Wealth cap is needed that takes into account every bit of wealth they have, even indirect
I find the idea of designing an organization to carry out one’s wishes long after one is dead absolutely fascinating. The best example we have is the Roman Catholic Church, which has had substantively the same goals for almost two thousand years. The world’s remaining monarchies might arguably count, although I’m not sure how much, for example, the current King of England has in common with his distant ancestors. He’s still rich and famous, but he has no real authority.
It looks like the senior Murdoch is facing the same problem that kings faced so often - disappointing heirs. At least they’re not literally declaring war on him the way that royal heirs used to.
There is a wonderful podcast episode on the Hershey Trust in Pennsylvania and talks about the philosophy behind estates and trusts. The Wishes of the Dead by Hi-Fi Nation, I highly recommend it, as a bonus factor you don’t need to know philosophy to follow the story.
Synopsis: Our lives are controlled by invisible hands from the grave. Trillions of dollars of the US economy are devoted to executing the wishes of people who died long ago, rather than satisfying the needs, preferences, and values of those living now. Philosopher Barry Lam follows the story of the Hershey fortune to show how a 19th century industrialist constructed the oddest business structure to ensure that his idiosyncratic wishes would be fulfilled hundreds of years after his death. The story raises questions about why we give the dead so much power over our lives, and what this says about how we find meaning in our own lives given foreknowledge of our mortality.
At least they’re not literally declaring war on him the way that royal heirs used to.
Can we at least make them fight to the death? Winner takes all, cheating is allowed.
What if they put a whig and name tag on a gorilla to have it fight in their stead?
I wish! The fighters have to actually fight. Nothing stops you from getting juiced up on steroids and then doing a bunch of PCP while the other fighter has a spiked mace and being on enough meth to kill an elephant.
Someone needs a warning? Goddamn.
Well most people don’t see the problem of having billionaires owning everything all over the place. So if we can have (even more) substantial evidence that they’re harmful, it’s always good to take.
What’s wrong with those people?
Well, they usually don’t know, don’t care, fail to see the potential issues or watch too much TV I guess…
If you could somehow get money out of politics this would be slightly less of a problem. But that obviously can’t happen… until money is taken out of politics.
If I had wheels I’d be a wagon. There are certainly ways to limit the influence of money in politics, but I don’t see how it could possibly be removed. Rich people will always find ways to make politicians care about what they want.
I guess if there were no more rich people you’d effectively take money out of politics, but that’s a very tall order.
It goes, it goes, it goes, it goes
It goes, it goes, it goes, it goesGood ole Death Grips
It brings me some semblance of joy to see that these people’s immense wealth and power seem to come at a direct cost of peace, happiness and contentment. They condemn each other to this fate and I’m all for it.
