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EU's five biggest billionaires' wealth surges 76 percent (euobserver.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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While the vast majority of the EU's population has become steadily poorer recently, its top five richest billionaires have increased their wealth from €244bn in 2020 to €429bn in 2023, an Oxfam report revealed on Monday (15 January).

This represents a 76 percent increase in just three years — at a rate of €5.7m per hour.

"This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring that corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else," said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International's interim executive director.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

We really should tax %% them all: their businesses, the Royal houses; no exceptions, or offshore bla bla. Then we can redistribute their wealth/power more socially.

EU corporate tax rules should only be a beginning.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That would be a great idea, if they didn't hold their respective countries', and EU legislatures by the balls.
Billionaires are never going to voluntarily or willingly give up their power.

There is good reason we say "eat the rich" instead of "tax the rich".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What do you mean by "eat the rich"?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

There is good reason we say "eat the rich" instead of "tax the rich".

Billionaires are never going to voluntarily or willingly give up their power.

They won't. But we can change regulations.

Don't know who " we" is nor the slogan tbh. Seems that according to wiki it's a US slogan?

Edit: probably because of The satirical book by Patrick Jake O'Rourke

Contrary to US, this is Europe, and we ( should) have socialist foundations; unfortunately since a decade or so, it's become more and more " capitalistic and right winged" in a bad way. We need to stop that trend.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I'm not American, and eat the rich isn't either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_the_rich#Origin

As for regulations, if I wasn't clear before - those who make the regulations are either obscenely rich themselves and/or are funded and controlled by the obscenely rich. Changing regulations isn't going to happen unless the obscenely rich approve, and they never will.

As for the suggestion that Europe has socialist foundations - Europeans (previously all feudal) literally created capitalism and enslaved half of humanity to feed it. The countries they pillaged now designated "developing" and still exploited for cheap labour and resources. (edit to add: even Scandinavia, with its socialist veneer is neoliberal at best and heading exactly in the same direction the rest of us are, if a few years behind us) (edit to add more: and while the Soviet Block might have been told they had communism or even just socialism, that wasn't actually the case, just more imperialism and some state capitalism as a treat)

The idea that it's only been a decade of decline to the right is so ignorant I can't do anything other than laugh at the suggestion. Honestly - where to even start??? Maybe with fascism also being a European creation?

You could seriously benefit not only from actually educating yourself on the history of where you're from, and of the systems you live by, as well the current history as well, since you're clearly completely clueless, but also from reducing your confidence in your ignorance. It's not a good look.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

literally created capitalism and enslaved half of humanity to feed it.

That's one side of the equation. On the other there's the EU officially being a social market economy and USians would get an aneuryism reading some parts of the German constitution. Like "Property entails obligations. Its use shall also serve the public good.". Or that, going way beyond eminent domain, means of productions can be socialised without even having to prove social good. Expropriate big landlords? Berlin is currently in the process of doing exactly that.

And that while no doubt Europe is causing a lot of problems elsewhere by its sheer economic weight alone, there's also stuff like the upcoming Supply Chain Act, making anyone importing anything into Europe responsible for checking that human rights were observed. There is no fucking way in hell such a thing would even be considered by the Yanks.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You could seriously benefit not only from actually educating yourself on the history of where you're from, and of the systems you live by, as well the current history as well, since you're clearly completely clueless, but also from reducing your confidence in your ignorance. It's not a good look.

Tnx for the explanation, I did read most of Rousseau's work, doesn't mean I remember everything I read.

And just because I dont know this slogan, and you feel like I don't agree with you, there is absolutely no need to be condescending. Not very social are we now?

Also, you like to pinpoint only the worse elements of Europe, and you won't acknowledge Europe's socialist inheritance like here:

"The first modern socialists were early 19th-century Western European social critics. In this period socialism emerged from a diverse array of doctrines and social experiments associated primarily with British and French thinkers—especially Thomas Spence, Charles Fourier, Saint-Simon, Robert Owen. " .