Summary
Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot in a premeditated attack outside the New York Hilton Midtown before speaking at an investor conference.
The gunman, still at large, fired multiple times, leaving shell casings marked with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive. His wife confirmed prior threats against him.
Analysts speculate a possible vendetta tied to his company. The case raises questions about executive security, as Thompson lacked personal protection despite known risks.
Even the nicest most hardworking billionaires you’ve met still never stopped exploiting people. A person can’t make a billion dollars through hard work and ingenuity. You only get that rich by extracting value from the labor of others or inheriting the riches gained through such. They passed the point where they gained little to no benefit from figuring out how they could keep getting bigger numbers and rather than distribute the gains downward and they kept going. They paid money managers to maximize their returns and wash away any concerns about how those investments got so profitable. They paid bosses to hire people at the
lowestmost efficient wage they could and then fire them when it’s more efficient. They may even be contributing some of that ill-gotten wealth to philanthropic enterprises. Not enough to impact their life, naturally, but some. The best will even promise to give it all away. Not now of course, when they die. Until then, they deserve it all and get to decide which ills are sexy enough to be worth contributions.And when you meet them at a mixer or a promo event or wherever it is you do, they’ll be happy friendly people. Because why wouldn’t they be? They’re sitting on a dragon’s hoard of wealth extracted from the work of others, with every freedom and luxury, and a fawning entourage and friendly media ready to continually say how nice and special they are.
How could you possibly say that?
It’s a matter of economics. You buy a thing. You invest in it. It generates value. You sell it for more than you put into it.
At no point does this require “exploiting” anyone.
Your argument just seems like, without any evidence, you think business owners aren’t increasing people’s salaries as the company’s value increases.
Here’s the story of Sponge Daddy. Small company of about 130 people worth about a billion dollars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrub_Daddy
Let’s say it costs me a dollar (including payroll) to make a thing and I sell it for two dollars. In the first week of sales, I run out of stock. I now need to reduce demand to keep up with manufacturing so I increase the price to four dollars. I increase production which includes more factories and salaries which increases the costs to two dollars. I now increase the retail price to five dollars. Within a three years, I’ve sold 500 million things. I’ve generated $2.5 billion in revenue. My overhead is $1 billion, profit is $1.5 billion. How am I exploiting anyone? By not choosing to increase people’s salaries? What If my economic plan is to cover costs in case of a pandemic? What if I plan to create more products and need the extra revenue to invest in the new business opportunity? I need to buy more warehouses and employ more people as my business grows.
I can assure you, you have a fictitious image of what a billionaire is. I certainly don’t know them all, but there aren’t many and I know more than a few.
It’s true! Value just springs forth into this world from the ether. It’s basically alchemy. No other more rational expiation for it.
What if I need my peasants to each give me a bit more grain this season because the plague killed half of them? What if I also need to feed my knights so I can conquer new territories? Why should those lousy peasants have a say in any of that?