Also "parasite".

It's weird how in the Western world we rarely call them oligarchs. That seems to be reserved for the wealth-hoarders in former-Soviet countries.

103

I’ll use it if you do.

Pinky swear?

38
- I've been trying my best for a while now, friend. I'm also trying to normalize treating having too much wealth as embarrassing. Like, it should fully be seen as a character flaw to have more money than anyone could ever use. I'm far from advocating for enforced equality, but there should be some limit to wealth upon which exceeding it is viewed as gross by the rest of us plebs. Those parasites certainly shouldn't be fawned over like so many people do now.
  
  32
As a British person, I had a few awkward conversations with other British people when I've asked them to explain the difference between a royal or a higher level aristocrat and an oligarch.

It seems to be something to do with the length of time society had to endure their bastardry. Well, it's either that or that they're not from the Oligar region of Russia. Its one of the two.

6
- I guess the technical difference would be that one had ancestors who took their power by force and managed to cement it into hereditary rule, while the other acquired it as a "captain of industry" and then largely did the same thing through lobbying or other forms of cronyism.
  
  Mostly the same end result, but for some reason we put one on our coins and hold celebrations in their honor.
  
  I do prefer your champagne analogy though.
  
  6
Here in Ukraine, we don't really have those illusions about them, yeah. Some of it might be remainders of Soviet collectivism, but even back then there were people who hoarded money and power, just under different pretenses

3
- So it really is the same everywhere.
  
  2

I'm just gonna keep calling them "cunts" lol

52

Bless ya soul

-7

I personally like to reserve "parasite" for the investors, the ones who will literally send you to court if you try to be human to your employees.

48

It's the same picture

14
- No you are Spiderman dot jpg
  
  4
Permanently Deleted

1
Parasite species at least actually require resources from their host to survive. I think it might be too generous of a label

1

Normalise saying "fossil methane" instead of "natural gas"

31

Just Methane will do, fossil methane implies there's a better methane out there

15
- On one hand, synthetic methane is set to be rather important in the medium term future. On the other hand, bio methane is probably the worse greenhouse product at the moment.
  
  5
@naturalgasbad@lemmy.ca would have to change nickname

3
I’ve been calling all fossil fuels ‘artisanal energy’. It will eventually become as practical as other handmade, small batch products.

1

Hoarders don't take things from others (not explicitly). So this term is too kind, and inaccurate.

They are stealing from us, folks. They're fucking criminals.

28

I like "Robber Barrons". I just wish it didn't sound so cool.

8
- Following the people from another comment thread - oligarchs. It might sound post-Soviet and old-fashioned to some, but it is a rather apt description - the power of few, if you translate literally
  
  3

+1 for parasite

25

Another facet (at least specifically in America) is to de-stigmatize discussing personal income among the working class. We’ve been melt-brained hard to think it’s as private and taboo as discussing one’s most deep and darkest sexual kinks when really it’s just a tool of the owners to keep workers indentured in the wage-slave economy.

24

I'm doing my part! I've been bringing it up at lunch.

3

Or just oligarch or power addict. In the eyes of most people, wealth is about luxury, material goods and fancy toys. Of course that's part of it, but at a certain point, wealth is no longer about luxury and toys, it's about power and having control over resources everyone else depends on.

21

‘Money pervert’ also works

20

I like this but I can see them leaning into it and taking it as a badge of honor.

12
Wealth predator. It has more of that negative connotation it deserves

2

I've become personally partial to "landleech".

18

or oligarch, wait nvm how could i forget only the other has those, silly me how could i forget.

15

Parasitic wealth hoarder, If you're looking for something a little shorter, assholes works.

13

It is long past time we got over our child-like worship of billionaires.

13

Indeed, there's nothing inherently exceptional in ~~billionaires~~ wealth hoarders, according to many studies of this phenomenon. They are literally just lucky enough that they managed to get their hands on such a ludicrous amount of money, they really aren't anything special.

5
I never understood people instantly behaving differently the second they smell money in a person. It gets uglier the more they smell. Noone with money will ever deal with them. Never ever.

It's epitome is this cult-like following or even worshipping of silly ass-clowns like musk.

I tried to look as poor as possible when i last dated. Golddiggers quickly leave then. I don't get the followers and i even less get the rich fucks boasting around so they can never trust anyone ever anymore. Great tactics 😁

3

"Wage slave master"?

11

The problem with this is that if billionaires just sat on their fortunes like a dragon sitting on treasure it would be much better than the way it is now, where they pump their billions into "nonprofits" that try to manipulate society to make it even better for them and worse for normal people.

9

"dragon"

9

Not incorrect. Makes them sound way too cool, however.

13
- We might be in need of a Dovahkiin
  
  5

I think it isn't going to be that effective a phrase. People don't understand why having lots of money (hoarding wealth) is a bad thing, necessarily, and it sort of implies that, if they were to just spend it it'd make the initial hoarding fine.

Gotta also focus on the fact that they essentially stole that money from workers through labor exploitation. The bare fact that they got the money to begin with is the problem, not just them holding onto it. If they were to spend it all on horrible capitalist enterprises rather than hoarding it, that'd be even worse. Even if they spent it all on "philanthropic" efforts, that's still worse than the workers having their fair share and the government being able to actually have that money to spend on social programs through taxes.

9

richoids

8

Sometimes I use the term "psychopathic hoarder class" when referring to this group of people.

8

I'm old school, I stick to calling them boss, capitalist, and bourgeoisie

6

I had a browser extension for a while that replaced billionaire with oligarch, fun times

5

or oligarch

5

Corporation controller also seems apt, since that's what their wealth usually is.

5

Fecal dragon?

4

Property is robbery

4

Meiser???

2

too humanizing

6

Reporter: [REACTED]
Reason: Not a meme

Arguably true. Please post actual memes next time, OP.

2

Wealth crimes

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Permanently Deleted

1

Plantation Owner

1

Economic parasites. They suck the lifeblood out of the economy.

0

Too broad. Wealth hoarder describes everyone with a mortgage as well as grandma Sally and her pension plan. Anyone who saves for retirement is a wealth hoarder.

-2

It's not hoarding if it's only a little. Everyone who actually earned it themselves through wage labor is not hoarding.

6
- There are millions of people in the U.S. whose wealth comes from the increase in the property value of their family home. This is unearned wealth.
  
  Of course, you’ll have a hard time convincing most people of that last bit. Which is why billionaires are the more popular enemy rather than the middle class.
  
  3

You guys should put in this much effort and hate to the government. Billionaires play very little role in my life, but the government is in every aspect, but for some reason we are focusing on them.

-5

The government is directly controlled by their individual billionaires.

5
- I somewhat agree, but the influence on the government spans much more than billionaires. The powerful do control much of the government, but its also a bunch of assholes that abuse their power.
  
  -1
For real lol just a nice diversion to distract everyone from the real problem.

2

I was thinking nigglers.

Cause they're niggling us all

More from oil! More from groceries! More work for less pay!

Endlessly niggling every aspect of our lives

-7

I see where you're coming from but that feels dangerously close to a certain other word I'd rather not use. I'm also not sure of the etemology of that word, but I wouldn't be shocked to find out it has something in common with the other one.

15