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    Cartier boss with $7.5bn fortune says prospect of the poor rising up 'keeps him awake at night'
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    Cartier boss with $7.5bn fortune says prospect of the poor rising up ‘keeps him awake at night’


    Cartier boss with $7.5bn fortune says prospect of the poor rising up ‘keeps him awake at night’

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/cartier-boss-with-7-5bn-fortune-says-prospect-poor-rising-up-keeps-him-awake-at-night-10307485.html

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    27 Comments

    1. Sartew on

      This news highlights the concerns voiced by Johann Rupert, billionaire chairman of Richemont, about the potential societal upheaval driven by rising economic inequality and automation-induced unemployment. His remarks offer a stark acknowledgment from within the ultra-wealthy class of the risks posed by wealth concentration and structural shifts in labor markets.

      How might advancing automation, combined with extreme wealth disparities, reshape society in the next decades? Could his fears of middle-class decline and “social warfare” materialize into widespread systemic disruptions? What strategies could prevent such outcomes—policy reforms, technological safeguards, or societal restructuring?

    5. nexuseeker on

      It’s almost as if….. quite possibly…. they anticipate the pendulum of socioeconomic disparity is going to swing against them…..at some point… soon.

      Save a cow. Eat the rich.

    8. ADhomin_em on

      “Johann Rupert told the conference to bear in mind that when the poor rise up, the middle classes won’t want to buy luxury goods for fear of exposing their wealth.”

      Not even focusing on anything but the bottom line. These guys only see the world through figures and charts. Talk about losing the plot…

    10. Veloziraptor8311 on

      Dude, I could be in the minority here but I care a whole lot less that a luxury brand has rich CEOs than a health insurance company that literally makes it’s profits by denying people life saving drugs and procedures.

    11. inferni_advocatvs on

      Good, as long as there is poverty in the world no billionaire should sleep soundly.

    12. Coyote8200 on

      The middle class only ever existed as a buffer between the rich and the poor, it was never for the people in the middle class or the poor. The rich dangle the carrot of the middle class but never really want it, that’s why it keeps disappearing over and over again. If the middle class isn’t serving their purpose, there is no reason to keep it.

    13. MarkMoneyj27 on

      So help the fucking poor dude!?!? Start paying Congress to change laws to help us with healthcare.

    15. r0botdevil on

      If I were a billionaire myself, I would be aggressively lobbying for policies that bolster the social safety net for exactly this reason. I would be pushing hard for increased taxes on the ultra-wealthy to fund social welfare programs, and I would also be pushing for universal healthcare, increases to the minimum wage, and strict rent control.

      I would *absolutely* rather be worth $100M in a healthy and vibrant society where most people are generally happy than be wroth $100B in a crumbling society rife with poverty, crime, and misery.

      But then, I guess, the fact that I don’t categorically value money above all else is probably the main reason why I’m not a billionaire in the first place

    16. CooledDownKane on

      In reality we haven’t asked for much. A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, affordable housing and food, and decent medical care that doesn’t disappear the second that we need it. Most of us I would say wouldn’t even have an issue with his exorbitant lifestyle if the above was met.

      The prospective demise of him and his ilk would be entirely their fault.

    17. givin_u_the_high_hat on

      Looking toward the future, it isn’t that hard to keep people happy. Meet their food needs, their health needs, and their old age needs. Billionaires think people want what they have, most people really don’t. We just want to know our parents won’t suffer in old age and that our children won’t be forced into corporate indentured servitude.

    18. AlluringDuck on

      It must be difficult having a great fear and being powerless to do anything to prevent it…

    19. BodhingJay on

      maybe the wealthiest in the wealthiest country in the world could help ensure everyone here has access to a minimum, the most basic food clothing and shelter so absolutely anyone and everyone who needs it can get it, and that there’s a ladder to climb out of poverty to anyone with the aspirations and motivation for it instead of relying on drugs to sleep

    20. Emu1981 on

      Easiest way to solve this conundrum is to not give “the poor” a reason to want to rise up in the first place. Or, in other words, make their lives comfy – we should all be well aware now of the inverse correlation between a person’s socioeconomic status and the likelihood of them committing crimes. The best way to do this would be to introduce a UBI that pays enough for people to survive without a job along with government housing that isn’t run down and dilapidated.

    21. trucorsair on

      Well I am sure his sleepless nights are based on if we “eat the rich” nobody would buy his baubles and bags

    22. Richdav1d on

      These people could literally give away like 5% of their wealth and it would stop us from hating them all. But they’re SO immensely greedy that giving us even an inch of wealth compared to their mile is too much.

    23. LeoLaDawg on

      It certainly seems we’re close to making people eat cake as a society. Interesting times.

    24. OSRSmemester on

      Pretty funny how it’s not the motives of those poor people (hunger, suffering. Sickness, etc) that keep him up at night. No, just the ways it could affect *him&*, and instead of thinking about ways to fix his fear he’s hiding his head in piles of cash

    25. noeagle77 on

      Costco CEO, the Arizona Iced Tea guys, and Mark Cuban are resting peacefully in these turbulent times for billionaires