Comments on: Oracle CEO Ellison's luxury yacht docks near homeless camp in Hawaii

By: Lemoutan

Lemoutan — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Has anyone ever quayed a yacht?

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:49:00 +0000

feudal schmeudal
potato potahto
chavez rosales

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:25:00 +0000

Thank you so much for that cogent analysis.

By: cpm5280

cpm5280 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:13:00 +0000

> He can have a goddamned stupid boat.

Precisely. But this is BB, where wealth is a bad thing, unless it’s crowdfunded by 3d-printed unicorns and evenly, perfectly distributed.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:11:00 +0000

The two are not unconnected.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:08:00 +0000

Larry could have spent the same money and had those workers build a thousand portable schools and medical clinics in 3rd world countries. But then Paul Allen might have a longer yacht, and that would make Ellison lose sleep.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:56:00 +0000

No, he should buy a yacht one quarter the size, and spend use the savings to feed millions of hungry kids.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:48:00 +0000

I’ve always felt it had more to do with lack of compassion. If you can screw your coworker out of his fair share, without remorse, you are wired for American business. If the compassion gene is found to be real, I’d love to test our CEO’s.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:44:00 +0000

I ask again, what is your plan? What will you do to help those who have less?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:27:00 +0000

That’s not Japanese feudal architecture. It’s Japanese architecture.

By: CastanhasDoPara

CastanhasDoPara — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:13:00 +0000

Besides, all of that skilled labor could have very easily been invested in something that would benefit more than just one person and his close associates.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:57:00 +0000

He’s also into Japanese feudal architecture. A douchey cultural fetishist. Wonder what kind of role playing parties go on in there….

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2011/09/27/tour-the-many-homes-of-larry-ellison/

By: John Vance

John Vance — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:32:00 +0000

Think of all the jobs that could be created by blowing a hole in the side of that yacht!

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:22:00 +0000

Actual charities being less necessary if these very oligarchs weren’t extracting so much wealth from everybody else. Wow.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:18:00 +0000

I’d rather see that chunk used for tax revenue than donated to Stanford as part of an insider trading settlement……

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:11:00 +0000

Well you know we’re all rich because we’re not bloated and covered with flies as we forage for food in an open sewer. So the whole point these guys are making is that we should just shut up about extreme global wealth inequality. Get it!?

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:08:00 +0000

There are about 100 extremely wealthy people that extract enough wealth that they could end extreme poverty multiple times over. Wealth concentration is historical and just increasing with the 1% increasing their incomes by 60% in the last 20 years. The tired old “Our homeless are rich because it’s worse in hell hole x” fallacy is a diversion tactic that I thankfully don’t think anybody buys anymore…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/19/super-rich-fight-poverty-oxfam

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:59:00 +0000

As they should be. False equivalence is false.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:57:00 +0000

In a more just society this kind of vanity philanthropy wouldn’t be necessary. These oligarchs basically get to choose which pet projects they get to spend money on, instead of contributing to the common good at large. It’s just more wealth extraction. See Gate’s and the Walton’s “charity” work in education, which is really just pushing privatization, undermining labor, and generally working toward more concentration of wealth. It’s immoral.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:51:00 +0000

I don’t think you realize that you’re posting perfect examples of the way (loosely regulated) capitalism corrupts good governance.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Oh I get it! Supply side economics! We should be thankful to toil on the luxury plantations of this tiny percentage of elite continue to extract ever increasing amounts of the world’s wealth.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:42:00 +0000

The boring Scandinavian model would suit me fine. I'd also immediately put an end to all of Google's scummy tax dodges in which they really to rob the common man, or more specifically: American and European tax paying citizens.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:57:00 +0000

Seriously folks. Give me as much money as Ellison has and see what I do for charity. Or are you seriously calling me an asshole for not giving away billions of dollars I don’t have in the first place?

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:53:00 +0000

I would wager that most every commenter here feels they are more akin to those who have less, rather than those who have more. I’m not faulting your sympathies, just reminding you of the make-up of your audience.

The BBers are already sensitive to the presence of and consequences of ageism, sexism, racism, and class inequality. Say something ignorant, clumsy or tactless in any of those areas, and someone here will happily correct you, till we can all march in lockstep together once again. It’s practically our informal online policy.

I’m still working on educating myself on the many cultural nuances of hatefulness toward those who’s sexual orientation is different than the majority. For that purpose, BB has been quite an valuable education.

By: class_enemy

class_enemy — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:29:00 +0000

Well, if my posts are perceived as dismissive and condescending, no wonder they show up here in such high relief.

But seriously, when I consider the amount of material wealth I have, I tend to compare myself with those who have far less rather than those who have far more. Perhaps this is a flaw on my part.

By: anansi133

anansi133 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:16:00 +0000

That would be the “millionaire as Job Creator” trope I keep hearing about. Nick Hanauer is a billionaire who pretty thoroughly debunks that myth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIhOXCgSunc

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:48:00 +0000

The remaining Oracle America’s Cup trimaran is also parked very near a small homeless camp.

By: CastanhasDoPara

CastanhasDoPara — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 05:15:00 +0000

Incredible!

“Personal Cruiser”

To be outfitted with real guns someday soon.

By: Rindan

Rindan — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:30:00 +0000

Okay dude. Go return all the shit Google and Oracle ’stole’ from the common man back to them. Let me know how that works out. Oracle snagged a bunch of money from other businesses, and Google skimmed a few cents off the top of a fuck-ton of ad agencies. Neither is exactly drenched in the blood of slaves. Don’t get me wrong, Oracle is fucking evil, but they are more personal enemy and “I think you are a real asshole” evil rather that De Beers style “I use slave labor and topple governments so that I can roll around in blood stained money” evil.

We have tried snatching industry and returning it to the commons by force a few dozens of times, all with results that range from “slightly less shitty than the last brutal bastard that ruled” to “OMG we created hell on earth”. I have a feeling that the long term answer probably is a boring old Scandinavian economic model of redistribution via a welfare state and light state involvement in the means of production. Boring, I know, but the revolution has been tried, and by all accounts it fucking sucked. Time to move on.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:57:00 +0000

Then came the imported workers because the people who were born in paradise could not really grasp the idea of working the sugarcane fields in exchange for shiny bits of metal they could use to buy canned food at the company store.