Who is getting richer and richer these days?

[DonTom]

I own one of these (yeah, it's real):

 

[DonTom]

There's no doubt in my mind that the last thing the rich man thinks about is putting more money into the pockets of his workers.

If all the rich people did that, then think of the new inflation rates we will have.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[jymbee]

There's no doubt in my mind that the last thing the rich man thinks about is putting more money into the pockets of his workers. And if he does, it will really be a byproduct of his intent.

While I don't disagree in general, there are a number of cases where employers went to extremes to the benefit their employees costing them (the employer) a considerable amount of money in the process.

Employers keeping on employees during Covid is one example. A number of other similar examples as well.

Just unfortunate that for most corporations, profit drives every decision they make.

 

[dave54]

Probably quite a few at the moment. Markets have been pretty good. We have noticed our retirement funds are growing faster this year than we are taking out of them. For a year or two that was not the case. Maybe we should give ourselves a raise.

Same here.
I actually retired with an increase in income. When I ran the numbers I found my pension plus converting investments to income-producing would give me more take home pay than I was making while working. That made the decision a no-brainer.
Who cares if Bezos has umpteen billion dollars? He didn't take it from my pocket. I like to think the financial decisions made by Gates, Buffet, Bezos et al also increased my investments value. I own stocks. If they make the market go up, my investments go up with theirs.

 

[garyb1st]

Who cares if Bezos has umpteen billion dollars? He didn't take it from my pocket. I like to think the financial decisions made by Gates, Buffet, Bezos et al also increased my investments value. I own stocks. If they make the market go up, my investments go up with theirs.

I guess you never bought anything from Amazon or any of the other 15 companies Bezos owns.

 

[1stimerver]

We've made our choices and now live with the consequences..
It seems that the conservative choices we've made have served us well. We ain't got a barrel of money, but we're a bit better than ok. NO complaints here so far.
As for the rich, they have their own sets of problems/consequences based on the choices they made.

 

[dave54]

I guess you never bought anything from Amazon or any of the other 15 companies Bezos owns.

What does that have to do with anything? When I purchase from Amazon, I exchange my $50 cash for an item worth $50. My personal wealth is unchanged. The manufacturer pays a small fee to Amazon for the convenience of having the product listed there, saving me the time and effort of comparison shopping across many different websites. Since Amazon prices are comparable to buying direct from manufacturer, I am still not out anything extra.
However, if my purchase combined with millions of other purchases increases the value of Amazon stock, my wealth does increase.

Bezos gambled his life savings on founding a company, and spent the first several years of Amazon with 100 hour weeks working out of his garage. I harbor no ill will toward him for becoming successful. I congratulate him on his hard work and success.
Since when did risk-taking, hard work, and eventual success become vilified?

 

[TheBar]

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer by increasing inflation and raising interest rates. Which moves money from the middle and lower class to the upper class. Anything that increases costs to a business gets passed on to consumers which gets passed to the rich. Any increase in money supply gets passed to the rich. Its called trickle up economics.

 

[Ray-IN]

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer by increasing inflation and raising interest rates. Which moves money from the middle and lower class to the upper class. Anything that increases costs to a business gets passed on to consumers which gets passed to the rich. Any increase in money supply gets passed to the rich. Its called trickle up economics.

This might have been the first shoe to drop;

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/10/economy/cpi-consumer-price-index-inflation-march/index.html

 

[Ray-IN]

This is interesting reading: Consumer prices moved higher in March. Auto insurance costs were a major reason.
Added, I forgot to include one reason auto insurance is high:Who Owns Progressive Insurance, the Third-Largest Insurance Carrier in the U.S.?