Politics

[royal white]

14 minutes ago, Zico said:

I know, corruption might not always be the right word, but that's generally always the issue

no one really needs a billion pounds, for the most part they won't spend it, it'll just be a perception of wealth via numbers on a screen or written down

I doubt they would even notice if they were taxed properly in terms of their day to day life and quality of it

So to please the jealous types like fromage what do you think should be the limit to someone’s wealth, 

[Zico]

1 minute ago, royal white said:

So to please the jealous types like fromage what do you think should be the limit to someone’s wealth, 

I don't think there shoudl be a limit

they should just get taxed properly, and if they did, they'd probably hardly notice anyway

[Cheese]

What RW is saying by labelling any criticism of billionaires as "jealousy" is that he's jealous of billionaires, and he's too thick to comprehend any other point of view.

[London Wanderer]

Getting stuff done ….

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1kpmm20zwwo
 

[Zico]

here's the top 10 billionaires in the world

I doubt they'd even notice till the day they died if their wealth halved overnight

 

[London Wanderer]

38 minutes ago, royal white said:

Imagine being this bitter and jealous towards successful people 

It’s not about bitterness or jealousy mate. More about equality & a fair tax system. UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world.

There’s more & more evidence that a rise wealth inequality is bad for our society & economy. A few people making enormous profits isn’t trickling down or helping our economy grow. Fair play to them, but they couldn’t possibly spend all that money, so why not reinvest more of it into our services? 

“People in more equal societies live longer, have better mental health and have better chances for a good education regardless of their background. Community life is stronger where the income gap is narrower, children do better at school and they are less likely to become teenage parents. When inequality is reduced people trust each other more, there is less violence and rates of imprisonment are lower.”

(Based on research from the Equality Trust)

Edited November 28, 2025 by London Wanderer

[kent_white]

I think there's a big difference between a self made millionaire/billionaire - and someone who was born into a life of privilege and fortune and uses that fortune to amass even larger amounts of privilege and fortune 

The latter are less 'wealth creators' and more 'wealth accumulators' in my opinion. 

 

[jmjhb]

Why do normal everyday workers think billionaires are in politics for anything but complete self-interest?

They're certainly not in it for the common man.

 

[royal white]

37 minutes ago, kent_white said:

I think there's a big difference between a self made millionaire/billionaire - and someone who was born into a life of privilege and fortune and uses that fortune to amass even larger amounts of privilege and fortune 

The latter are less 'wealth creators' and more 'wealth accumulators' in my opinion. 

 

But the topic here is billionaires, no one seems to be taking into account if they’re self made or have had it handed to them. 

 

59 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

It’s not about bitterness or jealousy mate. More about equality & a fair tax system. UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world.

There’s more & more evidence that a rise wealth inequality is bad for our society & economy. A few people making enormous profits isn’t trickling down or helping our economy grow. Fair play to them, but they couldn’t possibly spend all that money, so why not reinvest more of it into our services? 

“People in more equal societies live longer, have better mental health and have better chances for a good education regardless of their background. Community life is stronger where the income gap is narrower, children do better at school and they are less likely to become teenage parents. When inequality is reduced people trust each other more, there is less violence and rates of imprisonment are lower.”

(Based on research from the Equality Trust)

Which is probably why many donate millions/billions every year 

[kent_white]

Just now, royal white said:

But the topic here is billionaires, no one seems to be taking into account if they’re self made or have had it handed to them. 

Noted. I'm just trying to make the distinction in the way that I view the wealthy 

[Dimron]

39 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

Why do normal everyday workers think billionaires are in politics for anything but complete self-interest?

They're certainly not in it for the common man.

 

Bill Gates?

[Cheese]

20 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Noted. I'm just trying to make the distinction in the way that I view the wealthy 

There is no such thing as a "self-made billionaire". Hope that helps.

[London Wanderer]

19 minutes ago, royal white said:

 

 

Which is probably why many donate millions/billions every year 

Thats irrelevant, & a drop in the ocean to be honest.

 I’m sure many billionaires are good people who fund different charities & provide employment.

 The point is that rising wealth inequality isn’t good for our economy or our society. Thats what the evidence is saying. 
 

A huge rise in billionaires isn’t benefiting anyone.

Tax em more

 

[royal white]

15 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

Thats irrelevant, & a drop in the ocean to be honest.

 I’m sure many billionaires are good people who fund different charities & provide employment.

 The point is that rising wealth inequality isn’t good for our economy or our society. Thats what the evidence is saying. 
 

A huge rise in billionaires isn’t benefiting anyone.

Tax em more

 

So we are agreeing it’s not their fault. Finally! 

[royal white]

20 minutes ago, Cheese said:

There is no such thing as a "self-made billionaire". Hope that helps.

There’s plenty of examples. 

[Ani]

42 minutes ago, Cheese said:

There is no such thing as a "self-made billionaire". Hope that helps.

How about the new tech guys like Zuckerberg and Beezos ? 

[Zico]

43 minutes ago, Cheese said:

There is no such thing as a "self-made billionaire". Hope that helps.

I guess this depends on your definition

but I reckon the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Page, Brin and Gates all started off on a fairly level footing to most other entreprenuers

they certainly didn't have millions or billions to begin with 

[frank_spencer]

54 minutes ago, Dimron said:

Bill Gates?

Now yes he donates large amounts of his wealth, he earned that wealth by often criminal means that even inspired the film Anti-trust.

[Cheese]

8 minutes ago, Ani said:

How about the new tech guys like Zuckerberg and Beezos ? 

 

7 minutes ago, Zico said:

I guess this depends on your definition

but I reckon the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Page, Brin and Gates all started off on a fairly level footing to most other entreprenuers

they certainly didn't have millions or billions to begin with 

Unless they did absolutely everything by themselves without the assistance of employees until they became a billionaire, and they didn't use the amenities, transport links, health care systems, power networks, banking systems etc. etc. etc, then they are not "self-made".

Edited November 28, 2025 by Cheese

[royal white]

5 minutes ago, Zico said:

I guess this depends on your definition

but I reckon the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Page, Brin and Gates all started off on a fairly level footing to most other entreprenuers

they certainly didn't have millions or billions to begin with 

Look down the road. The done brothers left school at 15 with nothing. John Caudwell, Mike Ashley, Branson …….theres loads in this country alone 

[royal white]

1 minute ago, Cheese said:

 

Unless they did absolutely everything by themselves without the assistance of employees until they became a billionaire, and they didn't use the amenities, transport links, health care systems, power networks, banking systems etc. etc. etc, then they are not "self-made".

Cheese being a spacca shocker 

[London Wanderer]

34 minutes ago, royal white said:

So we are agreeing it’s not their fault. Finally! 

Finally ? We’ve barely discussed it 😂

Who said it was their fault ?

 The argument folk are making is the wealth needs to be redistributed better, so our society & economy improves. 

[royal white]

6 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

Finally ? We’ve barely discussed it 😂

Who said it was their fault ?

 The argument folk are making is the wealth needs to be redistributed better, so our society & economy improves. 

It’s not their fault that they’re not paying X amount of tax. If there’s loopholes and it’s totally legal to use them they will do. Doesn’t matter if you’re earning 50k a year or 50 million. It’s up to governments to prevent this. They dont.  

[Zico]

12 minutes ago, Cheese said:

 

Unless they did absolutely everything by themselves without the assistance of employees until they became a billionaire, and they didn't use the amenities, transport links, health care systems, power networks, banking systems etc. etc. etc, then they are not "self-made".

the everyday defintion that 99.9% of folk understand as "self made" is someone who didn’t inherit their wealth but built it through their own ventures, decisions and risks

your defintion means no human in history has ever been "self-made" at anything, ever.  It's a definition designed to make the term impossible

If your definition requires living in a cave, inventing electricity, building your own roads, and then founding Amazon on a hand-carved wooden laptop, then you are correct, no on is "self-made".

But that’s not how the term is used in the real world

[Cheese]

2 minutes ago, Zico said:

the everyday defintion that 99.9% of folk understand as "self made" is someone who didn’t inherit their wealth but built it through their own ventures, decisions and risks

your defintion means no human in history has ever been "self-made" at anything, ever.  It's a definition designed to make the term impossible

If your definition requires living in a cave, inventing electricity, building your own roads, and then founding Amazon on a hand-carved wooden laptop, then you are correct, no on is "self-made".

But that’s not how the term is used in the real world

That's my point. The way the term is used in "the real world" (mostly by thickos) is incorrect, and this should be emphasised a lot more.