To think that we should all boycott the businesses of billionaires until they sort the situation of kids starving to death due to famine and war?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

They can literally afford to fix this issue.

Enough is enough.

Prayers for Sudan 🇸🇩 and to all those suffering across the world.

There’s one big, unavoidable fact that makes this idea unworkable.
All the world’s billionaires are not rich enough to achieve what you want.
Sure, ‘a billion’ sounds like a lot of money, and to a degree it is, but global finance operates in the hundreds of trillions. Compared to the economy of a developed country, a billionaire is just someone with a bit more loose change in their pocket.
A billion will not solve the current oil crisis. Did you know that one VLCC, the very largest type of oil tanker ship, costs $130 mil? There’s around 900 of those globally of which a third are older ‘shadow fleet’ embargo busters operated by countries such as Russia and Iran. A billion would buy you about 8 of these ships.
The combined wealth of the world’s billionaires would barely make a small dent in the world’s problems, and thinking it would shows you have no concept of scale.

Agree now way would I buy a Tesla.

Others like Amazon harder to avoid

The law needs changing taxing uk turnover so its charged the same wherever they locate their office for tax purposes. Change it for say Amazon they're not going to stop doing businesses in the uk

Billionaires should also be taxed more. The argument about them leaving is ridiculous, not of them are registered for tax here any more anyway

When people are saying it is hard to avoid Amazon (not singling you out @ukathleticscoach2012 , quite a few people have said something along these lines), what is it that is so difficult? Is it you can't match the price elsewhere? The speed of delivery? Convenience? I haven't used Amazon for years and am genuinely interested to know, what makes people still shop there? I know lots of other things are difficult to avoid, particularly when it comes to IT infrastructure and especially when a few massive companies seem to own most of the rest of them, but I find it fairly easy to avoid shopping on Amazon itself. If there's something I can only find there, I just look up the supplier and go direct to them instead.

It is because it’s not just their shopping site. AWS provides services to many other businesses.

Approximately half to two thirds of the internet are run on amazon web services.

Most call centres for instance use AWS for their infrastructure. If I boycotted amazon I’d have to give up my job.

MN is run on AWS, and yet you’re still here. That’s not a criticism FWIW, it just indicates how few companies are responsible for so much.

Nestle for instance is pretty much impossible to boycott, because even though you can boycott actual nestle products, even own brand products of the same type are still manufactured by nestle. And they have a hand in pretty much everything.

Thanks @Anarchy99 and @NeverLookInTheMirror and I agree AWS is difficult to avoid, that's the sort of thing I was meaning by IT infrastructure (that may not be the right terminology), I just thought people were also suggesting Amazon was also difficult to avoid in terms of online shopping but perhaps I have misinterpreted that. This is why noone has got into the good place for the last 521 years (or thereabouts), but to my mind it doesn't mean we shouldn't try, and is another reason why these companies shouldn't be allowed to dominate so much; it shouldn't be this hard for consumers to make choices about what to do with their money.

This. It's politics that is the problem.

Good points.

I actually just bought some garden furniture I saw on B&Q directly from the manufacturer. Got wooden table with 6 chairs for less than the price of the b&q with 4

Amazon are good at leaving where I want it some just take it away or leave it with our crazy trolley lady neighbour!

I use Amazon prime. Great fast delivery that gives me the stuff I want.

@guinnessguzzler It's fine to try, I don't see why it's a problem.
I don't find Amazon as cheap anymore, plus the search is not as good, it comes up with products you didn't ask for and it didn't used to do that.

This was co-authored by Thomas Piketty, economist similar to Gabriel Zucman mentioned by PP
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/world-inequality-lab-equality-academics-planetary-survival

Full report https://globaljusticeproject.wid.world/

Thanks very much for sharing that, @pawws I found the summary very interesting. There's still some hope!

Never gonna happen

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/

The socialist party may align with your values. They hold weekly meetings in all areas of the country so you can talk and debate among like minded people.

The establishment demonised Corbyn because they were terrified of what he stood and advocated for. He was a threat to British capitalism.

You are not alone. Things can and do change. I recommend you think about attending a meeting. Chin up OP.

Marx and Engles offering one of the leading social, economic and political theories of the past two centuries; providing basis for democratic socialism to which Corbyn subscribes, is hardly 6th form politics.

Your point screams of right wing/blarite propaganda, ironically, at ‘6th form politics level’.

The answer is socialism.

Where has socialism proved to be the answer?

Marx and Engles offering one of the leading social, economic and political theories of the past two centuries....

Marxism worked so well in the countries that tried it, didn't it.

And as for Marx himself - self indulgent freeloader who didn't support his own family.

I know your heart's in the right place @mumofoneAloneandwell but unfortunately what you're proposing will never happen. As has been said on the thread by some posters, most things you use daily, like Amazon, Google, Ebay, Twitter/X, Facebook, various photo apps, ChatGPT, and your email address provider etc etc, are mostly provided by billionaires. As are lots of things in your house - tech and furniture etc. And also many of your clothes, and child's toys etc etc etc.

Thanks @Zov I had a stinker here honestly

I'm not claiming i know how to right the world, I was just pissed off!

Thanks @sleeppleasesoon

I hear ya! 😘

It's possible to reduce it but not eliminate it. It's worth trying that, it doesn't need to be perfect.

And a few people on Mn trying to reduce buying every product that has any connection to a billionaire is going to make precisely no difference.

Even if Amazon went bankrupt, Bezos would still have his billions.

No matter how many people stamp their feet, forcing people to give up their fortune is just ridiculous.

There are seemingly a lot of MNers with huge incomes - I wonder if they would give up a proportion of their salary to drop into the bottomless pit of world hunger?

The jealousy towards people who have created something that people want and have profited from it is pathetic. There will always be war and hunger. Every baby born in South Sudan uses more resources. You could halt it all but it would be back 🤷‍♀️