When A Super Rich Person Buys A Yacht Do More Africans Suffer?

[OROBTC]

This does not matter one bit, the rich will become richer and the poor poorer, life continues regardless. If that rich guy  distributed that money among the poor Africans, I am sure not only will he be helping in a big way but will be more satisfied by doing a humanitarian deed than sipping cocktails in his luxury yacht.

Yes the problem in the world today, which divides the rich and poor countries is the distribution of wealth, if we all give a little, it will take a huge impact on the lives of those who has less fortunate.

I respectfully disagree.  All coercive (taxes used for wealth transfer to the poor ("welfare"), taxes for foreign aid, etc.) schemes of redistributing money have been uniformly shown to hurt the recipients.

Look at the poor in the USA.  They are no better off than they were in the 1960s.  Were such wealth transfers EVER shown to be successful, poverty would have been solved.

I invite rebuttal.  Please show us ANY cases where gifts or other wealth transfers have helped in any significant way (that is, not just an occasional anecdotal person truly helped).

[countryfree]

Strange question. I'll reply with another. Has anyone seen an African boat? I've seen some locally-built fishing boats in Algeria, and they didn't have anything in common with the yachts I've seen in Monte Carlo. And I don't think there's the slightest thing coming from Africa in a yacht.

[FreeTrade]

Yes. Allocating resources in a wasteful way increases suffering.

Money is power. With power comes responsibility. The super rich have a responsibility to use their power in non wasteful ways. They must act as stewards of the worlds wealth rather than owners of it.

[mrhelpful]

Its not really of their purchase, I mean yes in a way it does. Its more on how they move funds.

But the bigger impact is when they have companies in those countries and they are given a tax break for being there then pull out.

Now all the people who do worked for that company have to go find a job all over again.

[babs1975]

I wish this topic could be more specific. Are we talking about the super rich in Africa or super rich in Europe/America/Asia?. If we are talking about the super rich in Africa, then it is a matter of concern. Rich people in Africa are known to exploit the poor for their own gains. If I saw a super rich person in Africa owning a yacht, then definitely it affects the African directly.

[HeroCat]

The yacht is not so expensive, as you may be think. Super rich person can buy used yacht at 60% - 80% off from new yacht price. Even truck driver can find used yacht at 30 - 50 BTC price level     

[thejaytiesto]

In a way, because resources are limited and buying a yatch means less resources for the less fortunate, but most people don't give a damn about any of that. It's just not a sane to think, if you have to feel bad about every luxury you have in the first world then we would always be depressed since drinking clean water is a luxury within itself. But yeah a yatch is overkill, but as long as we live in a capitalist system it is what it is.

[calkob]

Basically.....Do You Have A Moral Responsibility When Buying Things?

On a smaller scale if you buy a certain product more of that product will get produced as a result, does that imprison other people or does it depend on the product? How do we know what products are moral to buy?

In my opinion the answer to the 1st question is...... yes, but that depends on your own personal morals, if it feels wrong to you then dont do it, but dont enforce your morals on others

the 2nd questions is similar answer buy something if you feel it is right t o buy everyone can justify their own purchases

[diegz]

I've been reading your question and your statement repeatedly... its a tough question.. but all I could say is when you buy something, or acquire something, legally and with tax, I don't think that there is problem with that, you must be happy with that, besides, when you buy things you are helping those who made that product..