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Why do some people defend the billionaires and capitalism? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 8 points 2 months ago

I don't think it's that bad-faith. I myself still find it positively mind-blowing to comprehend when the data is right in front of me.

Someone might equate wealth to hard work, but it hasn't really hit them, the real literal difference between 1 million dollars, and 1 billion, and then the news is talking about "trillionaires."

There's just no way to earn a billion dollars, to yourself, through honest work and by not exploiting others. And I think a lot of folks really don't realize this. They know that's a lot, but they might change their mind and realize how outrageous it is, when you present them with something like:

"Joe, you could get 3 more promotions and work 80 hours a week for 13 lifetimes and still not earn that much. Do you really think this is just petty jealousy at play?"

They might just change their mind.

But a lot of folks grew up in a time or place where people who ran the company started at the bottom, and it really needs to hit them hard that this just isn't reality anymore.