"Fair" has many meanings. If there are 2 brothers, one super intelligent and the other retarded, should the smart one keep all his money for himself and the dumb one die from starvation since he is not capable of sustaining himself? The smart one got his gift for free and although maybe he didn't waste it while he could have, the retarded one didn't have equal starting ground.
The difference I see between US/EU worldview is that in US the biggest emphasis is in what "YOU" did, disregarding luck, chance, environment factors etc. "Bill Gates created the wealth himself". People like feeling like there is a chance for them to become super powerful and important and that there is no system holding you back, even though they never actually do it but the hope/idea is very important for you. I can see this in Eastern Europe where large percentage of people dream of winning the lottery; I guess that is something from which people here draw hope of power and influence, while the same people are ok with strong social measures, high taxes, free healthcare etc. while I feel in US all these social benefits are perceived to prevent people from achieving astronomical results and hence shouldn't be.
This is unfortunately an uninformed opinion that pollutes the debate.
An example you probably should should think about: Who owns money and their value? What happens when the central banks decide to raise the interest rates to 20% and you loose everything? Just a shame? On the contrary, what happens when the central banks employ quantitative easing and that makes you rich? How does this interact with large-scale projects the government starts to create employment.
Not always are fiscal and monetary policies aligned. This creates either severe depressions or economic bubbles.
When an opinion is funded an understanding of to what extend the greater society defines the value of things it will have gravity. Until then, it is just noise.
So, if someone says, billionaire is bad, that is an informed opinion, but when someone else says, billionaire is good, it is uninformed? Thanks for the fish.
You pay for stuff in the supermarket, you get a product. No strings attached. I would be surprised, if people like the idea, that if one buys a piano, that for each song being played, one has to give a dividend to the piano manufacturer. Usually the transaction is closed. Though, such deals can be made. Maybe you get the piano for free.
You pay a worker that what you think is needed to make a piano. If one worker makes a billion pianos, you pay him a lot. And if you sell pianos a billion times, you become a billionaire. And if your worker can buy stocks, he will also get dividends.
The idea that billionaires have to give a share is nice and good, definitly good for hackernews stories and their socialistic readers, but that the billionaire has already given societies wealth manyfolds, well, afterall people bought their stuff to improve their lives, that made him a billionaire, that is silently forgotten.
As usual, it is play with envy and greed, how dare someone has more than me!
Ah yes, lobbying the government with monetary kickbacks is fair. Not paying local taxes and hiding in tax havens is fair.
Hell, mining blood diamonds is fair because the local authorities allow it, mining oil from under the impoverished residents of a corrupt country is fair, skirting monopoly laws to create conglomerates is fair.
Nothing is illegal for these guys, it all gets shoved under the rug. Remember the Panama papers? What came of those? Nothing.
So, if a billionaire behaves good, you leave her alone? No way, Jose. For me it is playing with cliches, it is as old as humans amass things and can stop showing up for work while you and me can not. And we look with envy at this kind of freedom, which we lack. And it produces the worst in us, anger and lust to strip her from her wealth. I guess, thats why envy has identified as a sin by religions.
(While others have identified religion as a way of avoidance, to not question the status quo. Ha!)
If I take over your country with guns and bloodshed, I suppose the wealth I gained from doing that is legitimate?
There is not a single billionaire who has made all that money fairly; wages do not rise with inflation, environment; tax dodge; etc costs are carried on to the consumer as well. What sort of world do we live in when people like you think it's okay for things to be like this.
I don't have a problem with people being successful and accumulating wealth, but I do have a problem with the ilegitimate and corrupt practices involved in accumulating billions and trillions.
The difference I see between US/EU worldview is that in US the biggest emphasis is in what "YOU" did, disregarding luck, chance, environment factors etc. "Bill Gates created the wealth himself". People like feeling like there is a chance for them to become super powerful and important and that there is no system holding you back, even though they never actually do it but the hope/idea is very important for you. I can see this in Eastern Europe where large percentage of people dream of winning the lottery; I guess that is something from which people here draw hope of power and influence, while the same people are ok with strong social measures, high taxes, free healthcare etc. while I feel in US all these social benefits are perceived to prevent people from achieving astronomical results and hence shouldn't be.