[thread] Competitive Enterprise Institute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_family_foundations#Competitive_Enterprise_Institute

* libertarian think tank
* seeks limited government, free enterprise, indiv. liberty
* promotes climate change denial
* opponent of EPA policies lim. greenhouse gas emissions
* funders incl. Koch Foundations

See also (Charles Koch ...) [thread] Existential threat of billionaires
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113346390093945554

#CompetitiveEnterpriseInstitute #CEI #CharlesKoch #billionaires #libertarianism #ClimateDenial

What billionaires are 'trying to escape is civilisation, the rule of law, other people – bluntly, us. They’re trying to escape us'...

and to use a phrase Zoe Williams doesn't: 'the only dangerous minority are the [ultra] rich'!

#billionaires #USpol

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/11/billionaires-elon-musk-hate-us-ultra-wealthy-climate-crisis

A Christmas Strike

We have the means to send a message to billionaires that we do not approve of their behaviour this year and that we refuse to subsidise it any longer. By not buying frivolous Christmas gifts this year, we send the only kind of message they can hear. It is also the last means we have of doing anything about our situation.

https://activersity.org/opinion/christmas-strike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX3vMJOADlE

#billionaires #christmasstrike

A Christmas Strike

Instead of giving unnecessary gifts this year, we give loved ones home-made Christmas cards:

“This year, I’m giving you a gift of democracy. This card represents a purchase not made, money that #billionaires cannot use against civilisation. I hope this is a gift that you shall be able to use in the future.”

or donate on their behalf to #opensource & #linux projects — things we actually need.

https://activersity.org/opinion/christmas-strike

#christmasstrike

Memes R Us
[meme-maker unknown]

See the flaws in this oversimplified meme and read the comment by @jrefior

#economics #education #inequality #billionaires #college #taxes #press #meme #PovertyTax

Deep conversation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0gBhTO-pzs

#autrocracy #billionaires #freespeech #maga #gop #palestine #usa

#comics #medhihasan #darkmoney

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/07/investing/billionaires-net-worth-trump-win/index.html

Wednesday wasn’t just a good day for Trump. The wealth of the world’s 10 richest people also soared by a record amount. The world’s 10 richest people got a record $64 billion richer from Trump’s reelection.

- Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index

#wealth #richestpeople #investing #billionaires

The usa will #vote for who will give the murderers the weapons of death tomorrow.

Either way #Palestine will pay the price. #genocide apparently matters less than the cost of groceries.

Libs will sleep well if their queen #kamala is elected. Brown babies should have known better.

#warpigs one and all. Fuck the usa, the dept of war, the dems and republicans, the #billionaires, all of it.

#freepalestine #notanotherbomb #capitalism #politics #israel #votingdoesntchangeanything

https://hartmannreport.com/p/saturday-report-11224

Saturday Report 11/2/24 - Did a demon attack Tucker or was it his......
#ThomHartmann

..."the $6 billion or so and efforts in kind that #rightwing #billionaires, #Israel, #Putin, and #Musk have thrown in on behalf of #Trump and the GOP will make it a challenge. Particularly in the #Senate.
...
Europe’s #Greens ask professional grifter Jill #Stein to pull out of #US #election to prevent a Trump victory. Noting that the American Green Party is not affiliate."...

"The Washington Post is probably not going anywhere and on some level we need large journalistic institutions to continue to exist. But even well-run large outlets are surely full of waste and bloat that are funded on the backs of and at the expense of the actual journalism. The “wealth and business interests” of billionaire owners, as Bezos writes, are not a “bulwark against intimidation” for journalism. They are, themselves, the biggest threat.

404 Media is barely a year old and we employ four people. You cannot compare our business or what we have done to the Washington Post. As our friend Molly White explained last week, “Just Go Independent” sounds good in theory, but it is not necessarily easy. Doing high quality, investigative journalism is hard, and it is expensive. But it’s not that expensive, and the infrastructure to do it on the internet is getting cheaper and easier to pull off. Printing presses, middle managers, fancy offices, and executive salaries are the expensive things, and they are unnecessary.

Still, it’s unclear whether “Just Go Independent” is a sustainable career path for the number of journalists who we need to have a functioning society. But I do know that relying on the passing interest of billionaires to keep journalism alive is not sustainable. And I know that 250,000 subscribers could fund a lot of independent journalists."

https://www.404media.co/the-billionaire-is-the-threat-not-the-solution/

#WashingtonPost #Bezos #Journalism #Media #News #Billionaires

https://www.tiktok.com/@thehistorywizard/video/7253074426407718190

There is an easy thought experiment to clear up any remaining controversy:

Would you rather live in a city which sustains ten burglars or ten #billionaires?

Et voilà — You've just instantly convinced yourself that billionaires are worse than criminals, and must be.

Goethe's #Faust is described as "the greatest work of #German literature."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethe%27s_Faust

You can have sex with an under-age girl and you can have people killed for interfering with your real estate project. You can literally make a deal with the devil, and after all that, you'll be forgiven.

Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, den können wir erlösen.
He who constantly strives can be redeemed

Now, I'm not explaining anything, just sayin'.

#billionaires #literature

The Titanic wreckage tours by #OceanGate are a stark example of how #billionaires spend money that they do not pay in #taxes. It is unconscionable that #taxpayers should bear further the burden of rescue costs. Billionaires must be made to pay every cent of the US Coast Guard effort in this completely unnecessary and offensive tragedy.

#titan

"All these people who are booing, and I’m just pointing out the obvious, you have terrible seats,” Chappelle said, apparently trying to save Musk’s dignity by calling the people who are booing poor.

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-booed-stadium-crowd-dave-chappelle-sf-boo-1849881192

#billionaires #elonmusk #nouveaupauvre

A windfall tax on energy companies is designed to provide relief for workers.
Tax advantages shall be made available for climate-friendly apartment building construction as well as solar panels.

Seems to be thinkable.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/jahressteuergesetz-bundestag-101.html

#inflation #energycrisis #billionaires

In the 19th century, labor markets were self-regulating.

#freemarket #nostalgia #billionaires #glorydays #19thcentury

I have never watched Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," but I have twice followed a link to this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09nHj9Qd6k

The officer, played brilliantly by Christoph Waltz, is the perfect incarnation of modern evil: Not a thug, not a brute, but a sophisticated, educated, law-abiding officer of a deranged civilization.

#billionaires

Beim Limitarismus geht es darum, dass niemand übermäßig reich werden sollte. Der Grund hinter der Idee: Einzelne Superreiche würden der Gemeinschaft zu sehr schaden.

https://www.dw.com/de/wieviel-reichtum-ist-genug/a-63386531

Bitte nicht so voreilig! Es braucht bestimmt mehr Forschung.

#billionaires

Have you tried mindfulness?

Actual tweet from Elon Musk
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579934616429158400

Everyone else, please note: mindfulness only works before your first billion.

#elonmusk #ukraine #billionaires

"Ukrainian troops have reported outages of their Starlink communication devices on the frontline, hindering efforts to liberate territory from Russian forces"

"Roman Sinicyn ... said the problem may be occurring because SpaceX was trying to prevent its misuse by Russian forces."

https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397

Aren't subscriptions required to access the starlink service? Either the Russian army has subscriptions (!!), or the Ukrainian army is being hindered.

#ukraine #billionaires #musk

“I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in
Ukraine,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said …, “I don’t think the
U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.”

But

USAID agreed to purchase closer to 1,500 standard Starlink terminals
for $1,500 apiece (a standard terminal set costs $600) and to pay an additional $800,000 for transportation costs, … adding up to over $3 million in taxpayer dollars…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietly-paying-millions-send-starlink-terminals-ukraine-contrary-spacexs-claims

#musk #ukraine #billionaires

starlink profit

by 2025, the company (SpaceX) think[s] broadband satellite internet could be a $30 billion-a-year business, generating six times more revenue than the company gets from launching rockets…

SpaceX expects Starlink to produce …more than $10 billion in [annual] operating profit.

…building Starlink is expected to cost $10 billion in total…

And as WSJ reported… there's a chance Musk could get U.S. taxpayers to pay for all of Starlink

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/04/10/elon-musk-wants-taxpayers-to-pay-for-his-starlink.aspx

#musk #billionaires

Musk fears take-back of Crimea

"[Elon] Musk, speaking to [political analyst Ian] Bremmer, said that he had been asked by Ukraine's defense ministry to activate Starlink in Crimea, which was invaded and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Per Bremmer, Musk 'refused given the potential for escalation.'"

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blocks-starlink-in-crimea-amid-nuclear-fears-report-2022-10

Potential for winning?

#ukraine #musk #billionaires