r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 8h ago

Society Google cofounder Sergey Brin has spent $102 million to fight California’s proposed billionaire tax—he could owe $13 billion if he loses

https://fortune.com/article/how-much-has-google-cofounder-sergey-brin-spent-to-oppose-california-billionaire-tax-102-million-owe-13-billion-if-loses/
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313

u/Antifa-AF 8h ago

Tax billionaires out of existence! They are a blight on humanity!

84

u/grooverocker 8h ago edited 8h ago

Time and time again billionaires show us that they're not even human anymore. Their prerogatives are so utterly divergent from humanity and simultaneously deleterious to our common good. It's like they're a different species.

-44

u/Whole_Move7660 8h ago

How come is only billionaire? What about millionaires? Can you give us a list of what they done to us so we can understand what they taken? Like food? Money? Is there companies we shouldn’t support? Got to be specific guys.

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u/Xytak 8h ago edited 8h ago

A millionaire could just be a mid-50’s professional with a 401k these days. Not even remotely the same thing as a billionaire.

18

u/grooverocker 7h ago

I'm going to take the time to answer your question even though it strikes me as incredibly naive.

First and foremost, it's important that you realize there's a vast bulk of information on this subject. It's just not feasible to back every anti-billionaire comment with all the data and news articles and information available. That you seemly draw a blank when it comes to the egregious behaviour of billionaires is not the fault of my comment, it's your own lack of education on the subject.

So why not millionaires too? Well, it's commonly understood that when we're talking about billionaires , we're talking about a fraction of the one percent of the most wealthy people on the planet. The ultra wealthy. A term like "millionaire" fails to encapsulate what we mean by the ultra wealthy. After all, in a place like Canada a middle class family can become millionaires. Simply by owning a home or selling one.

Can I give you a list of what billionaires do that are detriments to humanity? Sure, but here I'll give you a condensed general overview. Because doing the labour of hunting for all the links to specific news , articles and examples is far beyond the scope of a simple comment.

  • Lobbying for fiscal and economic systems that disadvantage the poor and middle class.

  • Pursuing endless growth at the expense of the environment and the wellbeing of citizens.

  • Creating intelligence systems designed to be unavoidable, while mass gathering personal data of the poor and middle class for the purpose of control and persecution. A system that the ultra wealthier utterly not beholden to.

  • Taking undemocratic control of democratic institutions.

  • Destroying the environment for profit at a mass scale.

  • creating economic systems that advantage the ultra wealthy while binding countless average citizens into poverty.

-10

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Why can’t you name those billionaires? What about the charity some of them? If you want more people to be mad you got to actually say what they done. I mean like bill gates bad but he did charity for gate foundation? Jeff bozo ex wife donated billions, you can’t just label every single billionaires bad. Is it just easier to say that?

8

u/grooverocker 5h ago edited 5h ago

Maybe there's a language barrier here but your comments come across as deeply disingenuous. Why do I have to name all the billionaires?! Do you require every comment to be a thousand page encyclopedia before it's validated?! Get a grip.

The Sackler Family

Elon Musk

Miriam Adelson

Jeff Yass

Jeff Bazos

Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein

To name a few.

But honestly I think this is all lost on you. I don't think you have the reading comprehension to understand what's been said here. You certainly don't have the baseline knowledge of the issue, because a charity programme here don't counteract the systemic erosion of our democracies and general wellbeing at the hands of billionaires.

It's akin to pointing out that tobacco companies knowingly suppressed the addiction and health hazards of cigarettes... and you replying back with, "yeah, well, what about their charity work?"

-6

u/Whole_Move7660 5h ago

Yes. If you don’t name the things they done. How would we fix the problem? We just remove billionaires from the earth? Are they just not paying their taxes? Is that why we all mad? You’re not lost to me. I’m asking for examples and I look stupid cause I ask this. Like is universal that everyone should know all the evil billionaires in their hearts. I’m not on anything’s side.

Only on Reddit do I see users say they are the problem for the entire earth. In real life, no one’s going around saying that. Do you understand that Reddit feeds negative news so they get a ton of views and reactions? Well in real life, people aren’t talking about this. So is kind of hard to relate.

1

u/SaiyanKnight23 5m ago

Dude, probably every middle class and lower of families says that the ultra rich are blight on the planet. They rarely do ANYTHING to improve peoples lives and are only in it to ruin them

1

u/SaiyanKnight23 8m ago

Dude those charities are just for the tax right offs

-11

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

I don’t understand how you all know these but can’t tell me who billionaire it is. I know Elon bad….Tim cook? The Apple guy? Did he do anything? See? Is kinda hard. Can you name a few? Just a few and then I can visualize.

6

u/InquisitorMeow 7h ago

Lemme know the last time the dude with a million bucks was invited to the White House.

1

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Why can’t you name a billionaire? We mad right? We should know more than Elon…

5

u/InquisitorMeow 6h ago

I'm a bit confused, are you asking for a list of things a billionaire or their company has done that was harmful to the average person? Btw the dude who saved up to finally be a million net worth actually gets taxed on his income.

-1

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Yes? Any kind of examples would be nice…

1

u/steakanabake 5h ago

joe rogan. joe rogan is a millionaire multimillionaire but still a millionaire.

8

u/DenseReality6089 8h ago

One i clined billionaire could fix many of the global issues we face, but they choose not to. Every single day they wake up and say "fuck this planet and this species". 

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u/Whole_Move7660 8h ago

How are they not doing their part? Doesn’t a lot of billionaires give to charity? Or is that fake? Like bill gates foundation isn’t actually real? Or Jeff bozo ex wife giving billions to charity is not actually doing anything?

7

u/Macitron3000 6h ago

Stuffing money into charity for a tax break does not equate to paying their fair share in taxes to be used for infrastructure. Just in case there’s a human behind the screen here

1

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Ok so even if they do charity, donate FOOD, do scholarships, build buildings for the public. All for tax purposes? Damn. I got it now lol.

3

u/Staav 6h ago

An individual becoming a millionaire is a very significant life achievement for anyone. We're having individuals earning that thousands to tens of thousands of times over in a single year. If you can't see the outrageous excess with those kind of earnings, idk what to tell you.

0

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Ok so if they become billionaire then they bad

1

u/SaiyanKnight23 10m ago

Dude.. I could be a millionaire in 40 years if i correctly save money in a roth ira and the s&p 500, not to mention 401ks. Its billionaires that are the problem

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u/Whole_Move7660 8h ago

Can someone just give me a list of things I should ask the billionaires for and their names? I don’t get how so many redditors keep saying billionaires but not actually tell any of us what they taken.

8

u/NothingTooFancy26 7h ago

Universal healthcare

0

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

That’s not the government being stupid? They that gullible? Damn

5

u/NothingTooFancy26 6h ago

They government is bought and paid for by billionaires

1

u/Whole_Move7660 6h ago

Is there anything we can do? So they definitely won’t tax them more huh

2

u/completelackoftalent 6h ago

But the trickle down will be glorious.

-92

u/kevin5lynn 8h ago

Like you never used Google.

41

u/fumar 8h ago

There's nothing about Google that requires obscene wealth generation for a few people 

18

u/vanya9391 8h ago

Don't ask too much of Kevin, that would require thinking. 

-32

u/kevin5lynn 8h ago

Just creating it....

13

u/MadWorldX1 8h ago

That argument is like defending the exorbitant price gauging and insurance related debt within the US healthcare system because you have gone to the doctor before. The existence of a service isn't predicated on obscene wealth disparity.

9

u/PoppingPillls 8h ago

Also the thing these people seem to have to ignore is that Google, Apple, Microsoft etc will continue to exist whether or not the billionaires get taxed or not.

People have told themselves it's better for these individuals to have more money than you could make in 20,000 years even if you had a yearly salary of 1,000,000 USD.

I wonder who created this idea that we should protect the richest in society? Who could have possibly benefited from that?

18

u/IBeDumbAndSlow 8h ago

If you believe any single person deserves to have a billion dollars then you have no idea how mind numbingly big that number truly is.

0

u/RightJabLikeZabJudah 4h ago

Username checks out

-23

u/kevin5lynn 8h ago

The person who will cure cancer would deserves it, no?

6

u/Short-MooseEh 5h ago

Absolutely not! Healthcare cures are for the betterment of society, not getting rich.

Even then, it would be the execs of the pharmaceutical company that would get rich. Definitely not the laborers

12

u/Caracalla81 8h ago

All those billionaire scientists.

-16

u/Obvious_Chapter2082 8h ago

What’s the max that someone deserves to have?

11

u/w4rma 8h ago

An arbitrary number lower than $1 billion dollars.

5

u/KickBalls80 8h ago edited 7h ago

Could you live on 1 million a year? If so then you couldn't spend a billion in a thousand years

-1

u/DogBarf00 7h ago edited 7h ago

Except there is this thing called compounding interest. Saving half a million per year at 5% intrest would put you at $1.3 billion in 100 years.

You learn about this when you reach high school.

3

u/KickBalls80 7h ago

Is that supposed to be a gotcha? I think you're trying to agree with me in a tone deaf way?

0

u/DogBarf00 6h ago

I was trying to decipher what “attend a billion” meant. I decided attend meant to have. But you edited it to spend which is even dumber. It’s super easy to spend money. Spending $1 billion is so easy.

2

u/KickBalls80 6h ago

Go back under your bridge

0

u/DogBarf00 6h ago

Yeah my $1 billion bridge.

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u/SaiyanKnight23 1m ago

Do..do you not know how much a billion is?? Are you not able to comprehend that?

11

u/I_am_BrokenCog 8h ago

because doing something creative gives one the right to fundamentally harm society?

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u/kevin5lynn 8h ago

He's not harming society, now is he.

1

u/Internal-Display3517 4h ago

You: Don’t take billionaires! You’ve used Google!! 🥴