Why can’t we, as a society, just take Musk’s money and redistribute it? It is absolutely stupid that we allow someone to have more money than he can use while so many people can’t afford to live
I swear people think billionaires have a giant vault of money like Scrooge McDuck. I have had to explain this to people so many times. His wealth is almost entered imaginary and based on the speculative possible future profits of his companies. If he ever tried to convert it into cash the value would go to zero.
His wealth isn’t imaginary when he uses it as collateral to borrow actual money, though.
That’s the weird part, when billionaires use their money, it’s real.
But when you discuss taking it away or taxing it, it’s suddenly just an imagination.
Realistically it’s not liquid assets like it is for you and me. They purchase items that “appreciate” like land and art, then take loans out using them as collateral to then get them appraised higher to take out another loan to pay off the other one then use the extra for living on. They don’t live on dividends or income, it’s a game of loans that they have a small army of accountants running. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take those assets. Just that it doesn’t translate into immediate cash flows for people.
![[serious]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/5797250b-b6ab-4ec4-aa5f-c41d66a011f0.jpeg){kind=link}
Why can’t we, as a society, just take Musk’s money and redistribute it? It is absolutely stupid that we allow someone to have more money than he can use while so many people can’t afford to live
Most of those trillions are unrealized gains based on completely unrealistic valuation in “trust me bro” style
Like Tesla being worth more than all the western car manufacturers combined or xai being “worth” billions even if it’s losing billions every year.
The second he dumps those stocks, the house of cards would crash almost immediately
I swear people think billionaires have a giant vault of money like Scrooge McDuck. I have had to explain this to people so many times. His wealth is almost entered imaginary and based on the speculative possible future profits of his companies. If he ever tried to convert it into cash the value would go to zero.
His wealth isn’t imaginary when he uses it as collateral to borrow actual money, though.
That’s the weird part, when billionaires use their money, it’s real.
But when you discuss taking it away or taxing it, it’s suddenly just an imagination.
Realistically it’s not liquid assets like it is for you and me. They purchase items that “appreciate” like land and art, then take loans out using them as collateral to then get them appraised higher to take out another loan to pay off the other one then use the extra for living on. They don’t live on dividends or income, it’s a game of loans that they have a small army of accountants running. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take those assets. Just that it doesn’t translate into immediate cash flows for people.
Because it’s not “real” money
It’s real enough to use as collateral to borrow actual money from banks.
Sure, but turning it all into actual resources for the community wouldn’t be as easy as it seems (I think?)