r/AskReddit • u/Prized-Fig-9191 • Mar 05 '25
The rich get even richer and the economic gap gets larger every year. What can be done about corporate greed? How can we curb or stop it?
[removed] — view removed post
49
u/CaptchaSolvingRobot Mar 05 '25
Maybe start by not electing billionaires.
5
u/fwafff Mar 05 '25
The door is already open I'm afraid. He showed how it can be done and how to act. I think the politics in the USA is changed forever, we shall see in the next 10 years what will happen, only time will tell
221
u/Evil_Eukaryote Mar 05 '25
Things that aren't allowed to be talked about on social media platforms without risking self incrimination.
52
u/Cream_Stay_Frothy Mar 05 '25
Wouldn’t it be just terrible if vigilantes took to the streets in a coordinated way to send messages to the elite, including politicians that the gig is up for them, and citizens demand their voice heard.
It would be just AWFUL to see and hear of vandalism of Tesla’s and Tesla Dealerships nationwide, Trump properties, or other large corporations who donate millions and millions of dollars to politicians to overshadow the the voice of millions of citizens… scary because of how easy it is to readily find the information at places like open secrets.org
I would hate to see things like this happen, because the people should be using their voice to communicate with politicians, but If they are unresponsive or refuse town halls to hear their constituents, I could see where people would feel they need to get their message out there.
Even though that would be scary if people started resorting to such awful acts of resistance and opposition, I suppose that’s better than violence.
General strikes and boycotts also work well- but not one day stuff. A coordinated week, where people supported places like Costco for essentials only - and helped within their community and neighborhoods so have each others backs for what they need during a strike
22
u/Alternative_Bass9254 Mar 05 '25
General strikes and boycotts also work well- but not one day stuff. A coordinated week, where people supported places like for essentials only - and helped within their community and neighborhoods so have each others backs for what they need during a strike.
This is what all the community talk was about. Or, rather, should have been about. When we strike, we will need to come together as a community and take care of each other's needs! We have cooks, mechanics, organizers, animal fosters, vets, accountants, mothers, fathers, sisters, cyber security, IT, gardeners, healers all on our side.
Start learning to share like right now!
2
u/Terminator_Ecks Mar 05 '25
Great comment, although I have to admit I read it in Mr Incredible’s voice in the scene when he is telling the little old lady what he can’t tell her about how to sort out her insurance claim.
2
→ More replies (14)2
7
u/immaphantomLOL Mar 05 '25
This is the only answer at this point. The current administration straight up said they don’t care what people want, basically trying to punish people for protesting. Dem leaders aren’t doing jack shit, it’s honestly embarrassing. There is another option, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
2
u/Silence158 Mar 05 '25
It would be a shame if the left remembered how hard the right had fought to maintain their ability to buy a firearm and ammo without any questions asked....
6
→ More replies (2)2
285
Mar 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
141
u/s00perguy Mar 05 '25
But seriously. The reason social programs exist is because starving poor people threatened to kill for their daily bread. Is it moral? Maybe not. But the rich are predators, and their gluttony only ends with their lives.
67
u/WiglyWorm Mar 05 '25
Is it moral to stand up to the people who are trying to kill you?
The corporations may not care if you or I in particular die, but their greed only leads to death and suffering on a large scale.
I am no philosopher but it could be argued there is only ONE ethical course of action, if your goal is to minimize harm.
→ More replies (3)32
u/Alternative_Bass9254 Mar 05 '25
Ive been a pacifist my whole life. Bleeding heart liberal who was mocked relentlessly by the right my whole life. I'm the person everyone in their life agrees is the most compassionate, and kind to a fault.
But these people are barely humans. They've lost something crucial along the way.
Cut the rot out. Start with a strike and boycott. Escalate if necessary.
12
14
→ More replies (4)9
u/fredy31 Mar 05 '25
The fucking romans knew it.
Bread and games.
A well fed and entertained population will not overthrow you.
Entertainment has never been better. But those fuckers will non stop try to take more and more of the bread.
And it feels like its about to break.
13
u/weinerwayne Mar 05 '25
Back in the day workers used to drag the robber barons out of bed at night and beat them to death in front of their family. MAGA yearns for the good old days, so why not oblige them?
→ More replies (1)6
u/B0SS_H0GG Mar 05 '25
It's getting tougher to get your hands on them. Security personnel, gated compounds, private planes....
Maybe some shoulder fired rocketry would help. I dunno.
6
u/Mr_ToDo Mar 05 '25
You say that but just a few months ago one of the richer people got taken out by some rando.
Everyone is just human in the end
And frankly don't you remember what the other side did when the election didn't go as planed, it's not like ordinary people can't actually do something. I don't know what the US's tipping point would be but it could very well get there at some point.
7
3
u/H1landr Mar 05 '25
This is just fucked up. Others are working on a solution that doesn't involve looping heads off. A man in New York has a solution. If we can put Mr. Mangione's plan may be just as effective.
→ More replies (14)3
u/draggar Mar 05 '25
Honestly, I've been looking at lot at the French Revolution / Louis XVI and there are a lot of similarities. There are also a lot of similarities with the 1896 & 1900 US Presidential elections.
As soon as the class protests started (Occupy, the 99%, 2%, etc..) we started to get inundated with identity politics / racial issues and so on. We're already starting to see these protests again (50501).
66
u/Wrong_Confection1090 Mar 05 '25
Stop buying things from them.
It only works if everyone does it, but it would work. If everyone in this country closed out their Amazon accounts today, Jeff Bezos would have no power anymore.
You want to stop Mark Zuckerberg from owning entire islands? Delete your Facebook.
→ More replies (5)20
u/SaintPatrickMahomes Mar 05 '25
I did all this. But others won’t.
12
5
u/Wrong_Confection1090 Mar 05 '25
Yeah, that's the rub. You have to think of it like the Drug Epidemic. Some people are addicted and always will be, but you can at least keep yourself clean.
6
u/micheal213 Mar 05 '25
It’s because in reality the majority don’t actually care about any of this lol. They just work their day and worry about themselves and their family/friends.
At the end of the day if they are happy with their income etc. why would they even bother caring about how much money amazing makes or Facebook makes. Does not impact them in the slightest or at least that they’ll see in their lifetime.
I’m 27 I make a fucking great income for my age and I am extremely grateful for my opportunity I have and me and my wife together live very comfortably.
I left my previous company for the one I am based on “greed” I guess. They weren’t giving raises and company wasn’t doing well, so I left and went somewhere else and got a bigger raise than the last company would even have thought of.
I just don’t have the energy to really care about corporate greed. I get home I wanna relax with the wife and dog and just play some video games with the boys online. Spend time with family and friends on weekends or whenever.
It just isn’t worth the effort. Like at all. And this is how I feel most people are with it as well. Just don’t care.
32
u/mycatisgrumpy Mar 05 '25
Everything starts with getting money out of politics. Campaign financing reform, lobbying reform, outlaw congressional insider trading. Everything sucks because everything and everyone is for sale. Republicans can't stand up against Trump because musk can dump a hundred million into their primary challenger like you or I would tip a waitress. Healthcare sucks because they are allowed to put a cash IV directly into politician's veins. I know this is a goal and not a plan, but it all starts with the money. If you want to drain the swamp you have to shut off the tap.
Failing in that, maybe we could find some sort of plumber to flush the system.
37
u/PMyourTastefulNudes Mar 05 '25
Pitchforks and torches
3
u/Prized-Fig-9191 Mar 05 '25
I mean that’s sadly where I see it going. Would be very wishful thinking, but I would love to see these large corporations show humility. They can’t be where they are without the smaller working parts carrying the burden.
10
u/Happy_Bad_Lucky Mar 05 '25
Look at History and see how people with absolute power behaved. Why would these people be any different now?
2
u/Prized-Fig-9191 Mar 05 '25
Sad but true. There has never been an instance when the economic gap didn’t inevitably lead to an uprising.
2
u/TheNemesis089 Mar 05 '25
Y'all are delusional. Every one of you is going to continue using things made by megacorporations because megacorporations have the capital necessary to produce products at a price that is economically feasible.
I mean, if you want to get a bespoke, hand-built iPhone, good luck to you.
→ More replies (9)
48
u/Alternative_Bass9254 Mar 05 '25 edited Mar 05 '25
A general American strike coupled with a nationwide and international boycott of the conglomerate corporations.
If that doesn't work, civil war violent revolution.
So let's do that first, because a war would cause unemployment (strike) and an economic shutdown (boycott) anyway.
8
u/nakedrickjames Mar 05 '25
This needs to be higher. It certainly feels good to call for pitchforks and guillotines but I have to wonder if such talk- at this stage, when the average person has food and housing- is premature if not outright counterproductive.
The call for a general strike is already in the works and I think we should all be rallying around this cause first and foremost.
→ More replies (3)3
6
u/angrysquirrel777 Mar 05 '25
The average American lives far too nice of a life to be up for a general strike.
How could everyone boycott every large corporation? Where would daily essentials come from? If everyone stopped buying from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Kroger, etc then how would everyone get diapers or milk? There is no chance that local stores could handle 1,000X shopper volume. They don't have the ability to stick or import that much stuff.
People can boycott companies gradually or one at a time but it's a pipe dream to do it all at once for everyone, probably literally impossible.
→ More replies (5)8
u/Prized-Fig-9191 Mar 05 '25
I was just thinking the other day this is not going to end well. Unless the corporations take drastic action to stop it.
4
u/draggar Mar 05 '25
The issue is that the corporations could welcome the violence, and openly welcome the privatization of security (Robocop) and military etc.. (Rollerball).
We also have movies like the Alien franchise, Avatar, and Don't Look Up where corporations are calling the shots and want to achieve high profits no matter what the cause.
.. and general dystopia movies like Blade Runner, The Running Man, and Idiocracy.
Hell, we even had a great series about this exact scenario - Jericho (2 seasons, 2006-2008)
4
u/cgtdream Mar 05 '25
"Civil War" isnt it. Its "Violent Revolution"...lets make sure we get our words straight here.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/DryTown Mar 05 '25
Billionaires are a single-issue voting class. They don’t vote for the environment. They don’t vote for gay rights. They don’t vote for better education or healthcare. They only vote for lower taxes for themselves.
We need to mobilize the working and middle class into become a block of single-issue voters. Higher taxes for billionaires should be the only issue on the next ballot. Anything else is going to have to wait.
17
10
24
u/dodadoler Mar 05 '25
Free Luigi
5
→ More replies (1)2
u/Prized-Fig-9191 Mar 05 '25
I hope he will be the wake up call for the corporate giants. I really really hope this can be solved another way.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Sturgillsturtle Mar 05 '25
Have the majority of the population choose to spend their money with smaller companies or companies that operate in a better way
Any company can be put out of business overnight if enough customers leave
3
u/josenros Mar 05 '25
You can't do anything about it now. It is a runaway train. Maybe one day the train will crash.
3
u/Effective-Captain739 Mar 05 '25
Salary cap. The highest paid person can make no more than 10x the lowest paid. Including bonuses and stocks, etc.
3
u/Allcyon Mar 05 '25
The answer is not complicated. But the execution is. We need a new type of society that understands that billionaires cannot exist.
Changing to that structure is difficult, because billionaires will fight back.
So the first step is something that billionaires have decided we're not allowed to talk about.
The answer would get me banned from reddit.
4
5
u/Neumeu635 Mar 05 '25
I mean to stop it you need to tax the rich and there assets. How you do it is with protests and boycotts.
The assests are how they get rich. The mortages you take are rich peoples money being loaned to you
2
u/UnassumingGentleman Mar 05 '25
Politicians could actually regulate business, deal with wage issues and benefits as well as contracts to employees. They won’t but it’d be a great start.
2
2
2
2
2
u/No_Run5644 Mar 05 '25
I'm going to get into trouble but I'm pretty sure Mario's brother found a solution.
2
6
3
u/Dacadey Mar 05 '25
What can be done about corporate greed?
Nothing. Corporations by definition exist for the maximum revenue of their shareholders, so the problem is the inherent flaw in the capitalist system itself.
What can be done? A lot of things, actually, mostly social policies. Free healthcare, education, and so on alleviate the burden on the poorest. Universal basic income would be the next logical step
→ More replies (1)
3
u/caitlowcat Mar 05 '25
Stop supporting Amazon. Like, completely stop. Get off social media. Support small local businesses.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/MarshM3llows Mar 05 '25
A 3rd party needs to emerge and stop the corruption. Once that happens, the left and right will attack them. They are all the swamp!
6
u/raelianautopsy Mar 05 '25
This kind of vagueness about a mythical third party doesn't make sense
If it's not left or right, then what idealougy would it be?
If you can't have specific policy answers, it doesn't really make sense
But even still, if you want a multi-party system what you are really saying is that the fundamental nature of voting and how government works in America has to be completely reformed from the ground up. European countries, for example, that have multiple parties have proportionate parliamentary systems. America has a 'first past the post' system, which inevitably always leads to only two parties.
If you understand that system and want to reform it from the ground up, great, but if you don't understand it then just wishing for a magical 3rd party doesn't mean anything...
→ More replies (4)4
u/MightySnuffles15 Mar 05 '25
Winner take all will always result in the consolidation of power. Ranked choice for the win!
3
u/DHakeem11 Mar 05 '25
We've been hearing about this third party for well over half a century, but apparently the people who think it's a solution are too lazy to actually do it.
→ More replies (2)2
2
u/Anim8nFool Mar 05 '25
The only thing that seems to stop the power of the super rich is a guillotine.
2
u/frustrating2020 Mar 05 '25
The 1% elites and rich forget that Labor Unions were the compromise to keep the 99% from destroying them.
When people have nothing to live for, they have nothing to lose.
3
u/TheNemesis089 Mar 05 '25
Bunch of you people, working on computers designed and built by mega-corporations, complaining about mega-corporations.
No, you're not going start a civil war or change the economic reality of the situation. There are certain things you like that small companies simply cannot provide.
Here's your answer: Invest. Buy shares in these companies. If you own stock in them, you realize that corporate profits are pretty damn nice, actually.
2
2
u/slightlyassholic Mar 05 '25
Slash discretionary spending. Learn to cut expenses even further.
Shop at thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, and the like for things you want and need before buying new.
Try to avoid things like eBay and Craigslist, but they are still better than Target and Amazon.
If you can, plant a garden. Not everyone can, but if you can, do so.
The oligarchs are parasites. Cut off their food supply.
2
u/orange_cuse Mar 05 '25
harsh reality is, nothing. nothing will change. The wealth disparity will continue to grow between classes, and the majority of Americans will slowly suffer for it. The only ones who will benefit are the elite, and I can't think of a single scenario where this dramatically changes.
3
2
u/UrbanCyclerPT Mar 05 '25
Simple, Hit them in the money:
Stop buying so much shit!
Buy local.
You don't need same day delivery for almost anything
1
u/spook_filled_donuts Mar 05 '25
While it won't fix what is already broken, lobbying needs to be made illegal. Politicians should not make decisions based on self interest and gain. They are supposed to be by the people for the people.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/TheHereticCat Mar 05 '25
Well you see, the corporate dynamic and the governing dynamic have already established a very intimate sexy sex relationship through various methods like lobbying, campaign funding, pac funding, gifting of real estate stuff luxury stuff and stock stuff. Citizens United really fucked the people, congress being bought and paid for since Reaganomics leading to the massive tax cuts to massive corporate and top 10% wealthy entities from average of 70-90% down to 20-35% and being looked at as terribly bad if you raise them back up due to brainwashing by the filthy wealthy lol. The Panama Papers provided a small look into the methods the global wealthy use to hide their money through nefarious means of shell corporations and offshore accounts and real estate to avoid majority of taxes, still occurs today but nobody gonna do shit about it lol. Through different similar practices, they report income as very little while having majority of wealth in stocks or real estate, take massive loans against these as collateral and pay low as fuck interest while using this untaxed money to do whatever. Change requires too many things that require too major action from too many people to cooperate while also opposed by a heavily corporate influenced government
1
u/Hapalion22 Mar 05 '25
Things won't change until we stop accepting being treated like dirt.
No one working for a multi billion dollar company should be paid minimum wage. It makes no sense that we produce millions in value for them but accept being paid next to nothing.
Demand what you're worth
1
Mar 05 '25
Do you actually want to solve it, or do you want a little badge that says "I helped!" to show off?
Because one of these options necessitates extreme violence against individuals and the other requires only telling people to "Go vote :)".
1
u/Big_Celery2725 Mar 05 '25
The gap doesn’t always grow. Around 2021, the gap shrank. Labor shortages for hourly workers are a good thing and help drive up pay for working people, for example.
1
1
u/LordofYore Mar 05 '25
Nothing. We’re screwed. Best we can do is try to impart on our children everything we’re learning from this s**t so their generation can do better
1
1
u/BackInTheRealWorld Mar 05 '25
High corporate tax rates - that encourages companies to spend their money on staff and improvements instead of hording it for stock value. This also reduces the abuse of business owners not taking their earnings as income or dividends and instead borrowing against the value of the business.
High tax rates for high earnings - you get the benefit of the roads you drive on and city services you use. Your employer gets that, and the services all the other employees use, and all their clients. The millionaire in the next town gets all the services they use, plus the services used by their staff, friends, companies, etc. There is a reason to tax higher earners more, because they generally receive more benefit from the government services paid by those taxes.
Cap the preferential taxes on unearned income - Yes, having a lower gap gain rate is important for many people so there isn't a huge penalty when they sell a family home, but there is no reason to be giving this preferential rate to millions in gains a year. This again goes to business executives not taking income as earnings and instead claiming preferential tax rates on dividends.
The haves have, and haves generate more haves. It takes an authority actively redistributing the haves to the have-nots to prevent further accumulation.
1
u/GrinningPariah Mar 05 '25
Unionize!
Unions have a successful history of forcing owners to be fair to their labor. Unions got us sick days and weekends and, most importantly, the right to unionize.
See you always got to remember, those early unions were fucking illegal. Cops would try to break up strikes. Owners would do everything in their power to make sure the union failed, and they had considerably more power to do that than they do today.
But the unions fucking won. They won against those impossible odds in the past, and they can win again today.
1
u/OximoronsUnite4Truth Mar 05 '25
This question is a little like someone asking what they can do to get off drugs right after mainlining a lethal dose of heroin.
If you want to stop the economic gap from getting larger, stop giving tax cuts to billionaires. Stop cutting programs that provide economic assistance to the poor and education support to middle America. Support regulations that protect consumers' health and safety, and those that protect small businesses from predatory practices by mega corporations. Support efforts to ensure fair pay, guaranteed health care, and retirement benefits for workers.
For at least the last 50 years, people have allowed themselves to be co-opted to vote against their interests; to tear each other down while the richest people in this country stripped the Nation of its resources and impoverished an ever larger number of people. People have been so co-opted that they have now voted to a President intent on dismantling democracy so he and his billionaire friends can pick the caressed carcass clean of whatever money is left in the pockets of average Americans.
So what to do? Tell Congress to stop this tax cut bull$hit and to stop the President from dismantling the government and democracy. And start fighting for the wages and benefits that will raise the tide to float all Americans instead of tearing down our brothers and sisters.
1
1
u/t111111111111m Mar 05 '25
Nothing will happen until we physically take their money & resources to redistribute
1
1
u/544075701 Mar 05 '25
stop fighting over the difference in your skin color and start fighting over the difference in your bank balance
1
u/eliota1 Mar 05 '25
Historically the best way to lower income inequality is to have open, fair markets and to restrain the most powerful and wealthy from controlling everything. That means you need a society driven by laws not people.
Countries that took down their wealthy by force typically endured generations of misery and poverty. Venezuelan is the latest example of this but the Soviet Union is probably the poster child for how bad it can get if you simply rip all the wealth away from the upper class.
1
1
1
u/CSWorldChamp Mar 05 '25
We needed the government to stand up to the billionaires. Instead, we voted the foxes to run the hen house.
1
u/Ruthless4u Mar 05 '25
People who demand change would not make it if they were in the position of those who they complain about.
1
u/Mestitia Mar 05 '25
You have to tax it back from the rich. This isn't some rebellious fight, it's the only way. If you put money into the economy to help the middle class and the poor, it'll fairly quickly transfer to rich through your mortgages rents and bills etc. The effect will be prices go up because the rich have more money to throw around. The only way to stop the effects is to tax it back from the rich somehow.
1
u/TheNorseHorseForce Mar 05 '25
I'm not saying this will solve everything, but there is a realistic method to start the ball rolling.
The truly controlling party in a consumerist world is the consumer. Vote with your freaking wallets.
A breaking point will eventually come where the social mindset of consumerism will shift. That shift cannot start without a mindset change in the controlling party: the consumers. Until that change begins, corporations don't need to do anything.
Pick any company. Let's say Company A.
Now, pick a reason to stop buying their product(s). Let's say, for Company A: reduce plastic waste by 80%
If 100,000 people stopped buying Company A products, refusing to buy until there's sufficient public evidence; Company A may listen. If a million people stopped buying Company A products, Company A would start moving heaven and earth to get those customers back.
Let's say this goes on for 6 months. Company A stock starts dropping. Let's say the government steps in to subsidize them a bit. Let's say this goes on for a year and more people are refusing to buy. Eventually, government subsidies will stop and Company A will need to start downsizing/meet the demands of the market (if it returns, people will stop buying again). If this continues long enough, with fewer customers, the company will be changed permanently, if not close.
I fully understand that there are certain products we can't stop buying (like groceries or shoes); however, sometimes there are still alternatives in those markets (different brands). Do you really need candy and soda? Or maybe just your fruits, veggies, and grains? Do you really need a 4th pair of sneakers to wear while out with your friends, or just a pair of quality shoes to last you a long time? Any impact is better than no impact when it comes to voting with your wallet. I also understand that some companies are so big and stretched over so many sectors, that an impact at that scale would take considerable time.
But, it really comes down to priority. If you don't need that subscription or commodity, are you willing to forego that and vote with your wallet. What is more important?
1
u/peculiarparasitez Mar 05 '25
There’s a guy whom shares a name with a character that is the opposite brother to a famous video game character, Mario. His actions are truly the only ones that have made a difference. Eventually people will be pushed too far, and we will rise.
1
1
u/Munkeyman18290 Mar 05 '25
We need to stop pointing fingers at the rich, and start pointing fingers at the game. The wealthy plutocracy/ oligarch are a mathematical certainty of a capitalist model. Its not a question of if, but when. The rich are simply playing the cards they've been dealt. In the capitalist model, greed is rewarded. Its as simple as that.
So we need to address the root cause, the virus itself; capitalism. Sure capitalism has given us great things, and yes we can now buy infinite shit we dont need in every corner of the globe. However, it is also built on a flawed concept: infinite growth. It is also coercive - sure, you can choose how and who you produce value for, but you cannot choose not to produce value. In other words, you cannot choose to opt out of the capitalist model in todays world. The problem with this is simple: the capitalist model fails humans when it no longer requires their value production; a workers ability to benefit from the capitalist model ceases when value production becomes efficient enough to no longer demand labor from the worker.
We havent rendered human labor obsolete, but we have crossed the threshold where the vast majority of value production is increasingly concentrated in low wage labor and service roles. Most jobs are just low wage wastes of time, and this trend will only get worse with as demand to earn a living eclipses demand for labor.
TLDR: the rich are a symptom, capitalism is the virus. Its time to start addressing the virus.
1
1
1
u/ethical-onetwo Mar 05 '25
There has to be some sort of deterrent because right now they do it because there are zero consequences. The deterrent would have to be enough to put them off from trying to do this again.
There's nobody you can vote for to stop it, politicians are bought and paid for and even if we had a political leader who wasn't they'd just be blocked from doing anything from the members of their own party who are. The rich quite simply need to feel too scared to be this greedy.
1
1
u/PokeMaster366 Mar 05 '25
At the end of the day, the goal is to make the most money and gain the most power with the least effort. If you want people to be saints, stop making it so easy to wrong others for profit.
1
2
u/drew8311 Mar 05 '25
We can stop it by convincing millions of stupid ignorant people that there is an actual problem, but first you need to convince them things like DEI/trans issues are important OR drop them as issues completely and take their side so we can focus on this 1 together.
Also, you need to get millions of other people of various intelligence levels to agree on the strategy for the above because it will take a coordinated effort and any disagreement just gets us back to the current situation.
1
u/gastondidroids Mar 05 '25
Radical labor unions - those that challenge the power of the capitalist class in our society rather than just fighting for pay and benefits. If you want to start a union at your job, go here: https://workerorganizing.org Other than that, a socialist revolution would do the job.
1
u/backlikeclap Mar 05 '25
The biggest problem I see is that all of these tarrifs are going to increase lumber costs a ton in America, so I think we might need to consider other materials for guillotine construction.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/stoatstuart Mar 05 '25
The only way to reverse this gap that doesn't backfire and end badly for everyday people is for more people to start and build up their own businesses. Small businesses create options apart from the consolidated few large corporations, and as a given small business grows, in most cases that creates more jobs as various functions need to be delegated.
It doesn't seem like it, but one way to make it easier for small businesses to start and stay afloat is to cut back on excessive regulations, which in a lot of cases the biggest corporations lobby for, because they've got ways around these regulations and they know it will stifle their competition.
1
u/2gutter67 Mar 05 '25
Come on now we all know the answer to the question of stopping it, just everyone is being reasonable for the moment
1
u/RChrisCoble Mar 05 '25
We're in the "Make America Russia Again" phase of our Republic. Misinformation won the election with rich oligarchs controlling things now. The country is lost.
1
u/footballpenguins Mar 05 '25
nothing. its too late. nothing can stop the rich from getting richer short of them dying, tax code and IRS loopholes changing/closing and hoping the next generation isn't as shrewd, savvy, greedy as their elders.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/PopeKevin45 Mar 05 '25
History tells us what is likely to happen. The funny thing is how these 'elite' 'Captains of Industry' never learn until they're being led to the guillotine. Just goes to prove they're just greedy and selfish boobs, good at exploiting others but nothing more. Not intelligent people, just pigs.
1
1
1
1
u/EshoWarCry Mar 05 '25
At this point, the only way the American people can stop it is by working together, growing our own food, barter system, and stop being reliant on big companies. But people don't want to be uncomfortable long enough for it to take effect. Starving the country of our taxes, starving greedy companies of our hard earned money, and starving out upper classes is the only way we can basically format the county.
1
1
u/Any_Depth_9983 Mar 05 '25
Make a conscious effort to buy local, from local artisans and tradesmen, source proucts and services from the community, support local farmers and farmers' markets.
These people and their merchandise are already all around us, we just don't see them because they aren't a click away.
1
u/UniverseBear Mar 05 '25
At this point I don't see much changing without violence. At some point the lower 90% have to say enough is enough forcefully.
1
u/Actionbrener Mar 05 '25
We need to not have politicians that give into corporate interests. We need to tax them and regulate them. All of the people that could help solve the problem are indebted to the wealthy.
They don’t find loos holes in the tax could. They lobby to get the tax code work for them.
As long as our politicians are greedy pieces of garbage. It will never change. Only get worse
1
u/MrEHam Mar 05 '25
Make more people aware of how bad it is.
Three people own more wealth than 50% of the people combined.
That’s insanity. Imagine America cut in half and three people having more wealth one of the halves.
1
1
u/chibinoi Mar 05 '25
Honestly? Stop participating in the economy as much as you can. If everyone were to magically start just giving each other what the other needs, and we stopped purchasing, it would hit corporations in the only place that matters to them—their bottom dollar.
1
u/TheBrotherhoods Mar 05 '25
Put any spare dollars into the market. Look at where they are putting their money. Your wealth won't match theirs, but you could at least make some more off their insider trading. Decided last year to enter the market because our bank accounts are going down in value faster and faster no matter how much we save.
1
1
1
u/jcatleather Mar 05 '25
Support the Democrats work to pass an amendment to overturn citizens United.
1
1
1
u/Puzzleheaded-Owl6216 Mar 05 '25
Stop supporting businesses that work against us. We have the power to put our money where our mouthes are. The trouble being that we are too used to convenience. Once upon a time we weren’t attached to cell phones 24 hours a day, we didn’t need crap delivered to us within 24 hours (rarely do I need things this fast), we drove/walked whatever to get food instead of having it delivered. We used to read more and go outside more. It’s time to stop making people billionaires and giving them power/control. Make no mistake though - we are the ones allowing it. We also need to learn more about candidates BEFORE voting and stop blindly supporting parties. We need to focus on what candidates are saying, who has a reasonable plan, etc. Further - how many times are we going to ignore campaign finance reform? It shouldn’t cost as much as it does to run for office and it DEFINITELY should not be funded by super pacs. Additionally, the campaign cycles are way too long now. Never ending. It doesn’t stop. Isn’t everyone exhausted? We have the power to make changes, we just have to be willing to. I’m in full support of the new “de-influencing” trend. Some tips - I’ve started making purchases direct from farms for dairy and meat ❤️ our farmers
No more big box stores, shop local
How much do you throw away? I started adding up the cost of groceries I was throwing away and it was sickening. Buy less. Avoid impulse buying.
Finally - stop buying things from social media. Social media is designed to get you to buy useless garbage. If you’re sick of seeing influencers, don’t buy stuff they are selling. In fact, reduce social media. I have Reddit and pretty much that’s it. Since getting rid of social media, I’m spending waaaaay less.
I’m by no means without fault, I still make mistakes but I’m trying. We have to stick together to make this work.
I have one last add - no matter who you support/what side you’re on - we have to start talking to each other. We have common ground, no one wants to see homelessness rise or kids without food. No one wants to lose their job. I think if we started talking instead of shouting at each other we’d realize we have a lot more in common. Digging our heels in and yelling insults is getting us nowhere. It’s simply in politicians best interest to keep us hating each other. We can do this, we can bounce back. We have to be willing to try.
1
u/BigCaddyDaddyBob Mar 05 '25
I say tax everyone and everything a flat no exemptions no loopholes a flat 15-20%! It could be lower but I’m no expert but companies,corporations and every single person in the country making money is taxed that flat rate. This is what should be done to even out the inequality of wages the USA has been exercising!
1
u/NItram05 Mar 05 '25
More stage regulations and taxes, more wealth redistribution.
But it's not going to happen any time soon.
1
1
1
u/OGREtheTroll Mar 05 '25
All US corporations are created and exist through operation of state law. Any state could revoke or amend their statutes that govern corporations, and it would apply to any corporation incorporated in that state or that wishes to do business in that state. A state could abolish their corporate statutes and force any native Corp to wind down its business, sell off its assets and pay its creditors and shareholders off, or transfer their business to an individual or partnership.
1
u/Patriark Mar 05 '25
Unionize.
Start a club at the place you work if you do not want to join an preexisting union. See all fellow workers as your brothers against the oligarch wanting to exploit us.
Recognize your fellow man. We are not alone, but powerful forces want to disconnect us. With strong unions comes strong political movements and strong sources of protests and political action.
1
u/Rare-Forever2135 Mar 05 '25
Start with a catchy artistic rendering of a guillotine and put it everywhere.
1
1
u/farmadiazepine Mar 05 '25
Tax anyone with over a billion net worth at 40%/year if they live in the US >7 days.
1
1
1
1
u/Scrapheaper Mar 05 '25
I don't care how big the gap is as long as everyone else isn't getting poorer.
Inequality is not the same thing as lower living standards - it can be sometimes, but it isn't always.
If everyone else is getting poorer the obvious solution is to increase income tax and VAT.
1
1
1
u/Intelligent_Way6552 Mar 05 '25
You can't stop greed, corporate or otherwise. I'm not going to say greed is good, I'm simply going to say greed is.
Either you align the incentives of greed and the public good, or you try to fight reality itself by trying to fight greed. You will not win against greed.
Which brings me to my second point; trying to stop the rich getting richer is a really bad idea, because they want to get richer and will work around it. Try to tax them poorer they will go somewhere else and your tax revenue will drop. It's happening in the UK right now. We have an exodus of millionaires. What your goal should be is to make the poor richer. If you can find a solution that makes the poor and the rich richer, well that can actually be implemented. And let's face it, Earth has a population 30x what it did 1,000 years ago, and the poverty rate has dropped dramatically. Everyone getting richer has been the historical trend.
Increase productivity via technology and investment.
That is how you make everyone richer.
Never try to solve economic problems with moral solutions. Never try to punish your way to prosperity.
1
1
u/kingbane2 Mar 05 '25
it's pretty simple change the taxes from being progressively more against the poor and middle class, and make it so the ultra rich are taxed progressively more. there's a huge transfer of wealth going on from the bottom to the top. because of how taxes are structured. you just need to reverse that.
this short kind of shows you how taxes are structured to keep the poor poor. it's for the UK but most of this applies to other countries as well. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nyd7twTgsHo
1
Mar 05 '25
You stop buying useless crap and services offered by these corporations. Stop buying iphones, stop paying for google/microsoft services, stop paying for netflix/prime/whatever, stop buying fast food, stop shopping at big supermarket chains, the list goes on.
1
u/WaffleBlues Mar 05 '25
This is just the continuation of the capitalist vs labor war and labor is losing at the current moment (at most moments in history).
The current issue is that the working class is against one another because the billionaires have been very effective at convincing some portion of labor that what's best for them (the billionaires) is good for labor as well and/or convincing labor that the most important issues are cultural and they should hate the "other team".
Corporate greed could be stopped if people showed up to vote first and foremost, and voted for pro labor candidates. It's that simple and that complicated at the same time.
1
u/LongjumpingArgument5 Mar 05 '25
Nothing
This is exactly what Republicans want and voted for.
Even broke Republicans will defend a billionaire's right to take a larger and larger share of the money.
1
u/Big_Donkey3496 Mar 05 '25
Put billionaires in office because they are so well known for helping solve this epic economic disparity. As we all know… billionaires are so selfless.
1
u/Niceromancer Mar 05 '25
We listen to educated people who know about the subject like Robert Reich.
Or we take a page from Luigi's handbook.
It's up to the wealthy which way we go. And they seem hell gent on a violent uprising happening...again.
1
1
577
u/SaltyPinKY Mar 05 '25
Super easy....you go back to the New Deal tax structure...and you repeal Citizens United. You end stock buybacks and you will have a big middle class...but it won't happen. It's over.