• Mist101@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I get the point. I’ve even posted about how absurd a billion dollars is. But, here’s the problem with the post’s absurdism: $5,000 a day since 1492 would be well over a billion dollars today, assuming things like investing, real-estate, and inflation still exist. Given that, for reference, $5K / year was uber rich around the victorian era, you’d definitely be a multi-billionaire if you’ve had access to that kind of money since 1492.

    • vortic@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Okay, how about this? If someone were to work every day for 50 years and if they invested everything they earned at an 8% interest rate, they would need to earn approximately $1.4M/day to reach Elon’s current level of wealth.

      At $5,000/day income and 8% interest investments, it would take 120 years to accumulate $340B.

      • Mist101@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Yes. Your math is correct. My point was never “billionaires good”, but rather the meme is disingenuous. But I guess any time anyone says anything other than “billionaires bad” they get downvoted.

        • vortic@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I’m not really sure why you’re being downvoted. I up voted you.

          I didn’t actually mean to imply that I disagreed with you. I was just giving some alternative numbers to demonstrate the issue in a more realistic way. I also didn’t think you were implying that billionaires are good just because the example in this post isn’t the best one.

        • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Your point is still not clear to me. It could be interpreted as $5,000 in today’s money every day since long ago. It still is a lot of money per day, even in the equivalent money back then. 5 cents then (or whatever) is what $5,000 feels like today. So what’s your point?

          • Mist101@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            If you are still asking what my point is after my two comments, I think we’re done here.

    • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOPM
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      1 day ago

      But you can also use this to make it work. If you instead use the amount that is equal to todays 5000$ then it works. You just have to see your own point through instead of selective ocd.

      • Mist101@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        So, if we add information it makes sense, but only then? Which is my point, it’s disingenuous. The people making $5K a year back in 1492 are the ones who passed their wealth on to the 0.001% today. Making $5K per day is just more money, and my point still stands.

        • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOPM
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          1 day ago

          You’re being disingenuous yourself, as you most likely know. Good luck with that attitude.