[vlehto]

Is that a real problem?

Seems like 5 richest US citizens own less than 0,5% of all US assets.

I'd be lot more worried about organizations. JP Morgan chase and General Electric are not exactly democratic either. Both are way richer than Gates. And while church of latter day saints is not quite in the same league, it's incredibly wealthy and not at all democratic.

If you assume that Gates foundation gets 5% profits and distributes that, then it can share about 2,1 billion/year. American Red Cross gets to distribute 2,7 billion/year. Who does their homework better, Bill gates or the average guy who donates to Red Cross? And yet Red Cross is still not exactly democratic.

It doesn't seem very straight forward how you should count assets or income and deduct the monetary power from there.

[odonnellryan]

I think at the end of the day it approaches dystopian levels of "what can we do?" against these people if they were to behave in ways that the majority of society deems irresponsible.

If Gate's wanted to he could cause immense harm in the country.

It can be argued that some like the Koch's and Mercer's are doing that harm: depending on your political views.

What could be done? These people are literally untouchable. I think the Mercer's would be untouchable even by the US government, if they played their hands in a smart way.

...Unless we'd want to send the army after them, they could just hide on their yachts :)

Anyway, there's no realistic revolution you can have against these people, is my point. If that fear doesn't exist, well, they can do what they want, yes?

I know that what keeps my worst urges "in check" is because it is not healthy for me to act on those actions.

I'm talking about stuff like "pissing off my prior employer" and "saying fuck you to my boss."

I do not know what kind of impulses the .01% have ... I am afraid what I may say or do to that old employer's company if I didn't have to worry about repercussions!

What should I fear from them?

[vlehto]

Yeah, but what should you fear from organizations? It's easy to scrutinize an individual. It's lot more difficult to scrutinize an organization. It's actually difficult to even stay interested in them.

I'd claim that if Gates would have wanted to cause maximum harm, he would not have earned millions of dollars first. Just found an organization and go evil. It's more straight forward, less suspicious and more effective. Just look at Scientology.

[sigi45]

I'm not worried about it, i think its a problem.

Also

i think the power of companies is a problem too.

[vlehto]

I think I have to learn this attitude. That every problem is in fact real, but problems are not equal in relevance. That's respecting people and their issues, while staying sane.

You should pick your battles. And the society should pick their battles. That way you get to have the cake and eat it too.