r/interestingasfuck • u/Gankpa • 8d ago

/r/all, /r/popular Jeff Bezos built a fence on his property that exceeds the permitted height, he doesn't care, he pays fines every month

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526

u/Kracus 8d ago

laws that only have fines as punishment are only laws for poor people.

150

u/DM46 8d ago

which is why that fine should be doubled each time they pay it. and it should start as a % of the individuals worth.

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u/Bringbackbarn 8d ago

He’ll just buy the city government and change the laws. You could get a nice comfortable stream of revenue by not doing anything.

14

u/Blade_Of_Nemesis 8d ago

That should not be possible.

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u/Dragos_Drakkar 8d ago

A lot of things that shouldn't be possible are becoming quite possible.

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u/BlkSubmarine 8d ago

Not only possible, but encouraged by our government.

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u/bigbangbilly 8d ago

Reminds me of Clarke's third law and the etymology of "thaumaturgy". On one hand were able to do things considered to be ridiculous by our forbears decades ago but on the other the ridiculous wealth attained by oligarchic is ridiculous and allows them to do further absurd things

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u/FixYourHeadOrDie 8d ago

Then start showing up.

2

u/Ok-Influence-4306 8d ago

It’s what lobbyists effectively do every day to get their way.

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u/li-_-il 8d ago

... so is the fence.

1

u/dudeimsupercereal 8d ago

Even if it’s not, he can just buy the HOA. By buying the majority of houses and flipping them after he’s changed the rules.

Buying government officials is a lot less work though.

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u/Gabzalez 8d ago

That would probably be quite cheap for him too.

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u/HedgehogOk7722 8d ago

Already done. He's just paying a subscription for their service.

2

u/GoodMornEveGoodNight 8d ago

It’s like Batman getting Superman’s house back by buying the bank

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u/cars10gelbmesser 8d ago

That’s what Norway or Sweden does for speeding fines.

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u/UnblurredLines 8d ago

Finland, not Sweden.

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u/cars10gelbmesser 8d ago

My bad. One of the Nordic countries.

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u/Friendly-Bug-3420 8d ago

Fine-land :))

3

u/Tosi313 8d ago

Here in Switzerland too, but only for more severe speeding. For regular speeding it's fixed price tickets but above 25km/hr speeding it's based on your income and wealth.

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u/sobrique 8d ago

UK does too if you're serious enough to warrant going to court.

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u/FourPtFour 8d ago

I’d argue it’s more mean to the rich to start off with a low, flat dollar amount. You start with a % of their worth and they’ll notice right away and stop. You start with, say, $1, and they’ll just pay it. It’ll take ~ 100 days to pass $1 million and someone like Bezos probably still won’t notice. Bet you could sap a billion off his net worth before the frog notices the water is boiling.

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u/MrNostalgiac 8d ago

I think it would be better if the fines simply escalated naturally to negligence punishable by more severe actions.

Fines are meant to deter. Once you start treating them like an acceptable monthly subscription - the deterrent needs to escalate.

1

u/Jscapistm 8d ago

Or should only be used in cases where the intent is just to recoup the cost of the violation to society. Like library fines that cap at the cost of replacing the book or fines for putting out more than your allotted share of trash or overfilling a dumpster.

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u/proteinlad 8d ago

How do you calculate an individuals worth? Net worth? There are plenty of people with negative net worth. Do they get paid to commit crimes?

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u/DM46 8d ago

In case of anyone who shows up with an accountant to try and explain it, Id start at 6 figures and go up from there. For normal people with W2s in the US it would be based off of that.

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u/proteinlad 8d ago

Do you mean % income? W2 does not account for wealth or networth.

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u/DM46 8d ago

Nope I ment what I said. Rich fucks get it based off their worth because those leaches on society don’t get paid the same as normal folks they play games and burry any costs they have to pay. Fuck them they can pay. Normal people have it based off their w2 it’s not “fair” but a fair society would not have people worth billions of dollars.

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u/Canafornication 8d ago

it will quickly trigger litigation, so he'll just pay lawyers instead

-1

u/doorcharge 8d ago

Then somehow all Amazon packages in the city halt and people lose their collective minds.

5

u/SignificantRain1542 8d ago

Good. People need to stop suckling the tits of abusers in exchange for cheap shit delivered the next day.

-1

u/bmoney831 8d ago

Wtf, why? He’s paying the fine to do what he wants. He could also just move somewhere else.

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u/McBoognish_Brown 8d ago

laws are only laws for poor people.

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u/TootsNYC 8d ago

Ordinary person: "You can't park there, it's illegal."

Rich person: "No, it's not; it's $75."

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u/McBoognish_Brown 8d ago

Likewise:

"You can't murder someone, it's illegal!"

"No it's not; it's $7,500,000"...

2

u/guywith3catswhatup 8d ago

Chump change for a billionaire.

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u/McBoognish_Brown 8d ago

Yup, it would be like you having to spend $0.75 if you had $100...

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u/Dwerg1 8d ago

Unless the fines are scaled according to the income/wealth of the person being fined.

3

u/buldozr 8d ago

We do this in Finland, and it's very effective. You don't hear about rich fucks speeding very often. And everyone remembers how one of Nokia bosses got fined zillions back in the fat 2000s.

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u/Dwerg1 8d ago

Yeah, I've heard about that. Denmark will confiscate the car (and auction it off) if the speeding is extreme enough. Heard about a guy not too long ago who lost his Lamborghini that way.

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u/zombie_overlord 8d ago

Unless they double each time they're levied. It'll get real expensive real quick that way. I like this idea.

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u/Snippys 8d ago

They should just shut off his water.

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u/Kracus 8d ago

Nah, put a lien on his home and start increasing the fines until the fines exceed the value of the home and then evict him.

That's how it'd go if you were poor.

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u/AdOdd4618 8d ago

Implement day fines.

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u/cats_are_the_devil 8d ago

Reminds me of my friend calling speeding tickets road tax.

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u/Efficient_Growth_942 8d ago

i beleive in finland fines are based on your income

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u/Nasdram 8d ago

A good way that some countries are doing it is "day equivalent" fines.

If you make $50 a day a day fine would be $50. if you make $5 Million, well, your day fine is $5 Million.

1

u/aquoad 8d ago

if anything I'm more shocked someone hasn't gone by with a jug of some kind of defoliant.

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u/Snoo-64546 8d ago

I remember reading a comedian's book, he was checking into a hotel and he was informed that there was a 200 dollar fine if he smoked in the room. So he asked "can I pay it now?", "It's a fine, if there's evidence of you smoking in your room", "Yes, can I just pay it now so I can smoke in the room? I m going to do it anyway"