← All notes

#wealth inequality

notes updated

Dead Economy Theory

Cory Doctorow points out that Elon Musk's personal wealth has soared to astronomical heights while everything he's actually done since 2020 has been pretty much a failure. Why? Because of memes and vibes, basically.

notes updated

A trillionaire does not represent the triumph of human potential

This is a difficult article to quote because it's all so good. I encourage you to go and read it in its entirety.

I have always been against hierarchy and extreme forms of wealth. As this article explains, although not in the part I've quoted below, that makes me an anarchist, because I see "concentrated wealth and concentrated power [as] inseparable" and meaning that I "reject the distinction often made between economic and political authority".

notes updated

You don't get super rich by treating other people as ends in themselves

Only 0.1% of Elon Musk's trillion-dollar wealth is in cash, with the rest depends on the value of shares in his company on the stock market. But I'm not here to quibble over whether he was richer than historical figures such as Mansa Musa. It's all gauche, unnecessary, and built on the back of industrial level theft.