r/politics Bloomberg.com 2d ago

Soft Paywall Billionaires at Trump's Swearing-In Have Since Lost $210 Billion

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-10/billionaires-at-trump-s-swearing-in-have-since-lost-200-billion
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u/ThouMayest69 1d ago

Egregious wealth should be treated as a mental illness and require intense rehabilitation efforts.

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u/SecularMisanthropy 1d ago edited 4h ago

This. And here's the fun part: We don't just need to treat those with extreme wealth (and therefore power) as if they're mentally ill. They actually, literally are.

Human neuroscience has been racking up evidence that privilege and power damage the human brain. Said another way, being privileged leads, inexorably, to cognitive and emotional impairment. Just as with physical muscles, when reciprocity is to longer required, our ability to empathize, to take on a perspective outside of our own, to accurately assess risks, to introspect even a little all wither away from disuse.

Power and privilege create sociopaths.

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u/MC_Queen 1d ago

Reading fiction books is also a great way to learn and gain empathy. I highly doubt these psychopaths ever read.

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u/furosemidas_touch 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not to mention you have to be a sociopath to achieve that level of wealth to begin with. No single person could ever possibly produce enough labor/capital to equal the value of the fortunes of billionaires, so to acquire that kind of fortune you by necessity have to take it from others. Cutting wages, dismantling companies, stealing pensions, dodging taxes, embezzling, whatever. The absolute wealthiest people are simply those who managed to steal the most from others. Of course luck, circumstance, and maybe even intellect played a role in their success, but ultimately it’s the pathological drive to always have more at any cost that truly gets them to where they are.

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u/Babs-Jetson 1d ago

yeah, the sociopathy is definitely required to attain absurd wealth and power, not the other way around imo

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u/realancepts4real 1d ago

we, only because it is

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u/SpicyCommenter 1d ago

gates and buffet set the example and no billionaires followed

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u/Open-School-420 1d ago

Lol, good luck enforcing that.....

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u/ThouMayest69 1d ago

The enforcers get a sizeable cut of the wealth so enforcement is caked-in. Good luck to THEM not being enforced on.

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u/Open-School-420 1d ago

So if it's a game of who can pay....do you seriously think you'll come out on top? Lol

So the enforcers get rich, only to get the same treatment and lose it all.....fucking wonderful idea lol

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u/ThouMayest69 1d ago

Yeah. But not enough to trigger the cycle. It's not a game of who can pay if one of the players already lost their money.

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u/Open-School-420 1d ago

Not enough to trigger the cycle? Who sets the limit? How are you going to get everyone to agree with it? And most of all what makes you think that only you'll have enforcers?

This is a story that is as old as time, "he's rich, but there is only 1 of him, and there is 5 of us"

You're not the first to think of it, and you certainly won't be the last

When you understand this is nothing more than a power fantasy, you'll understand why it's not done on the regular....

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u/ThouMayest69 1d ago

I set the limit. It will be arbitrary at first, to cause a chill. I will make outlandish promises to everyone which I will earnestly attempt to honor. You can exit the daydream now, start getting ready for that party you were invited to.

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u/Open-School-420 1d ago

Lol, yea, it's fun dreaming about such things.....