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.

Except for the thousands of jobs destroyed by creating the jobs to make Amazon share holders rich. I don't use Amazon not because of tax or rich owners but because they use their market strength to force small businesses into very unfavourable terms and if their products are good they force them off the platform and start supplying the product themselves. It is the abuse of their power that I dislike and it's this market abuse that is the basis for most rich people's wealth.
I don't even blame them. We elected people to regulate this market abuse but they just end up being bought off in one way or another. The reason we have such inequality in income is a failure in policy and leadership, and it's not getting any better.

You want to put mega-rich individuals, who are very often at the head of companies with many moral questions hanging over them, and who have motivations and ambitions of their own, in charge of global politics.

Ok then.

No, it makes you naive. There have been billions of Western pounds/dollars whatever pumped into impoverished countries for many, many decades. It hasn't improved things because it's not just a matter of there not being enough money. It's much more complicated than that.

The only place a wealth tax worked was Switzerland because it was small and all the other taxes low

Can we just remind ourselves that most of the big businesses we know best are not actually owners by billionaires. Their shares can be bought by anyone and are mostly owned by investment funds, whose asset managers are investing money in their shares. In the UK those investment pots are often our pension funds, or our ISAs. So many of us are investing in these businesses, albeit often passively. And benefiting from their growth.

Hedge funds are not the largest owners of big businesses.

Those whose shares are not publicly traded (listed on the FTSE, NYSE etc) are mostly owned by private equity businesses. And some of their investors are billionaires.

OP look up the Gates Foundation, Lumos, Welcome Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Yield Giving, Bezos Trust and Bezos Earth Fund …. hth.

The fundamental problem is that extremely rich people want to stay rich and are happy for the poor to stay poor. If the trillionaires got involved, the rich people in those countries would only offer access if they could financially benefit too.

Is it ethical for a foreign billionaire to even do this? In the UK we often feel suspicious of the influence that people like Rupert Murdoch have bought. Imagine something fundamental like our food supply being provided by a foreign billionaire?

Look at the colossal amounts of money spent on wars. There are individuals and companies benefitting from disasters like this and sleep at night. The best minds can’t solve complex issues like the Middle East. Do you really think that there is a magic number that would end the hatred that’s been going on since biblical times?

Also i don’t believe that even the most vocal virtue signallers would actually do it themselves if they were in a position to.

YABU as, while I dislike wealth inequality and think it's a sign of a sick society that some individuals can be so unimaginably rich while others are barely scraping by, money isn't going to fix the global issues plaguing us.

Those issues need bottom up solutions that come from within the countries themselves - social and cultural shifts that can't be enacted by throwing money at countries.

Of course, providing financial support to organisations in those countries working for change would be useful, but then one has to decide who to support, and would need to somehow combat corruption, money or supplies being seized by the 'other side', and deeply ingrained cultural beliefs that stand against any change.

As in most situations, real change ultimately has to come from within.

But many billionaires are helping.

Read this maybe it will help you understand what's going on: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/6/13/sorry-mr-gates-your-billions-wont-save-africa

" Bill Gates has committed the majority of his historic $200 billion fortune to Africa over the next two decades, with the goal of shutting down his foundation by 2045. These funds will target public health, education, poverty reduction, and agriculture."

"Jeff Bezos’s philanthropic efforts in Africa are primarily driven by the Bezos Earth Fund—his ($10) billion commitment to fighting climate change and protecting nature. The bulk of these initiatives focus on large-scale land restoration and the preservation of vital ecosystems like the Congo Basin."

"Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, has donated over ($385) million to Africa-based organizations through her philanthropic organization, Yield Giving. Her giving model utilizes large, unrestricted grants with no strings attached, trusting local leaders to decide how best to distribute the funds.Her giving across the African continent focuses on healthcare, girls' education, agriculture, and economic development. Some of the notable organizations she has backed"

And there are many more. You do realize Africa also has billionaires right? Why is it on Western billionaires to fix Africa? Why are you not calling on African governments to force African billionaires to help?

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.forbes.com/consent/ketch/?toURL=www.forbes.com/africa-billionaires/list" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/africa-billionaires/list/

What about all the African leaders who steal government funds in their countries and stash them abroad? Why are you not and at them? In Nigeria the healthcare system is a mess yet the Nigerian president travels to the UK and France for treatment and checkup instead of fixing his countries health system and then we have the brain drain where doctors and nurses have no choice but to move to countries like the UK and prop up the NHS due to failings of the Nigerian government.

Omg leave me alone

I agree - And as in most situations, nothing will change of course. It hasn’t stopped people waging war on each other or people starving.

If you take away any benefit to being rich then what’s the point in people building up businesses which employ huge amounts of staff (who pay tax)?

I think it’s an indicator of envy - because they aren’t rich they think nobody should be.

Hahaha now you're just being silly 😂

Ok I give in, start the petition and I will sign it to pressure the government to force billionaires to feed Africa 😂.

If this is the only thing you take from this, it will be worth it:

"No amount of aid can compensate for the absence of visionary, ethical and accountable leadership – or the political instability that plagues parts of the continent. In this vacuum, figures like Gates step in. But these interventions can be politically expedient and risk concealing deeper systemic dysfunction."

I dont suggest the government can do anything about that situation, i did mean we the people

But fine, do what you need to

I'm sure i'll see you again, quoting me non stop til i respond 😫🙄🙄

But you started the thread and now you have the arse because people disagree and are lashing out?

You are having a go at anyone who dares to disagree with your over simplified and futile solution to the problem, even when they actually link to articles etc, accused people of name changing, called someone a stalker…

Anyway I’m off to buy a lot of things from Amazon

I dont have the arse ?!

I take all my responses on aibu in good spirit tbh, but lately they've gotten quite abusive and troll like 😬😬

Still, if you dont like what I post, please see my name and close the thread 🤷‍♀️

Also that other poster has quoted me several times until I responded, it was too much.

When are you deleting MN off your phone, then?

Again why are the people not forcing African governments and billionaires to sort out their issues??? Why is it on British people to boycott billionaires in your virtual signalling plan???

Find something else to do? Hilarious. Coming from someone who is literally on here posting absolute shit constantly.

Troll like, what are you on about, people are responding to the thread you started. Did you think everyone would agree with your virtue signalling and laugh along at the silly gifs.

You started a thread about how upset you were about something and then insulted everyone who has the audacity to point out politely the flaws in your solution. Are you new to MN?

If you want to report suspected trolling then do so.

And the irony of saying that if people don’t like what you say, they can leave the thread while not giving yourself the same option…