating meat doesn't destroy an entire industry. 1 Billionaire changing their habits COULD help an entire country though. See the difference there my ignorant friend?
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#6
Davo gifman 3 years ago
Yes I agree. I think that's where mistakes are being made...that damn journal.
DC 3 years ago
... welders have a special place in my heart. I'm an engineer, currently working in a field requiring large hollow bodys of sheet metal ... and I had to weld as an intern, of course, too. As a student. I effed up so bad I hid some of my results in the bucket of water we used to cool freshly welded things and just left them there to rot to pieces. Then, my 2nd internship, I was assigned to a very talented welder, to assist him, and tried again ... first day - it went awesome, I thought I finally got it. 2nd day of me welding - shid again. You can learn to weld somehow, but a really, really good welder is someone born to weld. And I love that I can work with these people, who have a ton of knowledge about welding and adjacent manufactoring as well. The golden cage, I guess, isn't really for me ... or fo any engineer to begin with. Miss the dirty hands sometimes...
Tom Spade 3 years ago
Thank you both! It's how I got my start. Honesty here, I learned it in prison. I was given an opportunity and I took it. I served my time to the very last minute. Got out, got a welding job and never looked back. 30 years later, I have a decent job on a huge farm with two other companies operating from it. I now process waste veggie oil into biofuel, a million gallons a year. I still weld often, as I'm a working, blue collar manager. Cuz that's where it started for me. Hanging on with one hand, welding with the other, high off the ground. I still have my old iron work boots to this day. So that I NEVER FORGET.
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But what is the relationship between nepotism and sky-high fortune like that? Well, legally, the concerns surrounding it are few but not to be ignored. Tom Gies, a founding member of the labor and employment law practice at Crowell & Moring, says there's little out there to discourage nepotism—and nothing that explicitly forbids it.
However, trouble can arise if a company advertises a vacant job and then fills it with an employee's relative who clearly is less qualified than, say, a female or minority applicant. That can run up against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion or national origin. But the solution is more than simple: if the job opening is never publicly advertised, it's almost impossible for anyone to cry foul over nepotism.
#7
Gerard Neaux 3 years ago (edited)
I always thought it was my parents' flex to have me despite not being able to afford me
Load More Replies... Lynn Morello 3 years ago
We don't get to choose. Parents are parents, their financial status doesn't come into it when it comes to reincarnation. Financials is just the luck of the draw.
GlitterQueen541 3 years ago
My boss is a multi-millionaire...she always said she did a really good job in choosing her great-grandfather.
#8
Gerard Neaux 3 years ago
Unless you're Trump. His way to get rich is start richer and bankrupt some of his business.
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Louis Beltcher 3 years ago
Don't forget that Elon Musk literally stole Tesla he weaseled his way into the company and than pushed the founders out and rebranded and sued so that he was officially listed as the founder
ThatGuv 3 years ago
Well the original article on Musk that claimed about the mine... clearly stated the mine was in Zambia and not South Africa. So this picture is already suspect.
Rissie 3 years ago
Also pretty sure Musk was more inspired by his mom than his dad. Also, the amount of money they made, even from that advantageous starting point is incredible. And I doubt they would deny the sheer amount of luck involved, but that doesn't make their ideas useless. Also it is society that had a big role in needing three of these inventions.
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Gerard Neaux 3 years ago
I don't think this is about what they claim but how they're seen in society
Load More Replies... Mazer 3 years ago
NO SUCH THING AS A SELF MADE ANYTHING. Who taught you? fed you? Think about how many people were involved in making the pencil you use to write notes. Geologist - graphite, miner to mine graphite, people who mined the steel to Make the truck to transport the graphite, to make the rubber tire, design the machines, keep machine running, the forester who chose the trees to be logged, the logger, the truck driver transporting the lumber, the sawmill guy, the paint used to paint your pencil, the rubber for the eraser, the cardboard box designer, the printer etc etc. THATS JUST FOR THE PENCIL!!!!
#9
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
Every time I see Zuckerberg's photo, the first thing I think is "Damn. Someone needs to slip him some light colored contacts." Those dark eyeballs are like black holes to his soul.
Kat Hoth 3 years ago
He looks like the rejected version when Dr. Soong was creating Data.
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TrickQuestion 3 years ago
"Other people doing the work" is the key to how most people get wealth. They use other people's labor, ideas, time, etc. to enrich themselves while those who do the actual work get as little as they can get by with paying them.
Sue Hazlewood 3 years ago
Other people doing the work for a pittance in pay. Fixed that for you.
#10
adiiantryx 3 years ago
it's a symbolism. if you convince people that they can easily become 'successful' (like you) people will do everything in their power to do so, even licking your feet to get there.
Helen Downey 3 years ago
Shiz if chronic insomnia and inflammation = stinking rich then why the heck aren't I?!!?
Barry Patterson 3 years ago
Actually they feel guilty for having too much money, just not guilty enough to share.
Seedy Vine 3 years ago
Maybe they're trying to suffer because they feel guilty about hoarding wealth or subjugating others or destroying the natural world... but even then, they still want to be in control of the suffering.
#11
Legen ( wait for it ) dary 3 years ago
I'm poor because I don't have a Garage. My entire apartment have the size of ( insert the smallest size place in your house)
RNA 3 years ago
On a completely unrelated topic - i'm tempted to create another account, pick a cow avatar for it and name it 'Legen (wait for it) dairy!' just because of you ;)
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Davo gifman 3 years ago
If some of those people started in a garage; it's because they wanted to be rockstars first. Then their fathers told them they sucked at music, and was far to ugly to be rockstars So he cut them a check instead.
Izzy_ 3 years ago
I'm have a side business. Crafting. I like making things but I don't know what to do with so many so I sell them. I make decent money and could technically change more, but I realized I'm never going to become rich because I feel sooo guilty forn over changing and screwing people over. I like making people happy and give everyone the access to things (not just the rich)
GlitterQueen541 3 years ago
All of those garages would be going for $600,000 on Zillow nowadays
Marco Conti 3 years ago
When I applied to be an Officer in the Italian army I did poorly on the entrance test. Actually, I did well, but I failed the "Military Attitude" part of it, whatever it is. However, I was accepted, put in artillery (my math was terrible and artillery is all math) and I got my commission. I did so well I was asked to extend my commission past the mandatory (which is pretty rare). I thought "I did it my way" humming Frank Sinatra. Until one day I met an old high school classmate. We talk, then he goes" Yes now I remember, I worked at the officers acceptance office, I saw your name and I moved the files from the rejects to the "accepted" pile, hope it was OK. Luck and who you know play a big part in some life events.
KatHat 3 years ago
"Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" was a phrase literally created for its ironic value, given that IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. It's like saying to pick yourself up by your own belt and hang yourself by a hook. You can't do it. And that was the POINT, and yet now it's used as an aspirational phrase (by some, I know not all).
#12
Ellis Tamura 3 years ago
But we DO need a billionaire to go first? any suggestions?
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the annoying theatre kid 3 years ago
no it's like having a server with friends, but you own the server and you're secretly in creative the whole time and are like kmg you guys im so far ahead. and if people find out you're like well i have each of you a diamond also i started the server so i deserve it and i worked for it.
Sam 3 years ago
How did this turn violent? Wanting to kill billionaires like Marie Antoinette is low key high key creepy as heck. We need to change laws to pay more to low wage, not kill the rich
Tracy Sellars 3 years ago
Minecraft was brought up and it can bring out the worse in us. Remember this is the game where you get the finish credits, which is considered good, for killing the last of a species and she is pregnant. Not to mention the only way to work with the villagers is to lock them up and force them to trade with you after infecting then curing them. And don't get me started on how we treat wandering traders.
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Rick Hoppenbrouwer 3 years ago
I will forego my part of the cash, but I still want to test this hypothesis. Should be fun.
#13
Tom Spade 3 years ago (edited)
Generations. Key word here. How many more generations are going to help perpetuate this s**t, and keep handing our children over to these maggots and parasites as cheap, disposable labor? Is it time to drag them down to extinction and see what those hidden fortunes can do for us as a people, instead of them, as a privileged little clique?
Paula Marowsky 3 years ago
Kill all the natives first, and then forbide "migration". Voila
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Lynn Morello 3 years ago
That and the fact that US workers have been indoctrinated to accepting Low Wages from them being young.
#14
Amaranthim Talon 3 years ago
Especially if there were a bunch of little old dead people because they shouldn't have been pushed into nursing homes-
Load More Replies... Davo gifman 3 years ago
Thanks a lot man! That's what I needed to get me motivated at 8:30 am on a friggin Tuesday morning. 😠🤨😑🥴
Laura McCumber 3 years ago
All I feel are the walls closing in on me because I’m so damn poor. I wonder if this billionaire can help feed my youngest child!! SHE IS A DAMN FOOD EATER OF ALL THINGS AND I JUST CANT AFFORD THAT S**T NO MORE.
Sensitive Issues 3 years ago
I can't tell you how many people just don't/can't/won't understand this. it's infuriating.
Naesil 3 years ago
Well lots of people seem to have problem realizing how big billion actually is, its just one letter from million right? But they could make someone millionaire as easy as if I gave homeless man 1 dollar of my wealth.
Load More Replies... #15
Florida, but without the beach 3 years ago
I love that Donald trump isn’t on these lists, he got more money from his dad than most of these people and still couldn’t make the list!
Joe Reaves 3 years ago
One magazine (Time, People, I don't know one of the ones he likes to boast about being on the cover of) calculated if he'd put what he inherited in a normal bank account (not even some high risk high return investment just a savings account) he'd have more now than he actually has. He came from wealth and has actually made himself POORER in real terms. Unless you have a gambling habit or a drugs problem (neither of which I'm accusing him of) it takes an immense amount of whatever the polar opposite of talent is to do that. FFS his CASINO went bust. Do you know how hard it is to LOSE money running a casino?
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Laura McCumber 3 years ago
S**t! Why didn’t I choose the rich family!! Here I am being sent to the wrong vaachina
My Frances Reneè 3 years ago
And our ppl keep dying with no Life Insurance in place and a blueprint on what to do with it.
DeeDee Borick Burlington 3 years ago
I would respect them a little bit more if they actully started from the bare bottom and worked their fingers to the bone making their money than having wealthy parents opening up the doors for them to walk right threw
#16
#17
Emily Chase 3 years ago (edited)
Anyone who unironically uses the term "vacationing domestically" should not be giving financial advice to normal people. (And I love how they casually mentioned a $500k "gift" from an uncle. My uncle gave me a scratchy sweater...15 years ago.)
Zoe Vokes 3 years ago
My uncle always forgot my birthday but once gave me £2 several months later on my brother’s birthday when he remembered. I couldn’t afford a house with that.
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Kimi Tomminello 3 years ago
🤣🤣🤣$500k gift from his uncle to buy a home INSTEAD of using his savings from the hedge fund job his daddy got him helped him pay off his college loans and retire early.... The rest of us work our bums off, live in cars and cut every corner imaginable.
Marco Conti 3 years ago
What a hero! I bet he had to walk uphill in the snow both ways to go to work.
Ivana 3 years ago
This is what always gets me. Everyone thinks that their experience is the average. For instance, when I was growing up, I thought that the average was run down trailers and thought is was normal to be homeless off and on, I thought anyone who lives in a house must be the super rich. But then at the age of 9 when none of my friends were allowed to sleep over for my birthday because I lived in a trailer park I then realized I was not the average, I was below that. So why did this man never learn he was not the average? He is an adult and should know that his experience is far from the norm and that it is not true that if he can do it, anyone can. The thinking you are the norm should stop when you are an adult and capable of learning otherwise if you do the bare minimum like look at a paper or talk to someone outside your family.
#18
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
I'm a legacy admission - I was granted admission to the every day rat race, just like my parents and their parents and their parents' parents.
IcarusOfTheSkywings 3 years ago
The trouble with the rat race is that if you win, you're still a rat.
Load More Replies... Mazer 3 years ago
I know a very few people who are ultra wealthy. They were not raised in wealthy households but were in the right place at the right time doing the right things. He had some brutal sacrifices with family relationships but never looked back, He lives a very comfortable life and is a salt of the earth kind of guy. He is unique and refreshing. I think there are lots of people like him. The ride the crest of benefits from the government that the 1% has secured but they pay taxes and support their communities. Seems the ends of the spectrum are where the biggest issues lie, too much and not enough
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Why downvote? ANd what is "ultra wealthy"? Also, Mazer pointed out the benefits from gov't that these use/abnuse, depending, so .... What is ultra-wealthy? I feel wealthy, b/c I am, compared to what I had as a kid. You can also get lucky, it's true ----- but more often, it's ruthlessness, anda willingness to sacrifice things some of us feel are part of our wealth. Family. Love.. Friends who aren't just there to network with.... While books like "Rich Dad Poor Dad" have their value, they also don't take into account that if you start two people identically in life, you will probably see them end up similarly.
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Kanuli 3 years ago
Being only mildly successful has advantages aswell. Like no newspaper paparazzi on all that happens in your life. You can sleep a whole weekend, and no one cares. Game 30h in one session. And with the unstable economy can still tell your family off with „yea I got a lil money, but not enough to pay for your mistakes with this uncertainty on the social systems.“
#19
Jo Choto 3 years ago
Oh, and also not spend any money on accommodation or food or anything else between now and having enough house money.
Bob Belcher 3 years ago
I bought an avocado today for $1.72. I'm sure if I didn't buy 1 a week like I have been doing far before avocado toast was a thing, I'd buy and sell all of you all day long.
Load More Replies... Pilot Chick 3 years ago
I’m a millennial and never n my life have I bought avocado toast. I should be a millionaire at this point, right?
J. G. 3 years ago
You shouldn't eat avocados for an entirely different reason. Growing only one fruit takes 70 liters of water. You can't sell them expensive enough to make up for that irresponsible waste of a resource that's so sparse in a major part of the world. Source: https://www.fairobserver.com/more/environment/hans-georg-betz-avocado-environment-water-footprint-production-consumption-europe-china-latin-america-news-13621/
Monday 3 years ago
That's great except the tree is already in my neighbour's yard and I'm not strong willed enough to stop myself from climbing my orange tree to steal some.
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Darcy Marie 3 years ago
I don't even like avacado. Never bought one. Why don't I live in a mansion in the moon?
Suzanne Clark 3 years ago
Oh yeah, that and the "give up one latte a day" and you'll be a millionaire guru.
#20
Davo gifman 3 years ago
My dad passed away; so all of our money is tied up in the afterlife market. An with my dad being a good man I'd like to think he's in heaven. An when I die...well I'm not so sure. So it looks like we will be diversifying our stock portfolio. No use in having all the deviled eggs in one basket. 😁🤪 yeah, yeah I'm leaving. 🤨 Well I know now; that it's not funny...🤣
#21
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
I stay up to date on current events, do not game, and do not party. I also don't evade my taxes, or have $250K start-up with guaranteed customers thanks to my family. So, try again....
My Frances Reneè 3 years ago
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😜😜😜..oh is that what it's called? I thought it was called knowing how to file smart.
Mazer 3 years ago
Not my ultra wealthy friends, they go wine tasting, travel domestically to look for and buy more income property and either go yachting or sailing or are jet setting in some exotic country, peppered with frequent live concert nights or art gallery shows
Atero 3 years ago
Well... Most of it covered by "socializing" and "networking". Investments and "income property" are very close to legal tax evasion. So, they do it "by the book".
Load More Replies... #22
Mtownmick 3 years ago
Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin - "I have decided I am going to be rich". Dad: "You better start studying and work hard." Calvin " No, you should. I decided I am going to inherit it."
DUN DUN (she/her) 3 years ago
I read this with the comic pictures in my head
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Mazer 3 years ago
I met a guy working as a ranger for the Golden Gate National Recreation area properties in San Francisco. He was in his mid 40’s. We got to talking. He said he grew up loving computers, got into coding. Realized after 20 years that he was slowly losing his will to do anything any more. He was pulling in six figures, lived in a beautiful house, had everything but was losing his happy self he had as a kid. He realized he could go no further in his career and was becoming unhappier every day. He quit his job, found out about a job opening at the GGNRA, applied, got the job. He said that move to stop chasing the carrot was life changing. Appreciating his cushion of a good home, good medical and dental benefits for life, he was now standing by the Golden Gate Bridge, freezing his ass off nearly everyday, dealing with the General public, some ultra self absorbed, some are tourists that speak very little english and try to converse with him and he loves it all.
#23
Urbangirlatl 3 years ago
She is legit self made. Right place right time, but no wealth to boost her along.
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
Love her or hate her, she deserves to be on the rich guy list. She came from nothing and she alone is responsible for her success.
Mark Kelly 3 years ago
But she really did start out poor with no Rich parents or relatives with Friends
Bob Belcher 3 years ago (edited)
Am I the only one that can't stand Oprah? I understand she truly was self made, but I've never really seen her do anything to help society.
Simzabandz 3 years ago
hey but Oprah is in fact self made and we can see in her initiatives of giving back a lot..
#24
Heinrich Hall 3 years ago
Making fun of people's names is not a good thing to do.
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#25
thatmagicgaychick 3 years ago
Mazer- the economy is so fuckd up that a lot of people can't afford food and rent at the same time.
A_fangirling_Demigod_witch 3 years ago
I'm already worrying how tf i'm going to do SOMETHING to get wealthy to end this cycle right here, my parents are both immigrants and neither has gotten past college. Idk what i'm going to do.
raymond gabriel 3 years ago (edited)
I would start with Real Estate. If I have up to 10-15k, I would buy a property. If don't, I would get my real estate or insurance license and start selling houses or insurance.(it will be a bit difficult at the beginning but when you master it...$$$$) It's a sure way to become rich. I would get rid of all my friends and acquire new ones - people that are already successful in the industry I am interested in. I would just put in the work.
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Joanie 3 years ago
Be poor and happy. Okay. That's the answer. I'm happy that I can't afford to fix my car, which gets me to work at my dead end job. I'm happy that I don't have health insurance so I do without proper medical care. I'm happy that my children can't eat organic, healthy veggies and free range eggs everyday because my grocery budget can't stretch that far. I'm happy that I will never own a home, only pay ever increasing rent in a substandard neighborhood. Find my bliss? Hell, I can't even find a parking spot. I'll take wealthy and miserable for $800 Alex
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#26
Janos Schumacher 3 years ago
I'm grateful that, as a kid, I didn't starve to death. I'm also grateful that my room had heat sometimes. I'm grateful that I worked on the farm 80 hours a week for no pay. Then I was grateful that I went to college using a small amount of money from my grandma as tuition was only $1,200 a quarter. I'm grateful that I was allowed to work at K-Mart for $4.25 an hour which was cool. At least it didn't pay the bills so I had to hustle for the rest. Then I became a self made billionaire. Oh, I forgot, I'm 43 and changing careers and I'm pretty sure my dog makes more than I do.
Jude Corrigan 3 years ago
The first thing I would write is 'I am grateful that after saving up I could afford this journal'
#27
RedstonewolfX 3 years ago
This is the slowest way to become a millionaire. No billionaire would ever spend enough on anyone but themselves to drop below $1,000,000,000.
jimmy pop 3 years ago
Technically, if you have $1b, all you need to do is spend a single cent to become a millionaire.
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Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago
I heard this variation decades ago,” How do you make one million dollars breeding thoroughbred horses? Spend TWO million dollars breeding thoroughbred horses”.
#28
#30
King Kashue 3 years ago (edited)
Shannon, you're full of s**t. Just so full of it. Yes, there are self-made millionaires, but that does not refute the lack of economic mobility in this country. When asked to estimate how many people born into the lowest quintile for income reach the top quintile during their lifetime guess 12%. In the Southeast (i.e., "The South") the guess is 20%. The reality? 7%. Americans as a whole over estimate by 50% and the most "Grab them boostraps, Johnny!" region guesses almost 3x too much. And the top quintile? That's not millions. That's not even 6 figures. That's roughly $65k a year. Any skilled tradesperson can make that. It's plumbers and carpenters and mechanics and unionized line workers, in addition to accountants and actuaries and insurance salespeople. We live in a country where, if you are born into poverty, you have only a 7% chance of ever making even $65k per year, and you're out here caping for millionaires and condemning folks for not working hard enough? What a colossal joke.
Gerard Neaux 3 years ago
I felt that. Is it too late to become a plumber at 40?
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roshkosh 3 years ago
This article is about billionaires, not millionaires. There’s plenty of good millionaires out there. But some of the most famous wealthy people that people think are “self made” came from an already wealthy background.
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What do you think ?
Jo Choto 3 years ago
Capitalism. That's what it is. The idea that all good things come from being rich, so the richer you are, the gooder you are. But there is limited wealth in any economy, so when some people have a lot more, that HAS to result in many other people having less.
Martha Meyer 3 years ago (edited)
It's not a really something unique to Capitalism. Ever since humans stopped living in small equalitarian hunter gatherer groups and started agriculture to live in much larger groups, some people managed to accumulate a lot more possessions than others, gave it to their children and grandchildren and then built some kind of myth around it to justify why they had all this generational wealth while other people starved. It used to be I'm better than you and deserve all my wealth because I'm ordained by God to be your king/priest/ruler". Now we just have a different myth to justify why billionaires "deserve" to be billionaires while there are still starving people.
Load More Replies... Monkey Spunk 3 years ago
The UN told Elon Musk he could end World hunger with $6.6bn, he asked them to send him a detailed plan. Last year they sent him a full breakdown, he's been surprisingly quiet about it since then. Playing the big man on Twitter as usual.
Magoomba 3 years ago
M**********r has $120 billion & the world asks for $6.6 and Musk ghosts ‘em. Shows his true colors. Same as the rest. The French Revolution gave us the template to deal with them if we get the chance.
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William 3 years ago
I get insanely rich people never thinking enough is enough. I get the insanely rich using the tools and political influence at their disposal to preserve their wealth and limit exposure to taxes. What I don't get is the regular people working hard for their money being OK with paying a significantly higher portion of what they have than the insanely rich. Electing politicians who run on the idea that somehow making the insanely rich insanely richer is somehow going to benefit society as a whole after nearly forty years of proof money in fact does not "trickle down". The wealth gap just grows faster. Capitalism works but only when you have some kind of guardrails. Otherwise it's just a real-life game of Monopoly.
Magoomba 3 years ago (edited)
I spent three years at an Ivy League university. Not as a student. I can say that IMO the students at this university were no more intellectually inclined than the students at any state university I’ve been affiliated with. As a matter of fact, except for the token minority students, most were average at best. They were, however, a lot richer so things always worked out all right.
Lucille Soderstrom 3 years ago
Communism entails that everyone gets paid the same, but it also entails that nobody has a voice, government gets to decide everything, we don't get to choose where we go to shop or play or work - y'all realize that if America goes to Communism we can't do a majority of the stuff we do on a daily basis? Freedom is NONE. Knock it off and find another way.
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Trees 3 years ago
I 100% get the snark. But if my Dad got me a job, I'd take it. As long as I didn't have to work for him or with him.
Naesil 3 years ago
Sure, most of us would and Im pretty sure most of us would behave as the "self made" people... if you always had fortune behind you how would you actually know of real world that majority of people are living in.
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Lukyan Terdal 3 years ago
When the crew of 'The Powerpuff Girls' created the character Princess Morbucks, do you think it's possibly they were trying to warn us?
Jo Choto 3 years ago
Capitalism. That's what it is. The idea that all good things come from being rich, so the richer you are, the gooder you are. But there is limited wealth in any economy, so when some people have a lot more, that HAS to result in many other people having less.
Martha Meyer 3 years ago (edited)
It's not a really something unique to Capitalism. Ever since humans stopped living in small equalitarian hunter gatherer groups and started agriculture to live in much larger groups, some people managed to accumulate a lot more possessions than others, gave it to their children and grandchildren and then built some kind of myth around it to justify why they had all this generational wealth while other people starved. It used to be I'm better than you and deserve all my wealth because I'm ordained by God to be your king/priest/ruler". Now we just have a different myth to justify why billionaires "deserve" to be billionaires while there are still starving people.
Load More Replies... Monkey Spunk 3 years ago
The UN told Elon Musk he could end World hunger with $6.6bn, he asked them to send him a detailed plan. Last year they sent him a full breakdown, he's been surprisingly quiet about it since then. Playing the big man on Twitter as usual.
Magoomba 3 years ago
M**********r has $120 billion & the world asks for $6.6 and Musk ghosts ‘em. Shows his true colors. Same as the rest. The French Revolution gave us the template to deal with them if we get the chance.
Load More Replies... William 3 years ago
I get insanely rich people never thinking enough is enough. I get the insanely rich using the tools and political influence at their disposal to preserve their wealth and limit exposure to taxes. What I don't get is the regular people working hard for their money being OK with paying a significantly higher portion of what they have than the insanely rich. Electing politicians who run on the idea that somehow making the insanely rich insanely richer is somehow going to benefit society as a whole after nearly forty years of proof money in fact does not "trickle down". The wealth gap just grows faster. Capitalism works but only when you have some kind of guardrails. Otherwise it's just a real-life game of Monopoly.
Magoomba 3 years ago (edited)
I spent three years at an Ivy League university. Not as a student. I can say that IMO the students at this university were no more intellectually inclined than the students at any state university I’ve been affiliated with. As a matter of fact, except for the token minority students, most were average at best. They were, however, a lot richer so things always worked out all right.
Lucille Soderstrom 3 years ago
Communism entails that everyone gets paid the same, but it also entails that nobody has a voice, government gets to decide everything, we don't get to choose where we go to shop or play or work - y'all realize that if America goes to Communism we can't do a majority of the stuff we do on a daily basis? Freedom is NONE. Knock it off and find another way.
Load More Replies... Trees 3 years ago
I 100% get the snark. But if my Dad got me a job, I'd take it. As long as I didn't have to work for him or with him.
Naesil 3 years ago
Sure, most of us would and Im pretty sure most of us would behave as the "self made" people... if you always had fortune behind you how would you actually know of real world that majority of people are living in.
Load More Replies... Lukyan Terdal 3 years ago
When the crew of 'The Powerpuff Girls' created the character Princess Morbucks, do you think it's possibly they were trying to warn us?
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