World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this year

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by staticassertion on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:21PM (#16016691)

It matters to me personally that a small group of people have such a massive amount of power. It's already completely uneven regarding voting power - I can vote once in an election, but if I had a trillion dollars I could vote once, and then I could pay lobbyists, and fund advertisements, etc. I, as a single person or small group, with a trillion dollars, can have a massive influence.

This is regardless of how poor anyone else is.

No one should have this kind of money, it's really absurd.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by charlesdm on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:25PM (#16016725)

Didn't Trump get elected with 1/7th the budget of Hillary Clinton?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by staticassertion on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:27PM (#16016760)

I don't think boiling any single political event down to money is going to be meaningful.

I can't imagine anyone denying that lobbyists exist and that large amounts of money can buy you a lot of political power.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by pmc1 on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @02:01PM (#16017022)

> large amounts of money can buy you a lot of political power.

That is not true. Hillary spent the most money in any American campaign (nearly $1 Billion) and still lost. Strategy matters more than money

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/8/14848636/hi...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by staticassertion on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @02:05PM (#16017061)

See the post you replied to for the same response.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by balthasar on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:30PM (#16016787)

Looks to be half. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/09/trump-spent-about-half-of-wh...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by pmahoney on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:34PM (#16016817)

The situation is more complex than candidates' election spending. For example, many of the groups in [1] influence various radio and television programs, and through those, elections.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Ko...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by sintaxi on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:35PM (#16016823)

Then create a better company then those people and give away your wealth.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by crusso on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:26PM (#16016747)

Katy Perry has a massive amount of political power compared to you as well. How should we handle her and other celebrities? How about unions and union bosses? News media heads?

If we're going to be fair, shouldn't we control anyone at all who has influence?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by phil248 on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:52PM (#16016955)

For purely practical reasons, we should make efforts to disperse power within society away from severe concentrations. Not uniformly, not absolutely, but we should work to keep the trend from becoming too strong in the direction of concentrated power. Otherwise, the vast masses are liable to suffer and experience reduced capacity to alleviate that suffering. See: All of human history

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by staticassertion on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:28PM (#16016766)

What is this argument even?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1T this... by ccallebs on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @01:33PM (#16016810)

Some people are more influential than others. Money is only one vector of influence. He's rhetorically asking whether we should regulate the other vectors with hope that no one person has more influence than anyone else.

[ Parent | on HN ]