Zero sympathy for people who had £10 million worth of jewellery stolen

[TwoCreamEggs]

People are struggling to heat their homes, feed their kids and pay their rent - whilst this 'millionaire influencer' has £10 million worth of jewellery stashed in a safe at home - I find this morally abhorrent and have zero sympathy. They have so little insight and social conscience that they feel it appropriate to flash jewellery and other signs of huge wealth all over social media. I'm glad no-one was injured obviously but hope the stolen jewellery is used to re-distribute some of their enormous wealth.

🤣 the worst part is the burglar was probably bottom of the food chain. They won’t have gotten the full value for such hot items. Whoever has “acquired” the items will be someone already loaded. It’s like stealing from the rich to give to the criminally rich 🤣

Do you have evidence of Halcyon Gallery being engaged in criminal conduct?

Why is it okay for you to have that, which is not produced ethically, but it's not okay for her to have her jewellery?

There are millions worldwide who would say the same about you, how do you defend and justify your wealth when compared to others across the globe?

Philanthropy is the ideal, of course, but people can spend their money however they damn please. In a capitalist society we have to expect that some people buy their jewellery at Pandora and some people buy it at Garrard or Chaumet. I thought the mega-rich stored their booty in private banks and deposit vaults but it's seems that's not always the case. Although news reports try & foster sympathy I don't pay the victims much attention because if they've got any nouse the items would be insured. Re-distribution of wealth is a lofty idea, but it will never be a reality, unless the international community start being honest about fair taxation. I say that as a left-leaning sort.

My first thought was 'blimey, you've got how much in jewellery and you keep it in a safe at home?'
Then I thought they've probably got at least that much stashed away in banks, safe depositories and so on.
But still essentially stupid. Thieves know well where home safes are kept and can probably just remove them if they can't get them open.

The point that many people miss is that the influencer / footballer / business owner that generates millions of pounds through whatever means isn’t taking money away from the homeless, the poor and those who are struggling (unless those individuals choose to prioritise a sky subscription over heating…)

What about business owners who take from their staff? Not illegal but certainly not ethical.

Because in the UK, the bottom 50% of people own less than 5% of the wealth. That is an obscene statistic. The richest 1% of the world owns nearly 50% of the worlds assets. If everyone lived comfortably across the world, this wouldn't need justifying. But they don't.

Billionaires exploit tax loop holes, and pay low wages, to maximise their own wealth at the expense of public interest. It literally does make us poorer. Billionaires are taxed at competitively low rates compared to average worker, who pay more to compensate. More tax on then would save trillions.

Billionaires also contribute significantly more to carbon emissions and global warming.

If you truly don't think it's wrong that an elite few own the vast majority of wealth is immoral idk what else to say.

I disagree. The number of people with that level of wealth is so tiny, I really don’t think it’s the reason many of us everyday people are struggling. That’s a lot more complex than a rich family with jewels in a safe.

If anything, “the few” are one of the incentives that keep me working hard. I love seeing nice houses, fancy fashions etc, and dreaming of what my life would be like if I got rich. It keeps me going in a nice way! Only if I was in the minority for not having a mansion, jewelry etc would I feel negatively.

But I have felt envy in the past, OP, and it was something I had to work on to get to this point.

No one should have income to excess to several million pounds to spend on jewelry. I don't know why that's a hard concept

@Ladamesansmerci Because it’s a nonsensical concept, based on hypocrisy and jealousy. Why shouldn’t someone be paid loads of money if they’ve earned it? If you had Adele/Taylor Swift’s/Beyonce’s vocal talents, would you pay yourself the UK’s average wage and donate the rest?

Why would we want the eradication of the rich? Why aren’t we seeking the eradication of poverty?

Does not say much for their security measures, who brags about £10million worth of jewelry (assuming it is worth that much) and does not lock it up properly, dont think the insurance company/loss adjuster will be impressed

And globally, everyone in the UK is more wealthy than the 700 million people worldwide living in absolute poverty (living on less than $1.90 a day).

They're more wealthy than the additional 1.3 billion people living in moderate poverty (living on $1.90 - $3.20 a day)

Half of these 2 billion people living in some form of poverty are children.

How can this be ethical?

When my brother was young and still lived at home, he had a Rolex (was a bond market trader, paid much too much - until it all went south) and if he went away my late DM was so worried about it she took the watch to her bank for safekeeping.
My stuff, such as it is, is fully insured.

How does singing mean you should earn a billion pounds like Taylor Swift? And this is coming from someone who loves that sort of music. Why should they earn more than someone with several years medical training who saves lives, for instance.

It's not jealousy to think billionaires are unethical and yo believe that 1% of the earth owning a vast amount of the earth's assets is wrong.

Part of eradicating poverty is wealth redistribution. Again, I'm not talking about a high earner of 100k. I'm talking about literal billionaires. Do you realise how much money that is?

Lol, perhaps if the thief was Robin Hood 🤣 😅 😂 😆 😄

@AvidBee You seem to be confused, maybe re read my posts…

Do you have evidence of Halcyon Gallery being engaged in criminal conduct?

Who said anything about criminal behaviour? And if that’s the bar then was Brian Thompson a criminal? Are all CEOs of healthcare insurance companies criminals?

Why is it okay for you to have that, which is not produced ethically, but it's not okay for her to have her jewellery?

Er, do I need to explain what I meant by slippery slope?

There are millions worldwide who would say the same about you, how do you defend and justify your wealth when compared to others across the globe?

Yeah, I already said the same thing 😆 Great debate!

@TwoCreamEggs

lol, how naive are you?! As if the proceeds of this stolen Jewellery will be getting redistributed to the poor or whatever weird notion you think will happen. It won’t, Hun.
p.s., theft - in whatever circumstances - is always wrong. It’s illegal for a start, not to mention amoral.
HTH.

Well that would mean the majority of us would give up our smartphones as child labour is likely involved in the process of making them too.

Where do you draw the line? Is there anyone in the world who is less well off than you? If so, should you redistribute any extra you have until you're on a level with the very poorest?

Rhetorical question BTW. I know that the line is drawn about 20k ahead of wherever you happen to be.

Didn't Tamara Ecclestone get robbed and a Kardashian in Paris? People put themselves on SM living the big life and unfortunately make themselves a target. But who says it's 10 million?, The insurance company or the owners?

This thread quite puts me in the mood for a wee sing-song, courtesy of Weetabix. Sadly I am old enough to remember this first time round.

I agree this isn't ethical! There are enough resources in earth for everyone to have enough, yet we don't do to exceptionally unequal wealth distribution.

Billionaires exploit tax loop holes, and pay low wages, to maximise their own wealth at the expense of public interest. It literally does make us poorer. Billionaires are taxed at competitively low rates compared to average worker, who pay more to compensate. More tax on then would save trillions.

The issue is that the average Jo doesn’t want to close these loopholes because he aspires to be Elon Misk & is chuffed with his 3 BTLs not realising that he is closer to the homeless guy on the street in terms of wealth. Plus people want to buy cheap.

Smart phone are pretty essential in modern society. Mined diamonds and crocodile bags, not so much.

So presumably, you live on the bare minimum to get you by, and once that is spent, every penny of your wage goes to poverty eradication?

Smart phone are pretty essential in modern society. Mined diamonds and crocodile bags, not so much.

We could demand more ethical ones though but of course that would mean paying more.

Envy is unattractive, OP.