Discussion: Should there be Billionaires?

* Shoes-Off Venue * *
This venue requires that you remove your outdoor footwear on arrival.

* * Feel free to bring food or drinks * *
* * Participation is optional - you can join us to speak or to listen * *

Take a moment to think about how much money $1B is. If you earned $1B over an 80 year lifespan, that would be $1426 per hour, every hour from birth until death, even while you sleep. The average Canadian household has $852 in savings so if they spend $4 on a bag of potato chips, that percentage of their wealth is comparable to a billionaire spending $5M.

This question of money is really a question of values. Should a person be entitled to keep whatever money they earn, or do the wealthy have a responsibility to pay back into the society that facilitated their wealth? Should economics be viewed as a system for earning individual wealth or for generating collective wealth and building a productive society? Have we reached the point where the wealth gap threatens the health of our society?

Join us for fun, friendly and substantive discussion about the important topics of the day. All viewpoints are welcome for this friendly, moderated discussion.

How it Works
Everyone will be invited to share their opinion, share relevant facts and reasoning, and respond to the views of others.

Our moderator will ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to speak and that dialogue will be kept respectful. All viewpoints are welcome. After the event, you are invited to stay for friendly, informal discussion if you wish.

Name and Pronoun Preferences
If you have specific pronoun preferences or any other requests to help ensure that you feel comfortable and respected, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the event organizer. Your needs and preferences are important to us, and we want to make sure our gatherings are supportive and inclusive for all attendees.

Aren't you worried about having an event with 50+ people?!?
No because there will not be 50 people at the event. On Meetup, many attendees cancel at the last minute, and many are no-shows who skip the event without cancelling. I set the RSVP limit to 55 people, I reduce that limit to 45 in the last two days before the event, and then 20-30 people will actually attend.

This allows us to hit our attendance target of 15-30 people, and it ensures that attendees have their spot guaranteed weeks in advance. This makes the guest count inaccurate, but it's the simplest way to provide you a reliable and positive RSVP experience.

Suggested Reading
Any suggestions?

Ideals
Please read the Studio 42 Ideals before attending the event:
http://stu42.co/ideals

Admission
Admission is free. We accept donations to help fund our events.

Latecomers
Latecomers are welcome but we start promptly at 6:05pm so if you arrive late, you will miss out!