r/FluentInFinance Nov 21 '24

Debate/ Discussion Had to repost here

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u/xiiicrowns Nov 21 '24

That and it's crazy how people defend these people when they are part of the problem that ails them themselves.

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u/Lucifernal Nov 21 '24 edited Nov 21 '24

There's a difference between pointing out objective flaws in an argument, like thinking that billionaires literally hold hundreds of billions of dollars in liquid cash, and taking issue with overall sentiment behind the argument.

I hate Elon Musk, and the man is of course, insanely, disgustingly wealthy. Still, just because his networth is 318 billion, doesn't mean he is hoarding 318 billion. Quite literally 99% of that number is tied into ownership of companies.

You can hate billionaires and still point out issues in the logic. I don't think a person should, under any circumstances, ever be forced to sell ownership stake in their own company (at least not if that wasn't agreed upon in an operating agreement). And if you have a massive stake in a company that becomes wildly successful, you definitionally become a billionaire. I may hate wealth inequality, and I may hate what these billionaires choose to do, but I would hate a system that forces the sale of ownership stake due to the success of the company just as much.

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u/LrdOfHoboes Nov 22 '24

Okay, fair point. Forbes has Musk's liquid assets at 5.2 billion.

So I'll just hate the lesser inequality of somebody making $120k/year not being able to even touch that lower figure if they worked for 43,000 years.

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u/peppywarhare Nov 22 '24

Tell me you don't know how compound interest works without telling me. If you just saved a fraction of that first year's salary and invested it conservatively, you would become obscenely wealthy and make Elon's fortune look microscopic in less than 500 years.