Specifically, is being a billionaire and doing the work to maintain your billionaire status indefinitely mutually exclusive with being a good/moral/ethical person?
I've heard people argue that being mega-wealthy and working to maintain/grow such wealth, by definition make someone a bad person. I know the authors of the New Testament feel that Jesus would have agreed, but I wonder what everyone here thinks.
Can billionaires be good people?
Can billionaires be good people?
Any time the solution is "banjo rifle", I'm in 100%.
Re: Can billionaires be good people?
I know there have been studies that having extreme amounts of wealth actually changes the way the brain works.
I've always been a fan of the theory that having a lot of money makes you more of what you already are. If you're an ass, it makes you more of an ass. If you're nice, it can make you more nice. Maintaining or growing that level of wealth isn't difficult: just invest, live comfortably off a portion of the interested earned each year, and the principal keeps growing ahead of inflation. And there would still be enough in the money you take to "live on" to give to charitable causes without impacting your lifestyle. But I do think there is something to that brain chemistry change theory, where not having to worry about money makes you less sensitive to the struggles of those who DO have to worry about money.
I've always been a fan of the theory that having a lot of money makes you more of what you already are. If you're an ass, it makes you more of an ass. If you're nice, it can make you more nice. Maintaining or growing that level of wealth isn't difficult: just invest, live comfortably off a portion of the interested earned each year, and the principal keeps growing ahead of inflation. And there would still be enough in the money you take to "live on" to give to charitable causes without impacting your lifestyle. But I do think there is something to that brain chemistry change theory, where not having to worry about money makes you less sensitive to the struggles of those who DO have to worry about money.
Re: Can billionaires be good people?
I've always kind of thought that people that accumulate excess wealth are either consciously or unconsciously going through an immoral shift. And it's not limited to billionaires, but also people with multiple millions of dollars. This has recently been anecdotally confirmed for me by my son, who does appliance repair out here in the hill country. We live in a seasonal tourist town and there are many, many vacation homes out here that run between 3 and 6 million dollars. And they use the company he works for when they have an issue with their appliances. So he quite often goes into these lavish homes to fix their ovens, fridges or just to clean their ice makers. And here's the thing- they have a lot of ice makers. Usually 3 and sometimes as many as 5 or 6. Who needs 5 or 6 ice makers? I know that seems facetious, but think about it seriously-- who needs 5 or 6 ice makers in their house? And then take it a step further. Because most of these houses are only occupied for a total of three to four weeks a year when people come out for a week in the summer or spring break, and maybe the occasional weekend here or there. But they make sure they have 5 or 6 ice makers in it.
And look, as long as you're not doing something illegal with it, you can do whatever you want with your money. And I also appreciate the argument that these ultra-rich people are keeping people like my son in business doing ice maker cleanings on a regular basis. Some would say they're keeping my whole tourist town alive (although I'd argue that those folks-- as opposed to the more regular person that floods into town to the lake-- do much worse by inflating my property values and taxes). But there's a real disconnect here for me. We have a severe housing shortage throughout the country and particularly where I live in Texas. A shitty, run-down, two-bed apartment in my town starts at $1,350/month. Not only is homelessness rising and becoming a much bigger problem for many people, but politicians are also vilifying people that can't afford housing as scapegoats for our economic woes. But the ultra rich need their 5 to 6 ice makers... for their houses that are occupied only 5% of the time.
To be clear, if I won the Powerball, I'm not sure I'd be much better. I think there's a very seductive mentality-- even for people that were born into money-- to say, "It's time for me to enjoy what's mine." And often that involves accumulating more of "what's mine" to ensure that you can always enjoy it. Even someone that was born rich thinks they have really had to struggle to get to where they are to accumulate what they have. But it's weird that where I live there's whole super-expensive neighborhoods that are essentially giant multi-million dollar structures that are empty. Meanwhile, panhandlers are at most of the major intersections in Austin scrounging for spare dollars. Families are living in their cars because they got evicted and now can't qualify for housing. Vast numbers of people are foregoing basic preventative and even necessary medical and dental services because they can't afford it. But hey- those few folks have their 5 to 6 ice makers that may not even get used once a year.
And look, as long as you're not doing something illegal with it, you can do whatever you want with your money. And I also appreciate the argument that these ultra-rich people are keeping people like my son in business doing ice maker cleanings on a regular basis. Some would say they're keeping my whole tourist town alive (although I'd argue that those folks-- as opposed to the more regular person that floods into town to the lake-- do much worse by inflating my property values and taxes). But there's a real disconnect here for me. We have a severe housing shortage throughout the country and particularly where I live in Texas. A shitty, run-down, two-bed apartment in my town starts at $1,350/month. Not only is homelessness rising and becoming a much bigger problem for many people, but politicians are also vilifying people that can't afford housing as scapegoats for our economic woes. But the ultra rich need their 5 to 6 ice makers... for their houses that are occupied only 5% of the time.
To be clear, if I won the Powerball, I'm not sure I'd be much better. I think there's a very seductive mentality-- even for people that were born into money-- to say, "It's time for me to enjoy what's mine." And often that involves accumulating more of "what's mine" to ensure that you can always enjoy it. Even someone that was born rich thinks they have really had to struggle to get to where they are to accumulate what they have. But it's weird that where I live there's whole super-expensive neighborhoods that are essentially giant multi-million dollar structures that are empty. Meanwhile, panhandlers are at most of the major intersections in Austin scrounging for spare dollars. Families are living in their cars because they got evicted and now can't qualify for housing. Vast numbers of people are foregoing basic preventative and even necessary medical and dental services because they can't afford it. But hey- those few folks have their 5 to 6 ice makers that may not even get used once a year.
Re: Can billionaires be good people?
An interesting example - though he was not a billionaire - is Zell Kravinsky, a multi-millionaire who gave away most of his money and more! He is discussed in comparison to famous examples of billionaires in this article from 2006 by Peter Singer: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/maga ... ity.t.html
I am not generally a booster of Singer's utilitarianism or the effective altruists but they have some excellent points about wealth distribution and what it would really mean to use surplus wealth for the benefit of others.
At this point I would settle for a gently progressive tax system in which people who float on investment income and take writeoffs have to pay the same fair share as anyone else.
The housing situation is wild. You would think after 2008 our lawmakers and others might have taken steps to limit the bad behavior of people seeking financial gain through unfair exploitation of the housing market. We don't have to organize things this way; we could have different rules and have chosen not to. Something will have to change but probably not before things worsen.
I am not generally a booster of Singer's utilitarianism or the effective altruists but they have some excellent points about wealth distribution and what it would really mean to use surplus wealth for the benefit of others.
At this point I would settle for a gently progressive tax system in which people who float on investment income and take writeoffs have to pay the same fair share as anyone else.
The housing situation is wild. You would think after 2008 our lawmakers and others might have taken steps to limit the bad behavior of people seeking financial gain through unfair exploitation of the housing market. We don't have to organize things this way; we could have different rules and have chosen not to. Something will have to change but probably not before things worsen.
Re: Can billionaires be good people?
I agree, except that my definition of "gently progressive" and "fair share" both involve reversion to the good ol' days of taxing 70% on the top tax bracket. I'd be thrilled to go back to 90%, but this Overton window has a lot of inertia.
I don't believe anyone who is currently a billionaire became so or remains so without being incredibly exploitative. And that includes Taylor Swift, whom I like and who is only just barely a billionaire. I know it's possible to simply invest modestly and live off the passive income, but invest in what? What investments can you make at that volume that don't involve gross exploitation of the masses?
And like Kyle says, when I hit the Powerball and end up with $600 mil in the bank, I'm going to be feel like a horrible hypocrite. But then I'll do that rich people justification and I'll be alright again. Give away a negligible percentage of my riches to charity, and point to all my good works to excuse hoarding the rest.
I don't believe anyone who is currently a billionaire became so or remains so without being incredibly exploitative. And that includes Taylor Swift, whom I like and who is only just barely a billionaire. I know it's possible to simply invest modestly and live off the passive income, but invest in what? What investments can you make at that volume that don't involve gross exploitation of the masses?
And like Kyle says, when I hit the Powerball and end up with $600 mil in the bank, I'm going to be feel like a horrible hypocrite. But then I'll do that rich people justification and I'll be alright again. Give away a negligible percentage of my riches to charity, and point to all my good works to excuse hoarding the rest.
Any time the solution is "banjo rifle", I'm in 100%.
Re: Can billionaires be good people?
I have trouble finding investments I feel comfortable with even with much smaller amounts. It's wild. Also I'm getting my @#$ handed to me in the markets ... 90% of what I pick is genius and money doubling and then I pick Credit Suisse and wave goodbye to my money. That was sad.