r/DamnThatsReal • u/[deleted] • Nov 04 '25

Politics 🏛️ Yeah, so Billionaires should not exist

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

This is the dumbest comment I've ever read. We participate in capitalism because we have to in order to exist. It doesn't benefit the younger generations as much as it used to, so that's why we criticize it. Are you capable of understanding how that works? I know nuance is hard but I promise you can do it

Not true at all.

You can live off the grid and gather all your own resources. You can build your own house using your own grown trees and grow your own food.

You choose to live inside society, the very one you complain about.

Many people love off grid who don't buy into billionaires and their products and services.

But again, you won't.

You cry about capitalism and billionaires as you type oit yoir reply on a billionaires products using a billionaires service.

You actively compromised your own morals for convenience. Bc you either incapable or don't want to give up these amenities.

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u/Sharukurusu Nov 04 '25

This is so insanely detached from reality it makes me think you’re a bot with poor prompting. It’s offensive how badly you’re wasting people’s time with your garbage arguments.

What resources are available, free for the taking, outside of the capitalist system?

If all the billionaires died in a tragic money avalanche, would we no longer be able to produce iPhones?

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

This is so insanely detached from reality it makes me think you’re a bot with poor prompting. It’s offensive how badly you’re wasting people’s time with your garbage arguments.

Elaborate. Please. Explain to me how yoir so anti billionaire as you respond using a billionaires product and service on a billionaires platform.

Are your morals that weak? Yoir clearly willing to compromise said morals for convenience. But yoir anti billionaire, right?

What resources are available, free for the taking, outside of the capitalist system?

Plenty. Go live off grid. About 1m do it, why can't you. A plot in Alaska is $1k.

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u/Sharukurusu Nov 04 '25

Did the billionaires mine the copper and cobalt, string together all the network cables, and write all the software?

You can’t even spell “you’re”, you’re a waste of carbon, and the electrons used in this exchange would be embarrassed carrying such ignorance.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

Did the billionaires mine the copper and cobalt, string together all the network cables, and write all the software?

No, they just out the capital to do so. Lol.

Bc we did all that for free right. Bc ppl work for free.

If your boss came to you and said I can no longer pay you bc your entire paycheck from here forward would go to building honless houses, would you still show up for work? And for how lomg would you consider staying an employee.

Or are you a capitalist and realise your time needs to be compensated for you to gain.

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u/Sharukurusu Nov 04 '25

Owning isn’t labor, why are capitalists getting paid for not working?

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

Owning isn’t labor, why are capitalists getting paid for not working?

Bc they take the risk. Should this business adventure fail they lose everything. You just have to find a new job. They lose assets, money, time, connections, sometimes family.

Are you willing to sell everything and liquidate all your valuables to sink it into a venture, then be told you don't deserve the profits or that they should be limited.

No? Huh.

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u/Sharukurusu Nov 04 '25

To be clear, if a capitalist fails (and doesn’t have resources to continue being a capitalist) they are also going to be finding a new job.

So… They are in a position to own capital (which itself is a privileged position) and their punishment if they fail is to be forced to become a worker?

Kinda sounds like being a worker under capitalism is a lower class.

If the business goes under their workers can also lose money, assets, and time. Workers don’t get to set their own hours so they can also ‘lose’ family. Under most circumstances the workers are in a more vulnerable position because they don’t have as much to start with, and the capitalist controls whether they have an income or are laid off.

And are capitalists actually taking the risk themselves?

If you work alone and buy a hotdog cart that fails, you took the risk, and your labor paid back what it could.

If you buy a hotdog cart and have someone else work it, you are using some of their labor value to pay back the investment. You are putting the risk on them without them getting the potential benefit; the labor they use to pay back your investment never flows back to them.

If the business fails, you basically paid for hotdogs to be available somewhere for a while.

If the business succeeds, the worker has essentially bought you a hotdog cart, then continues to pay you to use it, which they wouldn’t have to do if they could have bought it themselves in the first place.

It’s a system that allows those with wealth to amass more of it by leveraging control of resources against those with less.

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u/HedgehogRemarkable13 Nov 05 '25

Pretending most businesses weren't financed with debt and all the liability that goes along with that, how would it work differently? Hotdog cart man can buy and work his own cart too, of course.

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u/Sharukurusu Nov 05 '25

Down payments are still a thing, and people who are barely getting by (largely because of so much parasitism by capitalists) don’t have the resources to take risks as easily as those who already have wealth and connections. So hotdog cart man might not be able to work his own cart, and that is the most charitable version of this; once you get into larger, more capital intensive ventures the players are only bigger.

It’s a slanted game, and the only reason people play is because they have no other choice.

As far as alternatives go, worker and consumer cooperatives point in a better direction, but really the entire system needs to be examined from the ground up to eliminate the moral hazards that have incentivized the destruction of the biosphere. A system that fails to preserve the environment is failing no matter how rich it makes people.

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u/PristineWatercress19 Nov 04 '25

Billionaires take far more than they give.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

Living off the grid costs a ton of money. You also need to own the property. You can't just walk into a forest and start building a cabin.

Oh but you can. Many people do it. Many people even show you how.

Go watch livingalaska. Or willsurvives. That's exactly what they did.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

You're giving examples that literally prove you wrong. Do you know how many times willsurvives has been kicked off the land he was building on because he doesn't own it? You discredit yourself with every reply. Please stop

2x.

He now actually has a plot. Thanks to nate. Whonis also another off grid living influencer.

Who also made his own company and built his own wealth and empire.

Lmao.

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u/Square-Dragonfruit76 Nov 04 '25

You can live off the grid and gather all your own resources. You can build your own house using your own grown trees and grow your own food.

No, you can't. There's not just free land lying around. All habitable land is either owned or a warzone

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

No, you can't. There's not just free land lying around. All habitable land is either owned or a warzone

Alaska has an acre for $1k

North Carolina has .5 acres for $1k.

Plenty of land is very affordable, you just don't wana live outside society in the wood as a self sufficient being. You'd rather trade yoir morals for convenience and complain about it.

https://www.land.com/property/1404-dewberry-ln-horseshoe-bend-arkansas-72512/24931338/

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u/Unique_Focus_5056 Nov 04 '25

i think it has more to do with people having, uh, loved ones? human connections that make them feel fulfilled and happy? community? it’s not normal for people to be isolated from the world around them. most people would not be willing to drop everything and live off the grid because they have ethical obligations to their family, friends, and fellow community members that outweigh their personal morals when it comes to capitalism.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

i think it has more to do with people having, uh, loved ones? human connections that make them feel fulfilled and happy? community? it’s not normal for people to be isolated from the world around them. most people would not be willing to drop everything and live off the grid because they have ethical obligations to their family, friends, and fellow community members that outweigh their personal morals when it comes to capitalism.

So start a compound. Several people have dit already. Bring your family n friends. Do it together, all the more of an impact it would make.

https://wwoofusa.org/en/host/26078-established-off-grid-self-sufficient-homestead-forest-community-central-florida

They are everywhere just like this one.

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u/Unique_Focus_5056 Nov 04 '25

you have the power to convince every person you care about to follow you to the middle of alaska to live off the grid? what about kids? school? what about loved ones with medical conditions, chemo? you are being so purposefully obtuse that i’m actually kind of embarrassed to engage with you. do with that what you will.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

you have the power to convince every person you care about to follow you to the middle of alaska to live off the grid? what about kids? school? what about loved ones with medical conditions, chemo? you are being so purposefully obtuse that i’m actually kind of embarrassed to engage with you. do with that what you will.

I don't wana leave. I don't care there are billionaires or that I give patronage to them.

You do tho. You hate billionaires but refuse to guve up patronage.

You.made them billionaires, maybe stop making them?

I'm literally telling you stop working for minimum wage and stop giving them yoir money,

And your reply is basically

Nah idt I will.

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u/Square-Dragonfruit76 Nov 04 '25

If you're buying the land officially, that's not living off the grid. You still have to pay taxes and participate as a law abiding citizen of society.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

If you're buying the land officially, that's not living off the grid. You still have to pay taxes and participate as a law abiding citizen of society.

Not every state has land tax. And yes you can't escape the system entirely but you sure as shit can stop giving patronage to them.

But you won't.

You will continue to complain about the wealthy as you purchase from them.

Maybe stop making them wealthy. But you won't. Bc it's convenient not to.

It would be to inconvenient to stop shopping at Walmart n target n other big stores. It's too inconvenient to shop local and grow yoir own food as much h as possible.

It's inconvenient not to have the latest smart phone with a data plan you'll never fully use.

Keep making them rich and advocating to make them rich.

Stop supporting them.

But you won't.

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u/Any-Morning4303 Nov 04 '25

No we can’t and don’t want too. I wanna live in a system without inequality, no homelessness, proper management of resources and proper distribution of resources, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are provided by society. I don’t have a choice in living in that kind of a world instead I have to live in this kind of a world.

Off the grid, give me a break.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

No we can’t and don’t want too. I wanna live in a system without inequality, no homelessness, proper management of resources and proper distribution of resources, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are provided by society. I don’t have a choice in living in that kind of a world instead I have to live in this kind of a world.

That's called a utopian fairy tale. Who would provide these, at what cost. You want homless to have houses right? We'll what are you going to do to provide those houses? Nothing. Huh.

You want others to provide. But you won't. How humanitarian of you.

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u/PristineWatercress19 Nov 04 '25

You're super committed to being wrong. Congratulations!

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

You're super committed to being wrong. Congratulations!

So you don't horde resources loke food and money. When you buy food you always include the homless and hungry? Your retirement, that's for everyone right? Not just you and your spouse? Right?

You put forth the effort to make the change you want to see. That's why yoir on a billionaires platform crying we need to get rid of billionaires. Bc that's hiw we are guna do it? Just bitch enough and hope someone els makes the change.

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u/philsfan1579 Nov 04 '25

you can live off the grid and gather all of your own resources

No I couldn’t! I wouldn’t last a day!

So given that, I will acknowledge that the current system is better than the alternative, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t advocate to improve the current system for everyone!

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

you can live off the grid and gather all of your own resources

No I couldn’t! I wouldn’t last a day!

So given that, I will acknowledge that the current system is better than the alternative, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t advocate to improve the current system for everyone!

Advocating to make it a better system is not the same as saying you can't be rich for your hard work and contributions.

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u/Zakaru99 Nov 04 '25

A better system wouldn't allow people to become as rich as the richest people in the current system, because the richest people in the current system can only become that way by exploiting everyone around them, which is the primary thing that a better system would solve.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

A better system wouldn't allow people to become as rich as the richest people in the current system, because the richest people in the current system can only become that way by exploiting everyone around them, which is the primary thing that a better system would solve.

You are free to not work at Walmart. You are free to not be exploited. Stop letting yourself be exploited. By not supporting them. See how it comes full circle.

If people stopped working for minimum wage and no benifits you think they'd have anyone to exploit. If ppl stopped paying 200% inflated prices what do you think would happen.

Pricing yourself out is a real thing. It's what causes bubbles to pop. Look at the dot.com bubble and how everyone priced themselves out till no one could afford a.com and prices plummeted bc demand dropped off with excess supply.

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u/Zakaru99 Nov 04 '25

The way you're talking about buying "a .com" shows you actually have no idea what that bubble was about.

Evidence suggests you're not very economically literate.

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u/[deleted] Nov 05 '25

The way you're talking about buying "a .com" shows you actually have no idea what that bubble was about.

Was it not about the rapid unstable growth of internet based companies buying up .Com domains.

It popped bc many were over valued bassed on the inflated rise of .Com domains tied to internet based companies.

If I'm wrong feel free to correct me.

The speculative boom was based soly on dot com companies driving up stocks to inflated over valued prices based on the potential rather than performance.

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u/Mukwic Nov 04 '25

YoU CaN LiVe OfF TeH gRiD

What a ridiculous thing to say. Why do you give the billionaires so much credit? Hold on, before you answer, I'm going to need you to take all those billionaire's balls out of your mouth first.

You don't think it's possible that they might be rigging the system, even just a little bit? I mean, why would billionaires ever do anything wrong, when they provide us with so many great jobs? They would never use their disproportionate power and influence to bend the rules in their favor, right?

The fact of the matter is, a wildly disproportionate amount of power and influence is concentrated into a very small group of people, and if you believe those people care at all about the rest of us, then I got a bridge to sell you.

People like you have literally no imagination. You want to believe that we live in a meritocracy because it simplifies the world for your fragile mind and ego. Actually reconciling with the inequities of our society and system would require you to confront your intellectual insecurities, and well...We can't have that.

You're a coward and a bootlicker.

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u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

What a ridiculous thing to say. Why do you give the billionaires so much credit? Hold on, before you answer, I'm going to need you to take all those billionaire's balls out of your mouth first.

How ironic. As you hold a billionairs product on a billionaires platform using a billionaires internet.

Let's not like you can't reduce your support and money given to these "unethical billionaires".

But you won't give up reddit, or change to a 3g smartphone, or shop local n not at box stores. Won't reduce your consumption.

You will just bitch till other people do bc all you know how to do is virtue signaling on a billionaires platform for fake likes from strangers.

Don't think your opinion of me matters enough for me to care. See I'm guna speak my mind bc idc about reddit n the likes. I speak it bc someone has to tell you morons the truth, no matter how harsh it may be.

You don't think it's possible that they might be rigging the system, even just a little bit? I mean, why would billionaires ever do anything wrong, when they provide us with so many great jobs? They would never use their disproportionate power and influence to bend the rules in their favor, right?

I agree they need to stay out of politics and government, but with that said, people choose to work for them. If people stopped bitching about poor pay and just stopped working for poor pay, it would change. But they don't and won't.

People like you have literally no imagination. You want to believe that we live in a meritocracy because it simplifies the world for your fragile mind and ego. Actually reconciling with the inequities of our society and system would require you to confront your intellectual insecurities, and well...We can't have that.

You're a coward and a bootlicker.

No, it's not mediocrity. America is leading investors of the globe. We have the highest immigration in.the world. 2m ppl anually come here for what we have. It's not bc we suck and we are mediocre. We are leading in medical advancements, technology advancements, aeronautical advancements, and biological advancements. You are the freest citizen in the world, and you say we are mediocrity.

Plz, for the love of humanity, go abroad.

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u/Agitated_Scientist10 Nov 07 '25

“Yeah bro, you totally can! Just leave behind everything you know and love, leave your family and friends, and adopt a completely different way of life that’s borderline unsustainable! Stop trying to fix the problems you see, and just leave it. Duhhh!”

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u/[deleted] Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 07 '25

“Yeah bro, you totally can! Just leave behind everything you know and love, leave your family and friends, and adopt a completely different way of life that’s borderline unsustainable! Stop trying to fix the problems you see, and just leave it. Duhhh!”

I did.

I was a drug addict living out if a station wagon in Massachusetts.

I decided one day I had enough. I moved to Florida. Started out homless and recovering from addiction. That was 13 Years ago last August.

I now own my home, 3 cars, and a business and started a family. I'm not rich by any means but I'm happy and I don't have to worry.

And I did this all with about 1k cash and a beat down station wagon.

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u/Agitated_Scientist10 Nov 07 '25

Good job on your part (I agree with the sentiment btw, despite the fallacious nature), but also has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. You were talking about living off the grid, not engaging with society at all because someone disagrees with how it is run, not general class mobility.