There's an overwhelming consensus that income inequality is having a negative impact on society today. That sentiment hits home a lot harder, however, when you hear the ultrawealthy having a laugh about it.
A post to Reddit's r/LateStageCapitalism shows exactly this, and it's both infuriating and oddly chilling.
The post, entitled "Billionaire on $100 million dollar yacht jokes about us peasants," contains a clip from a documentary called Mega Yachts: The Latest Craze for Billionaires.
The clip depicts the lavish lifestyle of ultrawealthy people spending time on gas-guzzling, pollution-barfing superyachts akin to floating mansions. It features lawyer-turned-venture-capitalist Bill Duker, whose words are the real focus of the post.
"I have a joke," Duker says. "If the rest of the world learns what it's like to live on a yacht like this, they're going to bring back the guillotine."
This clip is a microcosm of the massive disconnect that the ultrawealthy have with what the rest of the world might call "reality." While Duker laughs away on his yacht that probably cost more than the annual GDP of a small country, regular people and the planet pay the price. The people suffer from the hoarding of resources, and the planet suffers from the excessive waste of them.
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It's indisputable that the ultrawealthy are far bigger polluters than the average person. The richest 10% of people are responsible for 50% of all pollution.
The comments depicted reasonable disgust with the clip.
The OP pointed out that Duker's superyacht had since burned up in a fire, only to realize that was a different gigantic yacht of his. "Actually it was just his second 30 million dollar yacht and I'm sure he'll make money when the insurance check comes in," they said. "These people make me sick."
"I mean he said it, not me," another said of Duker's reference to the guillotines of the French Revolution. "But yeah, I'll say it too."
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"I'm not even envious of rich people anymore. Just give me enough money to clear my monthly bills and attend some shows and I'm good. You know I'm still taking the subway/bus," someone else wrote.
As one commenter put it: "That joke wasn't even funny."
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