re: Do socialists think that billionaires stole their money?

I dug a two mile trench.

Pay me. I created wealth.

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But a lot more people should profit from their labor.

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People who talk about the way things “should” be are losers.

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They should have paid the people whose labor they used to get rich more. A lot more. It's that simple.

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Did someone force them to accept the wages they took?

Did someone force them to not change careers?

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Labor is the source of wealth.

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So if it’s labor alone, then if I go outside now and just start digging a hole with absolutely no purpose I’ll get money? Because that’s labor?

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We have no problem with people having nice things. But a lot more people should profit from their labor.

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The person who gets paid an hourly wage/salary literally has nothing in the game. There is no risk involved. They show up and are provided everything they need to perform their job and then they go home. If the company fails, they lose their job. But the business owner loses everything. So you want the person who has taken out a second mortgage to afford their own business to have absolutely no profit? Do you have any idea what the consequences will be if we remove the possibility for profit? What do you think the motivating factor is for many small businesses? What about the healthcare industry? What about technology companies? If it were not about profit, and everyone was guaranteed a wage, then why would we expect anyone to try harder than their peers? Look at all of the technological breakthroughs that have come from countries that operate in a capitalist manner. You’d give that all up on the basis that some people are rich? Jealousy is just awful, it blinds people to obvious consequences.

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Labor is the source of wealth

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Um...I don't think you understand the difference between wealth and liquidity.

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We live in a partly crony capitalist system. It's possible to do well by playing by the rules, but billionaires? They don't play by the rules.

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What are these rules you speak of?

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Apparently poor people somehow had BILLIONS of dollars stolen from them.

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Going to play devils advocate here, but Bernie madhoff did steal Billions from people.

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We live in a partly crony capitalist system. It's possible to do well by playing by the rules, but billionaires? They don't play by the rules.

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I do not know your political convictions, but the solution to this is to remove state power that incentivizes such rule-breaking to happen. If buying off regulators and legislators produces no discernible benefit, then there will be little and less bribery and influence-buying.

Giving power to the state, at least a republican state, to combat this will only further exacerbate the problem. Rules ostensibly made to curtail corporate influence will produce a barrier to entry that only the most powerful can overcome.

The rich socialists are in it for the power over the poor socialists

The poor socialists are in it for the lazy sense of security they get from free handouts.

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Kinda yeah. How can anyone compete with amazon when local governments bend over backwards for them? Do you think small businesses get equal treatment?

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Maybe if we didn’t have such punitive tax measures small business wouldn’t be stifled and people wouldn’t be required to rely on the likes of amazon

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We live in a partly crony capitalist system. It's possible to do well by playing by the rules, but billionaires? They don't play by the rules.

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Because the governments have too much power and influence over business. We should be cutting that back, not increasing it