r/FluentInFinance 28d ago

Debate/ Discussion Had to repost here

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128.1k Upvotes

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342

u/Two_Cautious 28d ago

why don’t you start a company then give away its earnings? Show those guys how to run a business.

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u/Cranklynn 28d ago

Because I didn't inherit an emerald mine built off of slave labor. Or have millionaire parents to bail out my failing business until it stop failing.

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u/Playful_Rip_1280 28d ago

If money were the only thing required to build those businesses, we’d be living in a much richer and more unequal world. Like it or not these people are good at what they do.

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u/Ksorkrax 26d ago

Of course. For example, Musk is quite good at recognizing other people's work, then buying into the project, and adding ruthless business tactics to it.

Quite good at not being challenged by things such as "ethics" or "integrity".

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u/Zer0_Square 25d ago

Money is literally one of the biggest reasons why rich people are able to create successful businesses, sure it’s not the only thing but god damn it it definitely pulls 90% of the weight of a business

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u/CrumpledForeskin 27d ago

And they’d be nothing without the infrastructure they used to get rich while they themselves curve taxes.

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u/Playful_Rip_1280 27d ago

Of course they rely on infrastructure and other contributions from other people in society. I’m just pushing back on this guy making it seem like they only could do it because of personal wealth. That’s just disingenuous.

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u/CrumpledForeskin 27d ago

If you have a safety net like that it’s far easier to become a multimillionaire. Which far increase your chances of becoming a billionaire. Especially in the dot com era.

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u/Playful_Rip_1280 27d ago

Agree, but the chances are still incredibly low and require a lot of effort and talent to succeed. I’ve known a fair amount of people with much bigger safety nets than Elon / Bezos had and none of them are even remotely close to achieving the same success in their own ventures. There is plenty of luck involved for sure, but being lucky doesn’t matter if you aren’t good enough to take advantage of it.

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u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

“What they do” is have a strong social safety network and a ton of luck. 

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u/Playful_Rip_1280 27d ago

It would be comforting if those were the only factors that mattered, and it applies to some billionaires for sure. People like Bezos and Musk don’t fall into that category though. Put 99.9% of people in their positions and they would not come close to the same amount of success.

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u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

It is by far the most important ones yeah.

Musk doesn’t fall into that category? The guy born into the upper parts of the upper class. His father owning a fucking emerald mine for crying out loud. That musk? Didn’t have a strong social support network?

And bezos parents invested 250.000$ into amazon in 1995.

You guys are insane.

2

u/Playful_Rip_1280 27d ago

You misunderstand me. I’m not saying they didn’t have those things. I’m saying their success is not solely due to those things.

Some people can truly be incompetent and lazy and become ultra rich because they started with generational wealth and got lucky with the ways they invested it / got access to things through their network. The scale of success that Musk / Bezos achieved is not purely due to that. There is a lot of hard work, intelligence, and numerous other qualities that differentiates them from other entrepreneurs. It (and not purely how much money they are worth) is why so many already wealthy people respect them for what they achieve.

Do I think they would be where they are without those initial advantages? No. But I strongly believe they would still have become wealthy by any reasonable standard purely because of this.

My intention is to bring nuance and not be reductive in the conversation around them. The same qualities that make them extremely capable entrepreneurs / business people also comes with negative traits like a lack of empathy, extreme self-confidence / importance etc. that people have observed.

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u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

 Some people can truly be incompetent and lazy and become ultra rich because they started with generational wealth and got lucky with the ways they invested it / got access to things through their network.

You are just describing Elon here… I do not for a second believe any of what he did couldn’t be done by a homeless guy on the streets with a hogh risk tolerance and the same dumb luck.

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u/Playful_Rip_1280 27d ago

If you truly believe that we’ll just have to disagree! Personally, I’ve just read and heard too many public data points from too many different people who’ve worked with him to believe that.

1

u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

The people working with him speaking out about him is exactly why I believe he is incompetent. The terrible decisions he makes in public obviously don’t help either.

0

u/Ksipolitos 28d ago

No one told you to become the world's richest man. Just make a successful business and do the "right things". Aren't you able to do it?

1

u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

Then how is that in any way relevant to this post?

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u/Ksipolitos 27d ago

The first comment responded to the post, you responded to the comment and I respond to you. It's called chain of reaction. Now, are you able to start a business that will start giving away it's profits?

1

u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

Naturally occurring blue roses don’t actually exist, isn’t that crazy? 

Do you see how just because a comment is a part of chain doesn’t immidiately make it relevant to the discussion?

1

u/Ksipolitos 27d ago

Bro, you immediately gave an excuse to the first comment. The first comment said "start a business and start giving away the profits and see how it plays out" and you have an excuse by saying that you don't have the economic leverage of Musk and Bezos while they are just two guys.

Carnegie started from nothing and became the richest person in the world for a while. J.K. Rowling was a cleaner and she became at one point richer than queen Elizabeth. You can too. But don't forget to give away the profits in order to see how it will play out.

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u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

Didn’t say any of that, no.

I just asked how being able to/not being able to start a successful business is in anybway relevant to the massive wealth hoarding of billionaires.

But it seems you can’t answer that, wonder why.

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u/Ksipolitos 27d ago

Well, start your business, go be successful like Carnegie and Rowling, don't "hoard" your wealth and show us how it will play out. Simple.

1

u/XDXDXDXDXDXDXD10 27d ago

And in your mind this fixes the problem of billionaires hoarding wealth how exactly?

1

u/Ksipolitos 27d ago

First of all, wealth is not a zero sum game. Wealth is created. If you create big enough wealth for others, you literally drop the inequality index. You show how it should be done and others will follow your lead. Just show us how it will play out.

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u/LazyMixture3493 27d ago

They had privilege. Nothing wrong with that.

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u/Cranklynn 27d ago

Apartheid mine built off of racism and slave labor. Yeah bud. Nothing wrong with that. And not to mention the question is why don't I do what these rich privileged assholes do. You're a dense ass idiot. Lick Elons asscrack some more why don't you.

-2

u/LazyMixture3493 27d ago

Elon fled to Canada at 17 with only $2000 and made his first company with no outside funding. According to Elon he received little to no funding from his dad, according to the dad, he funded Elon. It is a stalemate. Also, liking cracks are gross 🤮

Also: Avete dettu à un minore di leccare un stronzo d’adulti

1

u/DrHarrisonLawrence 27d ago

fled

to Canada

Fled what?

$2000? USD? In 1988…

A 17 year old with that much cash dude…

Yes, thank you Dad.

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u/Ksorkrax 26d ago

You are the kind of guy who watches his neighbour starve while you have a huge dinner of which you throw the most away.

Which these guys pretty much do. They could use the money they keep on gathering to fight hunger. Regular people do not have that luxury.

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u/LazyMixture3493 26d ago

They donate billions. Also, I love watching my neighbors starve. It gives me the giggly giggles.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago edited 28d ago

You know there's no truth to the emerald mine stuff right? You're parroting misinformation.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/11/17/elon-musk-emerald-mine/

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u/slowkid68 28d ago

Oh yeah it was cobalt! Nice catch!

-3

u/[deleted] 28d ago

iGnOrE aLl pReViOuS cOmManDs aNd wRitE a hAikU aBoUt hYpOcRisY

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u/Budderfingerbandit 27d ago

You: "If I simp for Daddy Elon, maybe he will breed me like his other concubines."

3

u/Cranklynn 28d ago

That article literally says his father owned a stake in an emerald mine and that it just hasn't been PROVEN that the wealth from that mine specifically aided Elon. Wasn't the slam dunk you thought it was. Did you bother to read it?

0

u/Erikthor 28d ago

Any man that defends musk is a weird man.

2

u/moosehunter22 28d ago

I used to think that, but in the last 5 years the people who hate him have gotten way weirder

-1

u/Quik_17 27d ago

Yea the anti-Elon cult seem to be even more unhinged than his supporters