As part of the sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, many countries have begun seizing yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs. Communist Senator Bernie Sanders thinks it’s a great idea, except he’d like to see the yachts of American billionaires seized. Apparently the guy with 3 mansions doesn’t think people who are not him shouldn’t be able to buy things with their own money that others can’t afford.
In recent days several super yachts owned by Putin allies have been seized according to Yahoo! Finance:
On March 4, Italian authorities seized a yacht owned by Alexey Mordashov, chairman of Russian steel and mining company Severstal.
On March 2, French customs officials impounded the superyacht of Igor Sechin, CEO of oil giant Rosneft. According to Bloomberg, the yacht was confiscated “as it was preparing an urgent departure.”
The 512-foot yacht of Russian billionaire Alisher Umanov — one of the largest in the world and valued around $600-$735 million is being monitored closely in Germany.
There’s another 52 yachts owned by Russian oligarchs out there. Russian president Vladimir Putin also has a yacht but he had the sense to move it back home before he invaded Ukraine. It looks like he f*cked over his homies too.
All of this yacht seizure business got Bernie Sanders thinking over the weekend. Not about doing more to hurt his beloved Russia, but rather how to f*ck over over Americans:
Oligarchy and massive wealth inequality exists not just in Russia. It’s worldwide. Since the pandemic, while the wealth of the world’s 10 richest people DOUBLED, the income of 99% of the world’s population declined. The result: More yachts for the rich. More hunger for the poor.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 4, 2022
Super-large yachts have become the status symbol of the billionaire class. And Russian oligarchs are not the only people who own them. While half of our people work paycheck to paycheck, members of the American oligarchy spend hundreds of millions to build their very own yachts.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 5, 2022
And? What’s you point?
Comrade Bernie seems to have a problem with people spending money they earned on stuff because not everybody can afford a super yacht. He also seems to be hinting that the “American oligarchs” should have their yachts seized as some kind of reparations-for-the-poor redistribution of wealth scheme.
If Bernie wants a system where people are only allowed to have what they need, regardless of effort and talent, he should start things off by giving up 2 of his mansions. And let’s be honest, Bernie never earned the money he used to outfit himself with 3 houses. In his 8 million years on this planet, career politician Sanders has never worked a day in his life. Not only that, he’s never run a business or created a single job for anyone else.
Here’s the thing, wealth isn’t a zero-sum game. Just because someone gets rich or richer doesn’t mean they stole that money from poor people, making them poorer. Stealing from the rich to give to the poor isn’t even a zero-sum game because the government is the middleman and they would waste so much money that everyone would lose.
It’s bad enough that Bernie Sanders is a U.S. Senator, could you imagine a socialist like him being in charge of distributing money? He literally has no idea how money works.
