• cecilkorik@lemmy.ca
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      8 days ago

      This is a good attitude. The cynicism is well-earned, but ultimately self-defeating. Not all wealthy people are intentionally and actively hostile, and even if they are, sometimes it is effective to turn enemies into allies, maybe just temporary ones, or even just avoid fighting the least rewarding ones at all if it’s not going to cost you anything and lets you combine your forces to focus on the battles that really matter. This is class war, and war calls for strategy. Fight smart and spend our limited resources wisely. Trump and Muskrat are about a million times more direct of a threat to our survival than JB Pritzker or the Waltons. You don’t have to trust any of them, but it’s a strategic blunder to waste time and energy attacking the ones who aren’t attacking us. Don’t depend on them if you don’t have to, but let them try to help, if they can.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Well said. I’ll take this or Gates or Buffett over the Murdochs, Musks, Kochs, Thiels of the world.

      We need all the powerful allies we can get.

      • taiyang@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        It helps when they say they’ll get rid of their billions after death, like Gates recently said. I don’t particularly trust them to actually do that, although his and Buffetts actions do suggest they don’t just want to hoard wealth like an dragon. They like influence too much to prematurely give up that wealth, though.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          Worth noting that in the case of Gates at least, he has already given away $100 billion and I think committed another $200 over the next 20 years. There is some sound reasoning too that he shouldn’t just dump it all at once, as it’s harder to track corruption.

          • novibe@lemmy.ml
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            8 days ago

            He is “donating” to his own charity, where he won’t have to pay a dime in taxes as his children inherit the foundation… it’s a tax and financial trick, don’t be fooled by it. Gates is not our friend.

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              8 days ago

              Even if he donated to other charities, it still wouldn’t be taxed, because the incentive is indeed to donate to charities in the first place. If I was him, I’d do the same because at least I could better track how the money got spent.

              Can you show me a dime of that $100 billion already allocated that went to things like improving health systems in Africa, and fighting things like Malaria, AIDS, and Tuberculosis that instead went back to himself or his kids?

              • novibe@lemmy.ml
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                7 days ago

                The Gates Foundation was expelled from India after they were found to be making women infertile without their knowledge.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Is it being a class traitor though? Maybe she just realizes that her dollars are worth more than rubles for a reason, a reason that is very much now in question.

      If anyone should support the rule of law, it’s the billionaires. We should all be on the same side against fascism.