Re:Jeff Bezos’s Wealth Soars to $171.6B to Top Pre-Divorce R...
by edanm on Thursday July 02, 2020 @04:18PM
(#23717552)
With your point 1 I can somewhat agree. Yes, inequality certainly seems pretty high - I'm not sure that's a slam dunk case that it's morally wrong, but it's certainly something worth thinking about and deciding whether we want to do something about.
But here's where I lose you:
> 2. I think it is fair to ask questions about what kind of moral and ethical lines have been crossed in order to reach a net worth of $171 billion dollars.
Why? I mean, sure, it's always a fair question to ask if moral lines have been crossed, but why do you assume that amassing great wealth is in in itself morally wrong, or only happens if you do immoral things? That's at least the implication I take from your statements.
Many people who are making the median wage in the States (as an example) have vastly more wealth than the poorest people in the world. Did they do something immoral? Not really. Maybe the "system" itself is immoral or something (though I'd love to hear an actual suggestion of a better system), but why start off assuming there's a moral failure instead of just "here's the way things work, ok looks like it leads to some pretty bad outcomes, let's try and think how we minimize those". Why start name-calling instead?
But here's where I lose you: > 2. I think it is fair to ask questions about what kind of moral and ethical lines have been crossed in order to reach a net worth of $171 billion dollars.
Why? I mean, sure, it's always a fair question to ask if moral lines have been crossed, but why do you assume that amassing great wealth is in in itself morally wrong, or only happens if you do immoral things? That's at least the implication I take from your statements.
Many people who are making the median wage in the States (as an example) have vastly more wealth than the poorest people in the world. Did they do something immoral? Not really. Maybe the "system" itself is immoral or something (though I'd love to hear an actual suggestion of a better system), but why start off assuming there's a moral failure instead of just "here's the way things work, ok looks like it leads to some pretty bad outcomes, let's try and think how we minimize those". Why start name-calling instead?