this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 97 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

We don't have to hang them, just put a wealth tax on them before they become billionaires.
But for anyone who has a billion I think it's OK to take it all, because nobody should be so selfish so they have more than a billion.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 36 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I'd really rather hang them though...

[–] pipi1234@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I'm fundamentally against death penalty, but in the case of Billionaires I believe we can and must do without whatever genetic or psicological traits they carry. We simply can't afford that level of selfishness to survive as a species.

They'd rather poison the earth and make it uninhabitable than being constrained in any way or form.

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Its certainly simpler, though hardly a solution. There's always more billionaires unless you change the system that created them.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Tax.
Its not complicated. It might take a few goes to get it just right but what we have now is pathetic.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I agree, but also..There are famously ways to avoid taxes. You need a backup plan when taxation doesn't work. And remember, once someone becomes trully wealthy, they're above the law.

I don't think those ways mattered as much back when the top marginal rate was approaching 90%.

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago

We could just keep hanging them.

[–] BaroqueBobby@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Tax them, give them a choice, and if they choose…poorly, then hang them.

I bet you if ceos start erm, falling down due to high speed objects that may affect brain functions , things get changed fast

[–] theolodis@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago

Pretty sure that you'd have less and less once you start hanging them, but of course, I am not an expert (yet).

I mean would you want to become a billionaire if you knew you'd end up hanging?

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm definitely for a change of the system too, but in the meantime there always more rope too.

[–] NachBarcelona@piefed.social -2 points 1 day ago

Which solved for example all problems in all countries who ever went into a killing frenzy, see the monument to equality that is France.

You belong into (at least) therapy.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago

I won't stand in your way. I am in principle against death penalty, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs.

[–] jali67@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

Yeah they think they’re so great and untouchable. Let them find out they’re mortal and fallible.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The problem is hierarchies. The entire point of feudalism was to create a caste system where the ruler of each segment won't be touched by the people below them. That's exactly what modern society by and large looks like.

Until everyone's equal, no one is. Hierarchical systems are antithetical to peace and equality.

[–] desertdruid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 21 hours ago

And this repeats in a lot of places, you can see it on almost any company or family

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago

The thing is that we already have a lot of billionaires. We do not to get rid of those before preventing more being created, because they are not going to give up being billionaires voluntarily.

[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (4 children)

More and more I'm thinking we really need a wealth tax. Not because the government needs the money - the government literally makes their own money, they can create as much of it as they want - but because I think a cap on wealth is necessary for social cohesion. Plus, once people get over a certain level of wealth, the chances of it seriously negatively affecting them psychologically seem to go up considerably. Many, if not most, billionaires are just weird, creepy, disturbed wackos. I don't think it's good for them or for society.

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to capping individual wealth at $999 million. Another option might be to set the maximum at a percentage of GDP, maybe something like 0.01% of GDP. I think that would put the cap at just over $3 billion. That's still an astronomical amount of money, and there would still be billionaires but not the mega, stupid billionaires.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

a cap on wealth is necessary for social cohesion.

Billionaires are undermining democracy, which already is a huge problem and against the values of a country that wants to be democratic.
Yes most billionaires end up wackos, which makes it even worse that they have so much power.
IMO you can add an extra zero to the decimal places to make it 300 million. 1 billion is IMO already to much.
But I wouldn't make it a hard limit, just incrementally bigger tax percentage the higher you get.

[–] yoshemitzu@startrek.website 2 points 1 day ago

I wouldn't make it a hard limit, just incrementally bigger tax percentage the higher you get

That's a fun idea. Like yeah it's possible for you to become the first trillionaire, but you'll be getting taxed at 99.999%. It almost encourages innovation, in a way, because now billionaires have to figure out how to keep all that money despite incredible taxation. Only the people with truly novel, math-bending ways of generating value would be able to be that wealthy (or perhaps more likely, just people exploiting loopholes I haven't thought of...)

[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

IMO you can add an extra zero to the decimal places to make it 300 million.

Sounds good to me.

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

No, it has to be much lower than that. People need to feel like that kind of wealth is utterly unobtainable and shameful.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

More and more I'm thinking we really need a wealth tax. Not because the government needs the money - the government literally makes their own money, they can create as much of it as they want - but because I think a cap on wealth is necessary for social cohesion.

This is literally what the inheritance tax is for, so there's precedent.

Of course, they piss and moan about that too, but I don't give a shit and neither should anyone else.

[–] JustinTheGM@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 day ago

Even $1,000,000,001 is too much. I'd probably cap it somewhere closer to $10m, if we have to use money.