TIME editor-at-large Anand Giridharadas might want to consider trying his hand at standup comedy. Because his routine on billionaires is pretty hilarious, albeit unintentionally.
See, Anand here seems to genuinely believe that the government knows better than anyone, specially billionaires, how to handle billions of dollars:
Name a billionaire who has done more for old people than Social Security.
Name a billionaire who has done more for African-Americans than civil-rights laws and civil-rights enforcement.
Name a billionaire who has boosted productivity more than the government-funded internet. https://t.co/U6zRYFv7Hi
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
Alrighty then.
Yeaaaah, about your last point — we’re ALL goofing off on the Internet this very second. pic.twitter.com/CzN5IIEVgH
— NeverTweet (@LOLNeverTweet) December 17, 2019
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Don’t worry! There’s more:
One of the great imperial claims of our time is that billionaires allocate billions better than government, and it's false.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
Billionaires know deep down that the only way they can be billionaires is because of how many things are working right in our commons.
Courts, roads, air traffic control, public schools to hire from, patent enforcement, water.
Then milk, and then smear, these shared things.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
Take the court system.
It allows people to do commerce every day trusting their business partners.
If you measure what it costs to run our courts and the marginal business activity it enables, it would be more efficient than anything any billionaire is doing right now.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
For example, the federal courts cost about $7 billion a year to operate.
Corporate profits in the U.S. run about $8 trillion a year. And that wouldn't really be possible without reliable federal courts.
Which billionaire is generating social returns on the scale of our courts?
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
I'm genuinely curious if any billionaire reading this thinks that if we got rid of our courts but gave them $7 billion to spend trying to replace them with a better, private system, it would work and result in an improved society.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
I'm challenging your specific claim that billionaires allocate money better than government.
I'm citing real examples of how government allocates money that unleash huge amounts of human potential.
What examples do you have of billionaires allocating money better?
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
If your parents give you lemons, a juicer, a jug, a money box, a lawn, a chair, a stand, and a sign, and let you keep all the lemonade sales, it is foolish to suggest that, because you ended up in the black and they in the red, you're better at managing money than them.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
I did read it, and it didn't alter this claim you made: "I also trust most billionaires to allocate billions of dollars more efficiently than the government."
That claim is false, and I've shown why, and you haven't rebutted that successfully, at all.
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) December 17, 2019
All Anand has shown is that he’s plagued by envy.
The way i see it is you need to make your on cheddar and stop worrying about another mf who is doing better than you. You are jealous.
— steven mccammon (@smccammon2011) December 17, 2019
And that he’s certifiably insane.
— ⬛️⬛️⬛️ (@ConjureBlk) December 17, 2019
And ignorant. Did we mention ignorant?
I mean, billionaires contributed more to all that stuff via taxes than you have, dum dum. https://t.co/hU7kvq8IEV
— RBe (@RBPundit) December 17, 2019
NARRATOR: It's 100% true.
Because it's their money. https://t.co/h5f2PIHSt8
— RBe (@RBPundit) December 17, 2019
I’d say most of them. They employed people and gave them the opportunity to work, bought homes and other goods, stimulating the economy and invested in the stock market providing capital to other companies that hired people THEY GAVE PEOPLE OPPORTUNITIES far better than handouts
— Dave Mak (@davemakjunk) December 17, 2019
Name a billionaire who hasn't paid more into Social Security, funding for civil rights agencies, charities, and agencies, or produced more for the taxpayer-funded Internet (paid for by those millionaires and billionaires the most) than the socialists you support.
— Miguel de León (@xchixm) December 17, 2019
Exit question:
What have YOU done to help anyone ??
— Cathymv – #MAGA (@cathymv) December 17, 2019
Other than making terrible socialist arguments, we’re not sure Anand does much of anything.
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