• NigelFrobisher@aussie.zoneEnglish
    433·
    7 days ago

    People can have mega yachts precisely because others don’t get 3 meals a day. That’s how the system is designed to work.

    • Urist@lemmy.mlEnglish
      30·
      7 days ago

      Not because the capital spared from denied meals (or production thereof) are going directly towards yachts, but because the capitalist mode of production requires the threat of starvation to force us into unfavourable compensation for our labour.

      Really, we could easily do both at this point (and more), but since greed knows no limits, there is also no limit to what pain the capitalist class will impose on us in order to extract surplus value.

      We already produce enough food for a billion more people than what exists, but still around a billion live in starvation to deter the rest of us.

  • LillyPip@lemmy.caEnglish
    201·
    6 days ago

    Money hoarding is obscene. And worshipping money hoarders is gross.

    • BallsandBayonets@lemmings.worldEnglish
      6·
      6 days ago

      More than just a place to sleep; a place to call your own. And every place I’ve rented did not feel like my own; most corporate rental contracts make it very clear that this is their property, don’t you dare make it feel like home, you only get to temporarily reside there by the grace of their good will (and by paying out your nose, ears, eyes, and ass for the privilege).

  • NutWrench@lemmy.worldEnglish
    71·
    6 days ago

    If you’re working 40 hours a week and you STILL can’t afford basics like food, shelter and healthcare, then your economy (and your employer) sucks.

  • jeffhykin@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    5 days ago

    Is this true even if a person on an island spends their whole life building a wooden mega yacht for themself?

      • jeffhykin@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        5 days ago

        Hmm, so we could say the real problem is when someone has wealth disproportionately larger than what they contributed to the world?

        That makes sense to me

  • intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    610·
    6 days ago

    The system which produces mega yachts also has the best record for feeding people.

    The hammer and sickle on the chalkboard there is a flag under which tens of millions of people starved in the last century.

    • squid_slime@lemm.eeMEnglish
      12·
      6 days ago

      CIA document
      considering most of the world is capitalist and a lot of the world live with food scarcity i don’t think capitalism is doing very well.

      • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        61·
        6 days ago

        Well then explain to me why the biggest capitalist system in the world, the USA, can feed the vast majority of people in their borders. No one here lives with food scarcity… right? Surely they don’t throw a ton of food away either. And homelessness shouldn’t be an issue either with this incredible system. Right?

    • Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      I’m a fan of the cap them at 500million, then donate a park with a statue of them saying “Capitalism Winner” or some shit. All further profits go to making sure people aren’t starving or living in the streets.

      Addendum: 500million is a completely arbitrary number.

  • UFO@programming.devEnglish
    48·
    7 days ago

    Everybody should have access to clean water. I mean everybody. If I was the President I’d happily enforce that with all powers available.

    Then I’d start working my way up the hierarchy of needs…

      • state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        6·
        6 days ago

        Well, billionaires should not exist. But ending world hunger takes way more than just money. There is enough food already, it’s just not evenly distributed. And even in areas where we send aid, local power plays and corruption prevent the fair distribution. Ending world hunger is a hugely complex issue, unfortunately. Of course I’m not saying we shouldn’t try or try different approaches. It’s just not as simple as saying “feeding all hungry people costs x money, and some billionaire could pay for that”

        • LillyPip@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          5 days ago

          Yes, but he’s a genius at business and logistics, and several forms of transportation. It should be easy for him to solve those problems, right? (Some /s in there)

          In any case, he could hire people to solve those problems if he wanted to. He’s certainly got the resources. Then again, if he approached it like his other ventures, trying to run things himself, he may only make it worse for everyone whilst doubling his own net worth.

          • state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            1·
            5 days ago

            One huge issue are the situations that cause people to remain hungry. They are caused by war and widespread poverty. That’s not something an immature asshole like Musk is going to solve. After all, he is part of the problem.

      • jeffhykin@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        Elon can’t even save twitter. What makes you think he is single-handedly capable of ending world hunger.

        • LillyPip@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          4 days ago

          Not with any skills he has – he’s an idiot. I just mean the money he has. He could donate billions and billions to organisations that can, and still be the richest person on the planet.

    • CptOblivius@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      7 days ago

      Wow, I did not know that. He could definitely drop the percentage he takes from Indy developers. I always thought his 30%, was scummy. Now moreso.

      • KecessaEnglish
        10·
        7 days ago

        From all developers honestly but just from indies would be great considering they already have it in their contract that the % goes down after X$ of sales (which benefits larger devs).

        Valve makes enough money to pay their employees more than the competition while also having surplus to have tons of side projects that will lead to nothing and making the boss a billionaire… I don’t mind the first two, but that last bit means money coming out of our pockets and going towards buying yachts…

        (Disclaimer: I hate all billionaires, this applies to all platforms, we overpay for games [and most other things] in general because there’s billionaires at the top of the creation/distribution chain)

  • kindenough@kbin.earth
    301·
    7 days ago

    It does make total sense.

    Bezos needed to de-construct a bridge in the Netherlands because his new build yacht wouldn’t go through. Fokker paid for it too, probably a fraction of that floating monstrosity. We did not like it one bit but the city of Rotterdam pulled their pants down and bended over.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        3·
        7 days ago

        It’s a historic railroad bridge that has not been used for a while, steel construction, and it has been taken apart and put together many times before, sometimes for maintenance. IIRC the current mayor promised the people not to do it again, and then came Bezos, and then they didn’t take it apart, they installed the yacht’s masts downstream instead.

        This is the bridge in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Hef

      • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.orgEnglish
        15·
        7 days ago

        All I can find is articles about how they did NOT tear down the bridge because the locals were obviously outraged. The city would have done it.