Most of this wealth is in stocks, though. Their worth is based on the number of shares they own of these companies. For every share they sell the value of the other shares drops a bit. So if Musk or Bezos sold all their shares, to have this money in actual cash, not only would they probably bankrupt their company and crash the stock market, but the cash they got out of it would be only a fraction of what this shows on paper now.
I’m not sure how to edit comments so I’m adding this… I agree with the sentiment and how insanely low the minimum wage is. But these billionaires don’t actually have the amount of money most people believe they have. Functionally, it’s nowhere close.
They still treat that money as a real value though. Musk put up a shit ton of Tesla shares to cover the Twitter buy. I think I understand that you mean the big numbers should be slightly smaller big numbers but if they are wielded and function at those levels then that’s kinda the same thing.
I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that the workers who built these companies shouldn’t be compensated through stock for their contributions? I’ve just heard your argument a lot and I think, OK, if they don’t really control that much wealth, why not spread it around. They wouldn’t be losing anything, or not much of value. Really need to have a tax on wealth, above a certain level, in my opinion at least.
Oh, and on the web version of Lemmy, there should be an edit button at the bottom of your post.
Ah thank you, I’m testing out an app and it must not be built in yet.
And these folks should totally share their share of the company value with employees! I think that’s excellent compensation because it helps everyone it’s given to. Those that need money now can sell and have cash, those that don’t can save it for a rainy day/retirement. These billionaires should NOT have this level of value to their name. They deserve more money than anyone else in the company gets, because they’ve worked their way to the top, but like… not a fraction of what they actually receive.
Most of this wealth is in stocks, though. Their worth is based on the number of shares they own of these companies. For every share they sell the value of the other shares drops a bit. So if Musk or Bezos sold all their shares, to have this money in actual cash, not only would they probably bankrupt their company and crash the stock market, but the cash they got out of it would be only a fraction of what this shows on paper now.
I’m not sure how to edit comments so I’m adding this… I agree with the sentiment and how insanely low the minimum wage is. But these billionaires don’t actually have the amount of money most people believe they have. Functionally, it’s nowhere close.
They still treat that money as a real value though. Musk put up a shit ton of Tesla shares to cover the Twitter buy. I think I understand that you mean the big numbers should be slightly smaller big numbers but if they are wielded and function at those levels then that’s kinda the same thing.
I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that the workers who built these companies shouldn’t be compensated through stock for their contributions? I’ve just heard your argument a lot and I think, OK, if they don’t really control that much wealth, why not spread it around. They wouldn’t be losing anything, or not much of value. Really need to have a tax on wealth, above a certain level, in my opinion at least.
Oh, and on the web version of Lemmy, there should be an
editbutton at the bottom of your post.Ah thank you, I’m testing out an app and it must not be built in yet.
And these folks should totally share their share of the company value with employees! I think that’s excellent compensation because it helps everyone it’s given to. Those that need money now can sell and have cash, those that don’t can save it for a rainy day/retirement. These billionaires should NOT have this level of value to their name. They deserve more money than anyone else in the company gets, because they’ve worked their way to the top, but like… not a fraction of what they actually receive.
“But billionaires’ cash isn’t liquid! They can’t access it until they need $44b to buy a social media company!”
The one good thing about Elon Musk is how he disproves the myths of capitalism like this and meritocracy.