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Comment by haght | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, I don't care how rich the rich are. The thing is, that for most part the poor become richer alongside the rich. Yeah, the gap widens, but what does it matter, if you also become more rich?

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At this scale, it's not about material wealth. It's about power.

The issue is not that Jeff Bezos can buy an yacht and you can only buy an used RV for your weekend trips. The issue is that Jeff Bezos can buy a whole newspaper to shape public opinion and decide what laws get passed, and you can do nothing more than write a blog post about it.

Sure, but the website focuses on material wealth.

And yet someone much less rich than him has him kowtowing and has caused him to nueter that paper.

If the last year has shown me anything, it’s moneys not all it’s cracked up to be on the power front.

and a dead guy with much less money and power that the guy you are referring to is still influencing his decisions

> And yet someone much less rich than him

But with a lot more power than him.

(At least for the moment)

Many reasons, but one reason is because having obscene wealth also means having obscene power. Power to influence politics and power to exploit workers.

Are those “poor become richer alongside the rich” in the room with us?

https://www.epi.org/blog/wage-inequality-fell-in-2023-amid-a...

> bottom 90% wages have seen just 44% growth

From the title of your page

> But top 1% wages have skyrocketed 182% since 1979 while bottom 90% wages have seen just 44% growth

"become richer alongside" == "become richer too"; by 44% according to your article

> It’s worth noting that these vastly unequal growth rates are on top of the already vast inequality that existed in 1979. Back then, the top 1% earned average wages ($281,932) more than nine times as much as the bottom 90% ($29,953). In 2023, the top 1% earned average wages ($794,129) more than 18 times as much as the bottom 90% ($43,035).

40k is what you call rich?

Do you understand a difference between a value and its time derivative?

Do you understand that rich got disproportionately richer in the last 50 years compared to bottom class?

Correct. It is not about the gap, it is about the lower end. It needs to be raised. It can only be done with the optimal social programs, not by "eating the rich".

What you are saying is you're happy with a trillionaire class, if it means you can be a millionaire. But then what does being a millionaire mean, if you can't buy a house for a million dollars?

Good news, you can buy a house for a million dollars most places in the US, and basically anywhere in the US if you are a millionaire and employed.

yes and the trillionaire class is just getting established, let's think about the future just a tiny little bit?

Think what about it?

Is Bezos taking money out of my pocket or preventing me from buying food, shelter, healthcare, or other services I need or want?

Yes. The bigger the gap becomes, the more the economy will be geared towards serving the needs of the wealthy instead of regular people. If a trillionaire wants a mansion on Pluto or an AI to serve him, a large workforce and a lot of resources will be put towards that goal, making those resources and work more expensive to use for other goals. Your healthcare and shelter has to compete for resources and their prices will rise as the demand for overlapping resources goes up due to the huge purchasing power of the wealthy.

What we produce in this economic system is decided by money. If 90% of all money is in the hands of the wealthy, then 90% of all we make with out limited workforce and resources will be decided by them.

All you have to do to disprove this claim is look outside.

So fuck whoever can’t buy them, right?

Nope, they can just buy one of the millions of less expensive homes that are available.

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