That's an interesting observation.
Given the 3,028 billionaires among the 8 billion people on Earth, that's the definition of extreme.
Those 3,028 people, or 0.000036% of the global population, hold more than 99% of all wealth.
this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
227 points (95.2% liked)
Showerthoughts
38035 readers
552 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Those 3,028 people, or 0.000036% of the global population, hold more than 99% of all wealth.
The actual number is closer to 9% than 99%. This is probably some kind of mutation from "the combined wealth of billionaires is larger than the GDP of 99% of countries" where notably yearly income and wealth are not directly comparable.
Better (and true) things to say are "The global top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 95% combined" or "The richest 0.01% in the US have tripled their wealth in the last 30 years, while 90% of people have been treading water"
Billionaires are humanity's cancer.
And since they run or influence our lives in so many ways, does that mean that humanity has cancer?
Indeed, I believe we are seeing the simptoms.
Won't you say humanity is sick right now?
To expand on my previous point: A cáncer cell (billionaire) is one that forgot its original purpose (being a productive member of society) and instead grows indiscriminately, eventually killing its host (Everyone else and the planet).
Honestly I don't see any difference at all between the two.
And another follow-up thought:
If cancer cells are at their most dangerous when infecting an unhealthy host, does that imply that the ultra-wealthy are currently at their most dangerous, given how fragmented and non-united the human host is with respect to fighting them off?
Ooh, nice.
Indeed, I've sometimes wondered just how much humanity, from a wide view, behaves like many a micro-organism that's too successful for their own good, eventually exhausting the local resources, drowning in their own waste, and causing their own extinction. Not exactly a nice, cheery "Hallmark card" thought(!)
Nah, they're a side effect. It's people with Cluster B personality disorders that are the cancer. You can't be a billionaire without having one.
They're the reason that true communism and socialism will never happen. They will corrupt any system.
hey, us normies with cluster b's are trying our best :(
Wealth radicalizes people.
Look at what it did to Osama bin Laden. And that was just a $100 million.
Well yeah, they exist at the extremes of society and push almost exclusively for their own further empowerment.
Worshiping money above all else is similar to worshiping a god above all else, and can both lead people down a path to extremism.
I hate minorities (billionaires)
so true bestie slay