Fans of Taylor Swift have been shocked after it emerged that a contractor for the controversial Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was in attendance at her wedding.

...

It appears that Steven J. Demetriou, the Executive Chair of a company called Amentum Services was also among the crowd gathered to see the happy couple say ‘I do.’

Amentum Services is currently the sole contractor for ICE’s Camp East Montana, a detention centre in El Paso.

The artist has faced swift backlash for her choice of guests, including online commenters who have shared their dismay on social media.

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[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 165 points 3 days ago (2 children)

"followers of billionaire shocked to find out billionaires act like billionaires, don't care about fans opinions"

You CANNOT be a billionaire AND a good person. The two are not compatible. If you were a truly good and decent person who cares about others, you WOULDN'T BE A BILLIONAIRE

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (4 children)

If I were a billionaire my job would quickly be to find good ways to give away my money. Cancer research, paying for school lunches, fund libraries, found some sort of institution that makes life better for people.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

I think I'd just buy the same politicians they do to fund that stuff permanently instead.

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago

Yep. That's exactly what Mackenzie Scott (Bezos' ex-wife) did when she got her divorce settlement, got busy giving it all away. More power to her.

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes, but you would've started doing this long before you became a billionaire, which would've precluded you becoming a billionaire in the first place. Unless you had a change of heart after being visited by three ghosts or something like that.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think Stoly is more implying an incredibly unlikely event in that they are suddenly in possession of a billion dollars, kinda like the Adam Sandler movie "Mr Deeds"

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That is correct and very charitable on your part. There is a way in which sometimes the machine starts churning and suddenly the person is a billionaire.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'd seen I think it was Powerball jackpots reaching close to a billion, I know it'd be like half or less after taxes (silly thing that US taxes lottery winnings), but even half a billion is pretty much "fuck you" money for most people

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I genuinely think that a million dollars is enough for most people to live well. Use it responsibly, buy a house, invest the rest. If you work a job that you like on the side, then that's all straight savings.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That really depends on where you live. A million dollars where I live is enough to buy a house and start a retirement investment that might be enough to retire on in 10-20 years if you keep contributing to it and the yields are good.

Granted average house price for a modest house (1300sq ft) went from 200k to 800k in the last 10 years here....

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I do know that housing has gone up everywhere. I think my real point is that for a smart person who is conservative in their spending, a million bucks is a ticket to a low-stress life where you can do the things you want to do and not only the things that you have to do.

[–] timestatic@feddit.org 0 points 2 days ago

If you were I billionaire most of your money wouldn't be cash on your bank account in stocks/shares most probably. If you try to sell these shares all at once you won't find enough buyers and would have to sell at a way lower value. You could try selling them off bit-by-bit over time to gain liquid capital that you could use to invest in helping people

[–] philanthropicoctopus@thelemmy.club 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mostly I agree with this but not as a blanket statement. I wouldn't view it as "good or bad", but rather " does their behavior cause harm?". In the cause of the vast majority of billionaires, yes, they cause harm to get to where they are. Examples like Swift, Jackson and Rowling where they have become billionaires through entertainment are less straightforward. But there is still the question of why are they hoarding all that money, which quite obviously does harm

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Billionaires DO NOT BECOME BILLIONAIRES THROUGH HARD WORK

They become stupid rich via exploitation.

Barring some massive astronomical movie coincidence that makes the rich overnight by surprise, they got their wealth DISHONESTLY.

THERE ARE NO GOOD BILLIONAIRES.

By holding on to it instead of using all but what they actually NEED (lpt you don't NEED a 15 million dollar house) they prove it every single day.

Taylor swift could almost single handedly ensure no child in the US goes hungry, yet.... Doesn't. List any number of charities a billionaire donates to, the fact that they're still a billionaire means it's NOT ENOUGH.

Every day they have many orders of magnitude more than the average person, they prove they're pieces of shit not worth our time.

[–] philanthropicoctopus@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah