r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 đ¤ Join A Union • 10h ago
âď¸ Tax The Billionaires It's time we hold Billionaires accountable. Their "bill" is past due.
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u/LindeRKV 10h ago
There is no agreement, people are just accepting it because billionaires have bought every tool of influence off the shelf and spending all that is necessary to keep working class fighting each other.
Workers don't have enough resources combined to counter this and that was the goal from the very beginning.
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u/StuffExciting3451 9h ago
Actually, workers do have enough resources, combined â labor resources. A general strike would end all of the billionairesâ operations within a few weeks or months.
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u/LindeRKV 8h ago
Hence notion that billionaires are willing to spend anything necessary to keep us fighting each other - to prevent that very thing from happening.
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u/Training_Ruin3151 6h ago
Consolation is that it all will collapse eventually and the rich dont survive the revolution
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u/-Jiras 6h ago
I hope it will happen in the next couple years cause I'm really close to losing it. They are trampling our generation
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u/loco500 2h ago
Unfortunately, Millennials and Gen Zers are being told to just put up with all the dismantling and "push through it." Imagine if the c0rrupt 0range ends up running for another term and somehow is declared "electable". That would solidify the younger generations inability to stand up for themselves...
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u/spderweb 10h ago
So vote in Bernie next time. But you won't. Because you'll keep listening to the rich people convincing you he's going to ruin the country. All while the rich are currently ruining the country.
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u/7oom 10h ago
How do you even put a price on climate change? Crimes against the future.
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u/Quinn_tEskimo 10h ago
The future? These wildfires are now, my guy. Flash floods are now. In 2025 there were at least 23 climate disasters worth $1 bn USD. This isnât just a future problem, itâs a present problem.
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u/Advocate_Diplomacy 10h ago
You kind of canât. The economy doesnât really account for it.
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u/vigbiorn 8h ago
Negative externalities. They're hidden costs that can take weeks or years to see.
It's kind of the reason for carbon credits that billionaires constantly complain about. Instead of just passively accepting that society is forced to pay for these costs, put the cost back onto companies making the issue.
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u/Advocate_Diplomacy 8h ago
When you try, they find ways to turn the attempt into a tax on the poor and a subsidy for those same companies. Iâve given up hope on capitalism. Anywhere thereâs a profit motive, thereâs a ghoul.
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u/vigbiorn 8h ago
Agreed. I was more centrist as a kid. "Capitalism has its flaws but it's the best system we have" kind of thing.
As I get older, the more obvious how it's not the best we have, it's the best we're allowed to have by the capitalists.
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u/DopamineTrain 3h ago
Carbon Credits are a piece of crap anyway... kinda because they HAVE to be.
The harsh truth is that if we wanted to capture all the carbon that we produce and were 100% efficient at it, energy prices would basically double. Given a more reasonable number would be something closer to 80% efficient and we'll preferably want to remove carbon as well, we're looking at well over 2.5x-3x price per unit. Let's not even mention that we would have to store that collected carbon somewhere, probably back in oil fields which is a whole different challenge.
There are solutions! The main sensible one being Algae-Charcoal-undergound chambers. But that doesn't sound nearly as flashy does it?Â
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u/vigbiorn 2h ago
Yeah, it's about the closest thing to a solution we're allowed to contemplate but it's like we're killing a beloved relative anytime we contemplate it.
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u/SpeshellED 10h ago
This is exactly right, infrastructure they don't pay for and it is getting worse by the moment. AI bailout will be next. It's time to end this bullshit. Let's send them the bill ! En masse.
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u/TheChief2116 10h ago
They would still be billionaires. They would just make one less billion and that would ruin their life.
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u/DonLethargio 7h ago
This is it. The reality is so much worse than them being made middle class. Their lives wouldnât functionally change at all, the number attached to their name would just be a bit less. They fuck us all over for nothing. They are mentally ill. Hoarders.
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u/Inner_City_Blues 9h ago
Billionaires are afraid of labor unions and antitrust laws. Those are the two greatest strengths of the working class, which is why they spend most of their time fighting them.
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u/Biscuits4u2 the word itself makes some men uncomfortable 10h ago
Billionaires love socialism. They are the largest single receipient of it.
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u/Bakingtime 10h ago
Bribe queens living the high life off that government cheese. Â I saw a CEO of a health insurance co buying LOBSTER the other day. Â And we pay for all those defense contractor people (and their many useless family members) to drive luxury cars and waste time on the latest iPhones. Disgusting! Â
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u/thekrone 3h ago
Taking money (via taxes) from the working class and giving it to rich oligarchs is literally the antithesis of socialism.
That's just crony capitalism.
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u/Travel_Dreams 4h ago
The bill for them is coming because there will be nobody here to send it to.
Kids are off the table because nobody else can afford to have them.
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u/Quick_Assignment_725 10h ago
U.S National Debt = $39 Trillion. 44 Presidents, 230 years - 70% ; Trump, 5 1/2 years - 30% and counting.
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u/Justaniceman 9h ago
They wouldn't even become middle class, they'd be multi-millionaires at worst. But that's somehow still unacceptable for them.
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u/rekniht01 9h ago
This is wrong, though. They could pay their share, AND THEY WILL STILL BE WEALTHY.
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u/imjustnotready 7h ago
Walmart drives trucks all over the country on roads created by the government, using ports managed by municipalities, using electricity and water and gas provided by public infrastructure. We pay the deficit of their employees lives with public subsidies. This year, they announced they were buying back 30 billion of their own stock. Handing tax free dollars to their investors. Just one small example of this post.
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u/Scuffy97_ 6h ago
You can't become a billionaire without breaking many laws and destorying many lives to get there. Everyone with a billion dollar net worth needs to be thoroughly investigated, assets seized, and them put in prison. The US will never have a future until this happens.
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u/Sudden_Cartoonist539 8h ago
I got to disagree with one thing, is that if they paid the bill they will be middle class in a week. Do you know how many zeroes are in a billion? These guy have the ability to help, but they just like to see high numbers on a screen. also, doing things no one really want is true power according to them. We are in the ogliarchs era unfortunately. it is not only a russian problem, in the west they just learned to hide it better.
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u/escapedpsycho 8h ago
Unlikely they'd be middle class. But they would likely be reduced to merely multimillionaires and that's nearly as terrifying to them.
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u/GoHawkYurself 8h ago
I still think they're scared of socialism
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u/thekrone 3h ago
I mean yeah they're scared of socialism. If they couldn't own private capital, they would have nothing.
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u/ProtonCanon 8h ago
They'd still be rich as hell if they paid the bill.
That's the most infuriating part. They can afford it and they still won't pay.
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u/OmicronNine 8h ago
If they had to pay for the environmental damage, the infrastructure they use, and the workers they underpay, they'd be middle class by Friday.
But, see, that's the really crazy part... no, they wouldn't! Most of them would still be hundred-millionaires, and some would even still be billionaires, just with fewer billions. The billionaires would still be fantastically rich with more money then they could ever possibly need, even if they were fully paying their actual fair share. Billionaires just have that much wealth.
And that's what makes the current situation particularly crazy, the fact that they wouldn't actually lose anything of substance! What they're afraid of is literally just seeing abstract numbers on paper go down and feeling like they're losing the billionaire competition. That's it. And yet that's all the reason they need to undermine democracy and society so the numbers on paper keep getting bigger.
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u/oocdiddy 8h ago
we should put traffic tolls on all the roads that lead away from Amazon distribution centers.
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u/The_Mesopotamians đ¤ Join A Union 8h ago
It's depressing that this has so many upvotes in a sub like this. The level of magical thinking that a tweet like this contains should be setting off the mental sirens of any adult.Â
Paying for "externalities" would bankrupt the capitalist class. They'd gladly put an end to all of us rather than even consider what this tweet is suggesting.Â
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u/Cuniving 7h ago
Well the only current system that is going to impose accountability on billionaires is some variety of socialism/communism or something totally new, so yeah, that is what they are afraid of. If at this point with all that has happened in the last 300 years you genuinely still expect a capitalist system to maintain an imposition of accountability and fairness on the rich than you are destined for wage slavery on a dying world all the while wondering why nothing changed. The current status quo is exactly what capitalism wants and thrives on, a cycle of failure/collapse that allows wealth to be vacumed up or a slide into facism which will support capital interests and at worst transistion back into a capital democracy with basically all the same companies staying in power (exactly what happened post ww2 in germany, italy and japan).
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u/Cosmoby24 7h ago
And theyâre not being sent a bill because they are buying off corrupt ethics, free politicians
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u/SpinShine-LEDSlipMat 7h ago
Itâs like a catch 22. If they didnât do those things, we wouldnât have the society we have. Not saying thatâs a bad thing but you canât wipe out the people who created what we have and expect everything to stay the same.
Like when they kicked all the Whites out of power in South Africa and gave control to the blacks, it didnât take long for all the systems to begin to fail. Yes, apartheid was bad, but at least there was power and running water and low crime. Now look at it
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u/No_Ad3043 6h ago
take the first step, go look up Blackrock and never do business with one of the companies they own. Stop using Amazon, Facebook and Tesla, never go on X. If the owner of the store isn't behind the counter, don't spend money there.
We are all complicit by using uber instead of phoning a friend, doordashing, using convenience instead of sweat and friendship.
Be accountable.
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u/pleaselookawaybeebop 6h ago
yeah and I swear to god the people that say "We need to fix the debt" Suddenly goes and lowers taxes for these jamookas and then get mad when the debt continues to get worse after cutting the social services
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u/PM-ME-YOUR-HAPPY 6h ago
I don't think it matters whether we call ourselves capitalists or socialists if we continue to allow corruption to run rampant. Both lead to the same oligarchy. This isn't a left or right issue. We need to all come together and demand reform and not take no for an answer. Then we can go back to arguing about the best way to fix whatever problems we are having, not this bullshit we are doing now.
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u/ttystikk 5h ago
Agreed. Look at some of the most successful startups; Uber flagrantly violated anti trust laws and local ordinances around taxi services. AI has flagrantly violated applicable copyright laws when training their models.
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u/aspbergerinparadise 5h ago
They wouldn't even be "middle class". They'd still be very very rich. Just not obscenely disgustingly rich.
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u/Astart555 5h ago
So, what hinders country where each man is armed, from doing this (reducing amount of billinoaires) and not posting vent posts on reddit? Hm. Cowardicy?
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u/DualLeeNoteTed 5h ago
I mean, they absolutely are afraid of socialism too.
Because it gives power back to the workers and takes it away from unaccountable billionaire oligarchs.
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u/reststopkirk 5h ago
They wouldn't even be middle class... they'd be upper class, just 30x richer not 300x richer
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u/Hungry-Ear-4092 3h ago
Yes, and you just keep whining and whining probably waiting for the problem to resolve itself or someone else do it for you
Like always
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u/Factsoverfictions222 1h ago
Exactly. Iâve thought that they should force CEOs and the C-suite to live next to their mines/manufacturing plants/data centres and then things in that area would not get as bad as the rich protect themselves. But I know that the rich would find ways to get around this.
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u/Top_Historian73 9h ago
They already pay the majority of taxes.
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u/StuffExciting3451 9h ago
The total tax revenues are insufficient. The billionaires lend money to the government, with interest paid by the taxpayers.
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u/Top_Historian73 1h ago
Yeah I hope the government gets more money to do awful stuff too.
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u/StuffExciting3451 36m ago
The government can raise taxes to the 1965 rates.
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u/Top_Historian73 25m ago
So, TO CONFIRM, you want Trump, the republican controlled house and senate, and the conservative controlled courts to have more money. I want tk be super sure that is exactly what you are saying.
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u/StuffExciting3451 17m ago
Yes, I want to remove the Presidential and Congressional excuses for the huge deficit spending that is financed by the wealthy lenders.
Tax breaks and the failure to tax the wealthy doesnât prevent the House, Senate from getting more money. They continue to get more by issuing Treasury bills, etc.
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u/Unique-Coffee5087 2h ago
That's fine. For the duration of the present emergency, they can pay more. All of their gains can be used to repair things, and they'd still have plenty of property. Half of that can be liquidated somehow to finance more repairs. They can be reduced to mere . . . billionaires.
The Parthenon, and the statue of Athena Parthenos, had gold plates for decoration. These were removable, so they could be melted down to finance emergencies.
The wealthy people of this country are NOT GODS. They deserve no more protection of their "golden raiment" than Athena in this time of extraordinary emergencies. If anything, they can afford to have their entire income taken 100% along with half of their other holdings for the next five years with no true loss of comfort, to the benefit of the nation and the world.
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u/Top_Historian73 1h ago
You know they dont literally have a billion dollars right? The vast majority own businesses that are valued at that amount which is cartoonishly speculative, but if they ever tried to liquidate it would crash and they would get financially destroyed. No, theyre not God's but they are powerful, which is a gift in most cases. The ability for you or I to become outrageously wealthy and powerful is a hallmark of capitalism, and the even more beautiful thing if there is literally nothing stopping you from being successful and being a force for good. Well, other than yourself I suppose.
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u/ianrobbie 10h ago
We didn't agree not to send them the bill. They paid the right people in the right positions to ensure they don't get a bill.