Billionaires don’t get rich selling to other billionaires!

 

There is a misconception that somehow those who have amassed vast wealth have some secret formula that is exclusive to only their small club.  The thought is that they trade amongst themselves in a club that others cannot enter and that they build their fortunes on each other's backs.  But the reality is that for most of those whose portfolios exceed a billion dollars, the money has been earned by selling a product to the general public...only in vast quantities.  Let me share a few examples. 

Bill Gates is a software nerd who loved to code.  MS-DOS, which was licensed for about $40 per PC, became the industry standard and the multi-millions of computers sold formed the foundation of Gates eventual eye-popping wealth.  Microsoft licensed the software rather than sell it and when you multiply about $40 per license by the tens of millions of PC...well you do the math. 

It’s the same principle when you go down the list of the world’s richest people.  Jeff Bezos of Amazon started off selling books online; Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook; Larry Page and Sergei Brin started Google; The Walton Family sold groceries and household items.  You get the point. 

Very few of the world’s wealthiest people sold expensive items to those who were already wealthy.  There are a few exceptions where some companies serve the interests of the ultrarich, but on balance, they are exceptions and not the rule. 

So, having established the facts, what’s my point?  It is this.  If you have gained your wealth off the backs of the average wage earner, why should you be exempt from paying taxes in a manner that is consistent with those who have made you rich? Why should there be offshore tax havens?  Why should there be tax loopholes that allow you to avoid estate taxes?  Why should certain forms of income such as stock options not be treated as normal income for tax purposes? Why should we not expect that you register with the Buffett-Gates initiative called The Giving Pledge. Why should your companies spend more on lobbying governments for preferential treatment than they do on philanthropic endeavours?  

In an era of such unprecedented wealth inequality, it is simply unconscionable for people who hold these vast sums to seek ways to preserve rather than share.  In 2023, Oxfam estimated that the wealth of the billionaire class worldwide increased at a rate of $2.7 billion PER DAY!!!.  So, paying a fair share is unlikely to bring immanent hardship their way. 

I am not against people becoming rich, rich, rich.  I am opposed to them losing sight of their roots and scheming to essentially defraud those whose purchases – day after day after day – has made them rich and continues to contribute to their good fortunes. 

I’m under no illusions that billionaires will read this message. I have even fewer illusions that they agree with my position.  

But let’s at least start the discussion.