Shark Tank’ host Kevin O’Leary on extreme income inequality: ‘It’s fantastic’
By Travis Gettys
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 7:56 EST
An investor who hosts the reality show “Shark Tank” said “it’s fantastic” that the world’s 85 richest people hold as much wealth as its 3.5 billion poorest people.
The international relief organization Oxfam issued a new report this week that found the richest 1 percent in the world controlled about $110 trillion in wealth, or 65 times more than the world’s poorest half.
Venture capitalist and television personality Kevin O’Leary said Monday during an episode of the Canadian Broadcast Company’s “The Land and O’Leary Exchange” that this disparity didn’t bother him at all.
“It’s fantastic, and this is a great thing because it inspires everybody, gets them motivation to look up to the 1 percent and say, ‘I want to become one of those people, I’m going to fight hard to get up to the top,’” O’Leary said.
“This is fantastic news, and of course I’m going to applaud it,” O’Leary said. “What can be wrong with this?”
His co-host, Amanda Lang, seemed astonished. “Really?” she asked.
Lang asked if he honestly believed that someone living in Africa and making about $1 a day could realistically aspire to one day be as wealthy as Bill Gates.
“That’s the motivation everybody needs,” O’Leary said.
Lang sarcastically suggested that the only thing that keeps that hypothetical African from becoming one of the world’s richest people was motivation.
“I just need to pull up my socks,” she said, speaking as that hypothetical impoverished person. “Oh, wait, I don’t have socks!”
O’Leary responded by saying he was “not against charity.”
While Oxfam’s report conceded that some wealth inequality could serve as a motivator, the organization warned that extreme levels of wealth concentration threatens to shut out hundreds of millions of people from the global economy.
O’Leary, a Canadian businessman, also hosts CBC’s “Dragons’ Den,” in addition to his work for the ABC reality show that matches up entrepreneurs with potential investors.
He likes to say that his primary interest in life is making money and that he’d fire his own mother to keep his cash flow positive.
“I’m hard-core right wing, slightly right of Attila the Hun, and I believe that money solves a lot of problems in life,” O’Leary said.
Satire is dead.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
Canada has got some explaining to do, usually producing such free market fanatics is the domain of the US. How dare you try to wrestle into the asshole market, canada?
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
You know, one day, one of these clowns will say something so outrageous that the people start remembering how much fun can be had with torches and pitchforks. Just saying.
(And no, I wouldn't call that an insurrection or civil war. It would call it a hostile corporate takeover - yay capitalism!)
Otherwise - same shit from another horse...
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
Of course O'Leary is all for income inequality - he's in the 1% that benefits! Those lazy 99% - if only they exerted themselves 100% of everyone could be in the top 1%!
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Ok since I am not familiar with this guy, where is the Satire? It says "Satire is dead"
Well, is HE being satirical? I didn't hear anything the host said in that clip that sounded like Satire, unless I missed it.
Praying is another way of doing nothing helpful
"Congratulations, you get a cookie. You almost got a fundamental English word correct." Pick
"Outlaw star has spaceships that punch eachother" Joviwan Read "Tales From The Crossroads"! Read "One Wrong Turn"!
Crossroads Inc. wrote:Ok since I am not familiar with this guy, where is the Satire? It says "Satire is dead"
Well, is HE being satirical? I didn't hear anything the host said in that clip that sounded like Satire, unless I missed it.
The point would be that not so very long ago Looten Plunder, the businessman villain from Captain Planet, was generally regarded as an exaggerated, satirical warning of the dangers of unscrupulous capitalism, rather than a role model.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
Basically "Views that would have been seen as comic book super villain evil, are now embraced as good by real life people" sort of thing... Yeah... That is rather depressing.
Praying is another way of doing nothing helpful
"Congratulations, you get a cookie. You almost got a fundamental English word correct." Pick
"Outlaw star has spaceships that punch eachother" Joviwan Read "Tales From The Crossroads"! Read "One Wrong Turn"!
But this guy is a honest capitalist. Honesty is rarely found among his ilk, who prefer to talk big about charity and welfare while at the same time sponsoring hardcore right-wingers in every Parliament out there.
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
Actually that is true, this guy SAYS What most other Right Wing capitalists THINK, but are too embarrassed or chicken to say in public.
And what this guy says is the logical conclusion to right wing economical think.
Praying is another way of doing nothing helpful
"Congratulations, you get a cookie. You almost got a fundamental English word correct." Pick
"Outlaw star has spaceships that punch eachother" Joviwan Read "Tales From The Crossroads"! Read "One Wrong Turn"!
Thanas wrote:Canada has got some explaining to do, usually producing such free market fanatics is the domain of the US. How dare you try to wrestle into the asshole market, canada?
I'm not surprised. The global ultracapitalist class really doesn't give a damn what country they live in; they are above/below any values that identify with a single nation.
There's nothing uniquely American about sociopathic people with business sense who like to say things that promote ignorance among laissez-faire fundamentalists. If present trends continue indefinitely, which I doubt, then the future is full of guys like this, from all sorts of different countries.
Simon_Jester wrote:If present trends continue indefinitely, which I doubt, then the future is full of guys like this, from all sorts of different countries.
Glorious!
Lì ci sono chiese, macerie, moschee e questure, lì frontiere, prezzi inaccessibile e freddure
Lì paludi, minacce, cecchini coi fucili, documenti, file notturne e clandestini
Qui incontri, lotte, passi sincronizzati, colori, capannelli non autorizzati,
Uccelli migratori, reti, informazioni, piazze di Tutti i like pazze di passioni...
...La tranquillità è importante ma la libertà è tutto!
Is this guy blissfully ignorant about reality or just an arrogant, braindead douchebag? There's so much things wrong with his "arguments" I don't know even where to begin.
Self-serving thugs like these make me depressed about the future.
wautd wrote:Is this guy blissfully ignorant about reality or just an arrogant, braindead douchebag? There's so much things wrong with his "arguments" I don't know even where to begin.
Self-serving thugs like these make me depressed about the future.
He has so much money that going out of touch like this simply has no consequences for him. At once he proves and disproves the idea that being rich inherently means that you're somehow better than the average person.
Crossroads Inc. wrote:Ok since I am not familiar with this guy, where is the Satire? It says "Satire is dead"
Well, is HE being satirical? I didn't hear anything the host said in that clip that sounded like Satire, unless I missed it.
The point would be that not so very long ago Looten Plunder, the businessman villain from Captain Planet, was generally regarded as an exaggerated, satirical warning of the dangers of unscrupulous capitalism, rather than a role model.
Indeed. Its rather depressing that a lot of things which were satire a few years ago occurred in real life, hence the satire is dead statement. The jeers we give to Randroids about how they believe the free market will just fix everything is given form here. The man literally thinks that inequality will drive people to perform better because they want what rich people have.
Speaking of Captain Planet villains who are also businessmen, if this guy is Looten Plunder, who is Hoggish Grinley?
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
Flagg wrote:Is the CBC financed through taxes like the BBC? Because if it is...
The current Federal government tends to regularly cut the CBC's funding grant and has a long standing habit of loudly complaining about their "left wing bias."
This has co-related with what we might term an "interesting" shift in what they put on air as they seem to be trying to give the Conservative Party what they want to see.
Trying to turn this prick into a media star is essentially the tip of the spear of this strategy.
It strikes me as an entertainingly passive-aggressive form of sabotage; this kind of attitude is so revolting to a large number of people that it will tend to alienate the public.
Remember how awkward it was when Romney was caught on TV telling millionaire donors what he really thinks?
So he thinks people who life with 1 USD a day are not motivated to improve their life unless they see a billionaire? A simple millionaire apparently won't be enough. Or seeing someone with a filled stomach.
Also, shouldn't we see less inequality and not more of it with more capitalism (if it would work as intended)? Shouldn't all that competition lead to less money for the rich because their competitors cut in their profits?
Either way, that guy is a role model for all soulless homunculi out there.
O'Leary has expanded on this in numerous interviews before this segment even took place. He's not saying that's great news that some people are poor. He's saying that it's great news that some people are rich. He's also stated in numerous interviews that he thinks it doesn't matter how unequal wealth is, so long as everyone's wealth is increasing - the fact that the wealth of many people is not increasing is something that concerns him.
Magis wrote:He's also stated in numerous interviews that he thinks it doesn't matter how unequal wealth is, so long as everyone's wealth is increasing - the fact that the wealth of many people is not increasing is something that concerns him.
Yeah, he sounds real torn up over it.
Note; the above was sarcasm.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
Magis wrote:He's also stated in numerous interviews that he thinks it doesn't matter how unequal wealth is, so long as everyone's wealth is increasing - the fact that the wealth of many people is not increasing is something that concerns him.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
Magis wrote:O'Leary has expanded on this in numerous interviews before this segment even took place. He's not saying that's great news that some people are poor. He's saying that it's great news that some people are rich. He's also stated in numerous interviews that he thinks it doesn't matter how unequal wealth is, so long as everyone's wealth is increasing - the fact that the wealth of many people is not increasing is something that concerns him.
The problem is that arguably the wealth of many people is not increasing because the wealth of a few people increases so fast. The economy can only grow so fast- and if the economy is growing at 3% a year while gazillionaires' wealth grows at 10-20% a year, sooner or later the gazillionaires will be getting literally all the new wealth from the expanding economy.
So at some point, yes wealth inequality becomes a problem in its own right, because it means that a handful of people control all the means by which anyone could conceivably get wealthier. And the sort of person who can get control of that much will predictably use it to enrich... themselves. Anyone else getting richer is going to be purely a random side-effect, and one accompanied by other people getting poorer, also as a random side-effect.
