Current Events > At what level of wealth does it become unethical?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think it has to go on a case by case basis depending on HOW the wealth was gained.

Someone made a statement that "Anyone making more than $10 million is evil" and I countered with how that's mid-level talent salary in Major League Baseball, and those players are hardly evil.

Thanks. I'm glad that most people acknowledge that a blanket eat the rich mentality is stupid.

I think assuming someone being rich is inherently a bad person is dumb, but most billionaires have kids working in factories in poor countries

The ethics are not determined by the amount.

epik_fail1 posted...

I think assuming someone being rich is inherently a bad person is dumb, but most billionaires have kids working in factories in poor countries

This. Being rich is not an automatic youre evil, but the more you get (especially Billion +), it becomes less and less likely that you acquired that much money through ethical means.

There should be an imposed wealth cap of $10, 000, 000. It's bad and harmful to allow individuals to become excessively powerful. We also need massive changes to the way the US government operates such that individual politicians are less powerful.

Based on

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/80684335

As long as it's made ethically I'd say no amount of unethical

bigblu89 posted...

I think it has to go on a case by case basis depending on HOW the wealth was gained.

Let's say ethically.

I think I said this in the topic TC mentioned, but I did some math about it and determined that, if we pretend minimum wage is enough for one person to survive, then around $5,000,000 is enough money for four people to go their entire lives without any of them ever having to work a day. In other words, that amount is more than enough for a family of four to live reasonably comfortable lives without any of them ever working again.

I think that reasoning makes it a fine number to set as an upper limit of how much wealth one person is allowed to hold without raising ethical concerns.

One thing I want to clarify is this: all billionaires are evil. This isn't to say necessarily that all billionaires acquired their wealth through unethical means. (Although that is certainly also true; you cannot acquire even tens of millions of dollars without profiting off of the exploitation of poorer folk.) Rather, the act of being a billionaire is, itself, an evil act. To make the conscious decision to hoard that level of wealth rather than use it for the betterment of the world around you is beyond selfishness. If millions of people are struggling and dying and someone who could help them without even sacrificing any comforts chooses to sit on their ever-growing pile of gold, how can you say that person isn't evil? And no, billionaires who donate to charity don't get a pass. If, after your donations, you're still a billionaire, you aren't donating nearly enough.

Dumb concept. Wealth accumulation and ethics in business and life are different things.

DarkDoc posted...

Let's say ethically.

Then there's no level of wealth that is wrong.

Now if it is acquired unethically, then even only having a dollar could be unethical. If let's say you got it by beating up a 4 year old.

SydnieStarlight posted...

And no, billionaires who donate to charity don't get a pass. If, after your donations, you're still a billionaire, you aren't donating nearly enough.

Someone can be a billionaire and have way less than a billion in actual usable wealth.

Like if you turned Elon Musk into a good person, he'd still be a billionaire just from how much of SpaceX he'd need to own to keep it on mission.

It's not the amount that's an issue, it's whether you obtained it by earning it or by extracting it from other people's labour (i.e. being a capitalist, landlord or other rentier).

That said, there are amounts that it's inconceivable that someone earned rather than took - no one has ever earned a billion dollars.

When you can afford to be a tax cheat.

Acquiring any amount of wealth is inherently unethical (though there are many unethical ways to do so). Hoarding your wealth, however, is unethical.

Im fortunate enough to be very comfortable and I give a lot back. Id say if youre very comfortable and do nothing to help those less fortunate, thats unethical.

As soon as you make more than me

It's always about how the wealth was earned. That said, much of wealth earned is from unethical methods. Or just inherited, which isn't yet unethical until it's decided what they will do to continue the wealth flow.

When they can have a monopoly.