Saturday night/early morning depressed about billionaires

[Nationcreationbusstation]

Bill Gates has too much money...

He gives lots of it away and has several charitable foundations. He knows he has more than he'll ever need. Maybe look up some of the good things he does with his money.

I know, it would be dare I say evil not to. But it's still a disgusting unfair situation (life). I know this is a stupid topic.

Im not depressed about billionaires. Let them have their solid gold door handles. Extreme hunger and poverty are the problem.

If your biggest worry is money be grateful. There will always be something to sit on your shoulders and a lack of money really is the best of a bad lot. But because being broke sucks!

7Days but it's all connected, that's what's so depressing about it

for all, life goes on!

Bill Gates having less money wouldn't result in other people having more, though.

Bill Gates and a lot of other billionaires have signed up to the Giving Pledge, and have therefore given a lot away. Have a read of some of the projects they fund...

There is an argument that a self-made billionaire who has got lots of experience in running huge companies is a much better judge of how and where to spend large sums of money for the public good than governments staffed by people trying to please all the people all the time, while adhering to governmental procurement policies

The Gates Foundation work into Malaria is making actual headway while governments are still sat around debating and discussing how to spend their budgets

For about half of the World, YOU are a billionaire.

Billionaires have more and more money for not paying taxes.
Great that they are donating some of their money.
Not great that 8 of them own 50% worlds wealth.

Bill Gates does absolutely amazing things through his foundation, www.gatesfoundation.org. They spent $1B in 2015 on worldwide infectious disease control management alone, $5B total over the past 6 years, not to mention their work on HIV/AIDS & STD control etc.

Sorry, I'm all for being disgustingly jealous of billionaires, but I can't even begin to be annoyed at Bill .

Not so bothered about Bill Gates but Phillip Greene and Abramovich piss me off hugely. If you're a billionaire already, why do you still have to rip people off and not pay taxes? Bastards.

There are much worse billionaires than Bill Gates to get depressed about. He's one of the good ones.

I said Bill Gates because he's the richest, not because he's the 'worst'. Billionaires shouldn't exist. To my mind no billionaire can be good. But it's what antimatter said, which is that 8 people own 50% of the world's wealth, that is the crux of the issue.

Good grief, 8 people don't own 50% of the world's wealth!

The estimated wealth of 8 billionaires is equivilant to the combined wealth of the poorest 50% of the world. Which is what 7days said - extreme poverty effecting half the population of the planet is the biggest problem here

If very wealthy people weren't around to be philanthropic, lots and lots of things wouldn't happen or exist because lots of things aren't priorities or even possible for governments to do or fund

Who do you think funds Medicine Sans Frontiers, the UNHCR, UNICEF? It's not our £20 a month direct debits keeping them afloat
Go and have a look around a museum or gallery and look at where their exhibits come from. You think any government anywhere prioritises arts funding?

"The estimated wealth of 8 billionaires is equivilant to the combined wealth of the poorest 50% of the world"
Okay, I knew it was something to this effect. Not as bad as 8 owning 50% but it's still disgusting.

"If very wealthy people weren't around to be philanthropic" (while staying ridiculously rich) the world would be a different place so you can't then say that lots of things wouldn't happen/exist, as though billionaires would cease to exist and the rest of the world wouldn't feel it. No existing in vacuums.

I thought some of bill gates projects were doing harm, like those ginant balloons in New Mexico.

If you want to vent at someone go for someone that just inherited land that was acquired through war.

What I dont get is why rich people need to do awful TV adverts when they have enough money for life.

The existence of extreme wealth is a symptom of a poor tax system.

I dont get this, and I don't get why a grown adult is bothered by this either.
As a adult you have the ability to improve your life, so rather than moan about it, why don't you put that energy into something positive?

I think it may be the case that due to statistical effects the eight (say) richest people will always have the same wealth as the poorest 50%. A world in which the eight had their wealth halved (by something other than government confiscation) would be one in which the poor 50% had their wealth reduced, and conversely one in which the obscenely wealthy had their wealth doubled is one where everyone else would be richer too. Halving the wealth of the rich reduces inequality and doubling it increases it. So maximum inequalty is a good thing because it means everyone is better off.

Well, I read this in a book 30 years ago, so I may not have remembered the argument correctly. I'd like to read it again and see if it makes sense. It's not every day you come across an argument that maximum inequality should be celebrated as a symptom of societal success.

Agree with above posters. I don't see why this is a bother. Yes he's a billionaire. Yes he has way more money/stuff that I could ever dream of having. But I'm happy with what I have.

We all have the opportunity to improve our situations so why not go out and do something to make you feel better

I can't get upset about billionaires. I'm not an enterprising person and many (but certainly not all) of the wealthiest people do good with their money.

I get more irritated by the amount of money that certain industries have at their disposal. Music (particularly USA) and sports in particular.

Many of these vacuous recording artists and footballers earn disgusting amounts of (in my opinion) undeserved money.

Bill and Melinda Gate's foundation invests billions, every year, in research for curing illnesses like HIV, TB, Polio and many other conditions, as well as supporting and investing in charity fighting famine and poverty etc. We need more billionaires - true humanitarians, like this, who actively make the planet a better place.

I am pleased that Bill and Melinda Gates have their foundation.

I am also pleased that Windows computers exist - it would be a real faff if everyone had different types in the workplace.

No-one 'asked' BG to set up Microsoft in 1980s (or Facebook, whatever), so I have no problem with people ending up with substantial wealth through their own efforts.

I have more of a problem with people in the public sector (looking at you, Bath University) paying salaries of £450k plus.

The only exception I make is Philip Green, and 'bankers' who earn the money without actually owning the bank!

Yanbu.

But people always defend billionaires and the very rich for some weird reason. It is not right that a few individuals have so many of the Earth's resources whilst others have so little. It is greed. It is extreme greed.

changed
They don't have 'the earth's resources' though
They aren't hoarding gold or minerals

They have cash. Which is an entirely human construct
And a bit of land, but there isn't a global land shortage.

So much of modern wealth is based on modern constructs like exchange rates, stock markets and financial instruments

These are completely removed from the daily struggles of the poorest people in the world.

If the stock market goes up, Bill Gates can wake up and find himself several hundred million dollars richer.

What bearing does that have on someone in a third world country living hand to mouth on less than a dollar a day?
If the exchange rate moves and makes Warren Buffet's investments worth 20% more, how does that impact someone with no access to clean water or food?

The two issues are totally separate, other than the obvious fact that many people like Buffet and Gates will take a lot of that additional wealth and spend it helping the poorer people get access to water or a formal economy or education.

An objection to the simple fact of their existence is pointless and just shows a lack of understanding of basic economics