Comment by ceejayoz
8 hours ago
> People usually become billionaires via having “super-powers,” i.e., very unusual abilities, at least within some context.
If you count luck, maybe.
> But what if most billionaires had super-powers of the traditional comic book sort, like x-ray vision or an ability to fly, etc.? That is, what if people with physical super-powers earned billions in the labor market by selling the use of these powers? Would folks be just as eager to tax them to reduce unfair inequality?
Yes, I would.
> But if those few very rich folks had real physical super-powers, we would be a lot more afraid of their simple physical retaliation. They might be very effective at physically resisting our attempts to take their stuff.
Yes, and this is why a lot of superhero movies involve fighting the greedy superpowered villain.
Right, as presented, these people are closer to Lex Luthor than Superman.
And I would still want to tax Superman.
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> What motivates this?
An element of fairness.
> Why can't you just leave people be?
Because they're making employees piss in bottles to survive the workday? They're buying up the representatives who are supposed to represent me? They're driving services we rely on into austerity? They get bailouts when they fuck up?
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