America needs a movement to curb billionaires' power
I propose we call it the Luigi Movement, after Luigi Mario the less famous brother of Mario Mario.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/15/billionaire-curb-power-movementOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
59 replies
Something with a sharp downward movement. On an unrelated note. I like French furniture.
Especially when it comes with a little basket attached for collecting cutoffs
I think a movement is putting it lightly.
It's probably worse than most people see on the surface and in pop culture.
I wonder how many people are killed to protect the game they play. Sure we have the wars... But I mean like quiet murders and accidental deaths. Or people trying to start a movement and then getting manipulated and put in jail or psych....or made to be homeless.
I think Americans are way to privileged and naive to understand the raw reality. We are groomed to NOT understand. We are submissive to a culture created by our masters and don't question it. We know it's real now... So i don't understand how people think they can change it by using the systems specifically made to create the problem.
The game players, regardless of nation, utilize the nations as tools. The nations are like a service. The nations people are the product, bought sold and traded for the benefit of the game playing elite. It's like cattle. We are the cattle and work horse, that nation is the farm owner, and the elite own the farmer.
It's not what we were told. It's not going to be fixed using the methods we were taught can fix it. I mean look where we are today... This is what following their lead got us to. The foundation is too rotted to rebuild on.
Billionaires need to be liquidated.
Liquified *
Sounds like a job for Brunt - FCA
I think he'd just take a bribe tbh.
that's a given. you have to bribe Brunt just to get him to show up
Fiat-Chrystler Automobiles?
Financial Corporation Associate
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Brunt
There is no need to curb billionaire‘s power if you simply curb billionaires.
For decades the Epstein class has been grooming Americans to ridicule the French. Because the last thing they want is for Americans to get inspiration from any historical French solutions.
Send them to fight in Iran. They can stay for as long as it takes for them to pay back their fair share in taxes. Assessed by federal minimum wage, of course.
Minimum wage earners don't pay federal taxes. They might have withholding throughout the year, but they get that back in their refund
They're definitely paying federal tariffs.
Mostly not directly.
And how does that make any difference in the amount they pay?
Yes, I'm saying that we should force the billionaires to slave away at minimum wage for thousands of hours to pay back their debt.
Oh, I read that as: they can stay in Iran until they pay what they owe. Not, they're earning their way back.
Yeah, that's fair. I could have worded it better lol. Kind of a difficult sentiment to put into words
America needs to curb stomp billionaires.
We need a new social contract that makes accumulating more than a regular lifetime's amount of money unappealing.
We need solutions that are acceptable to all parties even if there are losers. The trick is getting the losers to accept it without coercion.
The biggest hurdle to starting any sort of revolution or meaningful societal change in the US is finding leadership willing to risk having a target on their backs to rally the masses to action. Anyone willing to be the first to step up will be harassed, pursued, abused, and potentially killed.
There are plenty of leaders to follow, plenty of groups to join, plenty of events to attend.
This type of information isn't broadcast on the local news. You have to go looking for like-minded people.
The revolution will not be televised. It'll also not be on social media.
That should be easy in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
Dunno your country, but if you're not from the US, the people that say those jingoistic celebrations of the country are the most right wing of us. I live in a very heavily right wing state and patriotism is laid on so fucking thick because if somehow people were to take off the patriotism glasses they'd figure out they're getting robbed blind.
Just THINKING of this is TERRORISM!
-Trump's NSPM-7 Memo!
Gee, if only we'd tried that before.
Remember the "1%" protests against the billionaire class?
It didn't matter, because every time people contribute to a 401k or go shopping at a chain box store, they add power to the 1%. People say they want to fight the ultra-rich, but they don't really want to fight. Nobody wants to sacrifice their comfort or security. We know from history how this ends...
I guess we should do nothing then because a half-assed initiative failed
Yes, the initiative failed. They have guns and all the money. We have memes. Game over.
Guess you deserve what you get then
One of life's great ironies is that people rarely get what they deserve.
The most practical forms of direct action benefit its participants individually. Classic example is joining a union, which will give you better compensation at their expense.
Unilateral sacrifices just exhaust you and accomplish little. Become a part of the new economy in which you want to live.
You are right that worker unions should have the weight of collective bargaining behind them, enough to affect the big changes. However, the US has demonstrated again and again that it will just crush unions if they start to irritate the ownership class a little too much. Like what Reagan did to air traffic controllers, what Scott Walker did to the Wisconsin public employees union, and the 2022 railway worker labor dispute under Biden.
Unions have been defanged by decades of ownership class lobbying and regulatory capture. The executive branch has no qualms about neutralizing and marginalizing union workers who step too far out of line. Something much bigger than labor unions is needed, but I'm afraid the ownership class has us all so exhausted from overwork and the media too wary of our neighbors for that to happen. For the public to build the kind of movement it needs will take both a hugely impactful economic downturn that affects everyone, and as much as I wish it weren't the case, an immensely charismatic figure to pull them together. Whenever someone with an anti-status quo message and the charisma to start pulling people together starts to gain traction, they invariably end up on the business end of the CIA.
It's hard not to feel defeated and deflated, especially when we're all so exhausted.
No billionaires, no billionares' power.
The percentage of sociopaths involved with defining a society should never be greater than zero.
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
through taxationFTFY. ✊🏼
More like a haircut.
Luigi Mario is one of the richest video game characters in existence. His networth after inheriting that haunted mansion is enormous. The gems he finds alone are worth hundreds of millions.
Fun fact: guillotine is a ohko but only 30% accuracy
One of those moves that only hits if your opponent uses it.
That can be helped if you make sure the opponent can move. Some sort of restraint.
Yes we agree now what
You missed "run for local office and replace those cronies in charge"
We need a WAR on greed.
I wish it hadn’t come to that … it ought to be more straightforward to roll back the clock, as MAGAts want to do. Roll back all those tax cuts for the wealthy. Roll back Supreme Court decisions letting them avoid taxes. Roll back letting corporate money dominate politics. Roll back union busting.
Income taxes used to be very progressive, in that wealthy people paid a much higher percentage. However now that ladder stops, the percentage stops rising, and ever more wealth and money accumulation can be defined as “not income”, so the wealthy pay the least in taxes (by percentage).
Rolling back these changes should help narrow the huge gap of income inequality, reduce corporate ownership of our government, and give ordinary people more of a voice
Movement? Does bolt-action count?
No... really?
This is Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign. Congratulations on catching up.
https://youtu.be/GNQb06kKysY
I was at the debate protest where they wouldn't allow him in, even with an actual ticket to the debate. And then SCOTUS signaled the bgenning of the end by appointing new world order Georgie boy.
Rope-a-dope
If by movement you mean bullets....you're almost there.
too late
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Oh, and wear sunscreen cuz the nukes are coming.
"Needs," hells yeah.
"Will have," you know better. American workers love the taste of billionaire boot.