this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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America’s wealthiest people are also some of the world’s biggest polluters – not only because of their massive homes and private jets, but because of the fossil fuels generated by the companies they invest their money in.

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 year ago (4 children)

If anyone is asking how do we pay to solve the climate crisis. I think its pretty clear who should be paying.

[–] kautau 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This is true for almost anything. Major corporations, and the investors that profit off of them, pay so little in taxes compared to the average citizen. Instead, their money is devoted to lobbying and setting up careful corporate international glass houses so they don’t have to pay the taxes they should. We can push much harder on tackling social issues, but the top 10% don’t exist in society, they lord over it

[–] BurtReynoldsMustache 6 points 1 year ago

the top 10% don’t exist in society, they lord over it

I think you mean they run it

[–] superphly -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How much money does the top 1% have and how much do you think it will cost to clean up the world? Those two numbers are not even within 3 years of global GDP dipshit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Last year they increased their wealth by 8 trillion usd. Since 2021 their combined wealth is 42 trillion usd. (Thats twice as much as the rest 99% combined)

It is estimated that to fix the climate crisis it takes between 300 billion - 50 trillion usd. So they actually could do that.

And than there is the matter of comparing personal profit of a few. To the entire value produced by a country. Which is a really dumb comparison.

But you might know that the gdp of the us in 2021 was around 23 trillion.

So your the intellectual floor gymnast, dipshit.

[–] superphly -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

China and India, but you won’t admit it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Who are the factories of the west and emit co2 for our products.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The U.S. military is the largest single producer of emissions on the planet.