Visualizing the Billionaire Class
I believe people deserve to get rich if they work hard.
But there comes a point at which wealth is so obscenely huge that you have to wonder if it is really deserved. Can a single human really earn $150 billion without it coming at the expense of other humans?
While history has shown that humanity's wealth pie can be expanded over the long run through productive innovation, over the short term it's likely that hyper competitive behaviour is a zero sum game.
Today, Amazon is rapidly growing at the expense of small independent retailers. This has never been more clear than during the Covid-19 crisis, as lockdowns shut almost all of Amazon's brick-and-mortar competition. While Amazon is probably creating long term wealth for society, right now it is succeeding at the expense of others.
The chief beneficiary is Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and founder, who is now worth over $150 billion. Amazon has added a ton of efficiency to our lives and Jeff Bezos deserves to be rich, but $150 billion is obscene.
At what point does genuine wealth creation transition into exploitation and hoarding? It's not an easy question to answer, but that's not the point. If wealth anomalies like Bezos don't pass society's smell test, action must be taken.
Society makes judgment on the scale of wealth differences between ordinary people and the 1%, deserved or not.
Ordinary people earn in the tens of thousands and can barely save for retirement. To most, millionaires are considered rich. Once you start talking about $ billions the sheer scale of wealth is baffling.
I recently saw an article that highlights how ridiculously wealthy billionaires really are. Below is a graphic visually comparing the difference between various wealth levels. Remember, Bezos is worth 150x the largest box below.
While ordinary people struggle to pay back their college debts, billionaires have to work hard to spend their money:
Elon Musk can spend a MILLION dollars EVERY DAY for 65 years
The Koch brothers can spend a MILLION dollars EVERY DAY for 242 years.
Bill Gates can spend a MILLION dollars EVERY DAY for 247 years.
Jeff Bezos can spend a MILLION dollars EVERY DAY for 306 years.
Anyone arguing that billionaires are created because they help generate societal wealth, should look at the following chart. While worker productivity has risen, average wages have stagnated. Meanwhile, income going to the top 1% (aka the billionaire class) has skyrocketed. In other words, billionaires are built off the backs of the average worker.
The top 1% has captured a growing share of societal wealth partly because the tax system has changed to favour the rich. The two charts below compare tax rates by income level in 1950 and 2018. In 1950 the top tax rate was 70%. In 2018 it was just over 20%.
While Amazon shares hit new highs and Jeff Bezos gets richer, 40% of US renters face the risk of eviction. Those are families and children and hardworking people, many of whom will soon be homeless.
For many the American dream has become the American tragedy. Gone are the days of collecting a paycheque and a comfortable retirement pension. Loyalty is irrelevant. You are on your own to build wealth for you and your family. For some this means building a bulletproof portfolio. For others it means constructing multiple sources of income.