Religion and Ethics and Health BBS

Religion and Ethics and Health BBS
[ Religion and Ethics and Health BBS ]

Elon Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. Is that bad?

Posted by Ken C on September 26, 2025, 12:50 am

"Elon Musk the richest man in the world worth over $480 billion owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households."

Is that bad?

Most of his wealth is tied up in his companies. His companies are more efficient than the government. He does not own a lot of luxury items like giant mansions. He makes electric vehicles that are fun to drive. He makes cars that middle income people can enjoy. Instead of making his EV's slow and icky, he makes fun EV's that people enjoy driving.

Musk has publicly stated his desire to shed his possessions, including his houses, to achieve a greater sense of "freedom".

Disclaimer: I own one of his cars, and I am very happy with it. I hope I am not biased because of that.

I'm more concerned about housing disparity. Here in Los Angeles I see rich people living in giant mansions, but I also see working poor who live in old campers parked on the street.

I drive all over this city for work. I'm thinking of making a short documentary showing the difference in housing between the rich and poor. Some people might be shocked at how badly the poor live and how extravagant some of the mansions are.

Yes, it's bad.

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 7:50 am, in reply to "Elon Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. Is that bad?"

A country built on greed can not survive. Eventually the middle class, which is the foundation of this country, will be squeezed to the point where there is nothing left to give. At that point, it will be time to pay the piper.

Healthcare, food, clothing, housing, justice, a voice that will be heard by the government . . . all go to those with wealth.

We are not the country we claim to be. Equality does not exist in this country. We pay lip service to an ideal that we constantly violate. Sanders is right. There are two Americas.

It’s not about equity. It’s about fair play.

Posted by GOG on September 26, 2025, 11:51 am, in reply to "Yes, it's bad."

Equity was the Soviet model.

Equity and equality are not the same.

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 12:15 pm, in reply to "It’s not about equity. It’s about fair play. "

And by equality I don't mean that everyone's bank accounts look the same.

Equality as in equal application of the law, for instance.

There are things that go on in the US that are far from fair. So if you are using fairness as your standard, things still fall apart.

So, get super rich, and get equal treatment of then-applicable law.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on September 26, 2025, 2:30 pm, in reply to "Equity and equality are not the same."

Right?

Loopholes that favor the rich should be gotten rid of.

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 8:22 pm, in reply to "So, get super rich, and get equal treatment of then-applicable law."

Be a hard working member of the middle class, work your ass off to become rich or maybe even super rich, and pay your fair share of taxes.

Will the rich have a problem with that? No doubt. It's not a concern of mine.

How would you propose to achieve "equality"?

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on September 26, 2025, 8:25 am, in reply to "Yes, it's bad."

At this point in time, I doubt it can be achieved.

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 10:20 am, in reply to "How would you propose to achieve "equality"?"

The run-away-train is almost out of sight. The powerful are not going to want to have controls placed on them nor share their power.

Freedom has its risks for sure. It has it's downside. Nothing is perfect. How, for instance, do you legislate greed out of the greedy? Well, you can't. But you can put controls in place on their behaviors. I think we should have had some measures in place that would have improved the situation before reaching the point we are at now:

No more lobbying.

Remove the tax income ceiling on Social Security taxes. (I think the maximum taxable income is currently $176,000.).

Put an end to the legal strategies and incentives built into the tax laws that permit the ultra-wealthy to reduce their tax burden. Many of these incentives are not available to the middle class tax payer.

Restructure healthcare. The rich can afford it, the poor get financial help from 'the system', and the middle class falls through the cracks. IF we want to keep a privatized system then it needs financial restructuring because it can't keep going the way it is now. Plus access to healthcare is extremely lopsided and unfair: profit limits. Big pharma, for instance, is super guilty of price gouging in the US. Put an end to it. Also, limit patents on new drugs. Big pharma often applies for patent extensions in order to keep the profits rolling in which are already hefty. No more extensions, no more 'evergreening', no more 'patent thicketing' and the like.

Control border entry: Vet people before they enter the country. Limit how many are permitted in annually. Vetting them after they are already in the country places a huge burden on law enforcement and the court systems. As lovely as an ideal is to try and save all worthy cases, we are a country of limited resources and it can't be done. Like it or not, we need to recognize our limitations. Exceed those limitations, we go down and take everyone in our country down with us. That is senseless.

Congress should not get automatic raises. There should also be term limits. Member of Congress collect their benefits and salary and are very ineffective. We pay them to preform a service for us that they routinely fail at.

The Middle Class must pay for their personal housing needs. Why do some of these politicians get a free ride off the taxpayer for their housing? Why does the Mayor of NYC get to live for free in Gracie Mansion? What is the Mayor, royalty or something? We have to pay our way, so should he, she or any other politician for that matter. Politicians are public servants, not royalty. Stop treating them as such.

Just some ideas off the top of my head right now. I am sure others can add to and/or revise or improve those ideas.

Will we ever be perfectly equal? No. But we can work to improve things because they sure as hell are nowhere near equal now.

How do you share power with those who don't know how to use it?

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on September 26, 2025, 2:03 pm, in reply to "At this point in time, I doubt it can be achieved. "

Exactly who are the ones that don't know how to use it?

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 8:25 pm, in reply to "How do you share power with those who don't know how to use it?"

Who are the ones that know how to use it?

Is there a law that states 'only those who know how to use power' get to have power?

Politicians are elected and they are supposed to be working for us.

Posted by Ken C on September 26, 2025, 1:47 pm, in reply to "At this point in time, I doubt it can be achieved. "
Edited by board administrator September 26, 2025, 1:48 pm

Politicians are not supposed to be like kings or royalty, but some of them act like it.

Politicians work to get re-elected, using your money.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on September 26, 2025, 2:07 pm, in reply to "Politicians are elected and they are supposed to be working for us. "

What little other work they do involves spending your money.

There's no attempt to curb spending or save money. That's why your congress has spent $36 trillion that they didn't have, and they continue by raising the debt ceiling. Every dime you pay in taxes is accompanied by 10-30% more in government spending. It's a no-win situation.

I think we should focus on the basics that everyone should get.

Posted by Ken C on September 26, 2025, 1:44 pm, in reply to "At this point in time, I doubt it can be achieved. "

Everyone deserves a good education, good lawyers when needed, good healthy food, clothing and basic shelter. We should help the poor get all that stuff, and we should raise taxes on luxuries.

Some people are rich, but their wealth is tied up in their business. They don't waste their money on useless luxuries. I'm opposed to raising their taxes.

We need equal opportunities, equal justice and equal health care. That does not mean equal wealth.

Posted by Ken C on September 26, 2025, 9:35 am, in reply to "How would you propose to achieve "equality"?"

Hard working and smart people should get extra money, the only question is how much extra they should get.

Most people I talk to agree that there should be equal opportunity, equal pay for

Posted by Dancing Digits on September 26, 2025, 8:29 pm, in reply to "We need equal opportunities, equal justice and equal health care. That does not mean equal wealth."

equal work, equal justice, equal healthcare - but those are end goals. The 64 dollar question is how to achieve those goals.

It is, even in "fat and happy" America, a ticket to violent dissolution.

Posted by 7:77 on September 26, 2025, 7:38 am, in reply to "Elon Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. Is that bad?"

I think a strong argument can be made that the trend of wealth accumulation at the top of the pyramid (at a rate far in excess of the ability of the system to create new wealth), is an inevitable and irreversible component of late stage capitalism. This trend is also unsustainable, although Americans have been expertly and effectively distracted from this reality for generations, so the eventual upheaval may still be some distance away (despite the present catalyzing elements).

Videos: Rich vs poor homes:

Posted by Ken C on September 26, 2025, 1:00 am, in reply to "Elon Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. Is that bad?"

Have you noticed the rich don’t give a dam about the poor

Posted by Lucky on September 26, 2025, 2:51 pm, in reply to "Videos: Rich vs poor homes:"

A lot of people work two jobs and still live in poverty.

Housing has went up in cost significantly since Covid in the rural areas

Posted by Lucky on September 26, 2025, 2:47 pm, in reply to "Videos: Rich vs poor homes:"

I see a lot of people living in campers full time with solar panels.everone I know who wants a job has one but their paycheck doesn’t go far . I have noticed in my area the state and county have cut back on cutting the sides of the roads . I feel when the state doesn’t take care of your roads it makes you feel your area is going down hill

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