Reminder: Billionaires are not “self-made.” They’re made via a combination of inherited wealth, government subsidies, tax loopholes, labor exploitation, and policy failures.
Can we stop perpetuating a myth that blames the wealth gap on the choices of everyday Americans?
@JimMaruschak @JPZ @rbreich They have a very heavy hand in making policy, especially through ALEC.
The secret is we never know, that is intentional.
@rbreich Who did Michael Jordan inherit his wealth from?
Who did Tiger Woods exploit?
Which policy failure did Steve Ballmer benefit from?
@rbreich All the people getting paid too little for their work because they let themselves be duped due to believing in pursuit of a dream that anyone may be able to realize but not everyone.
About Michael Jordan: How many black athletes were utterly destroyed by their coaches? Who inspired them to submit to that treatment?
That’s where money is made. Just not for them.
About Tiger Woods: Paid by sponsors for advertisements, so you would overpay for stuff you don’t need.
@JimMaruschak The question was where the money came from. He did not exploit them by himself, but he got rich in a system that exploits them, and he inspired many to submit to that system.
Also advertisements/sponsors.
Sidenote: this is not a moral judgement about Michael Jordon or Tiger Woods. It is an explanation about the origin of their wealth.
@rbreich
@JimMaruschak however good you are, that will never amount to 1000x times more than the average person without withholding pay for others.
We’re talking billionaires here, not millionaires. You can make a million, or even a few, by being really good. You can only make a billion by exploitation or profiting from exploitation.
Sponsorship and ads that make many people buy overpriced things they do not need on billion-scale are exploitation of buyers and producers (who earn too little)
@rbreich
@JimMaruschak How well were the people in her production teams paid? Did her visitors pay fair prices for stuff advertised during her shows?
(though cultural (freely copyable) stuff is one of the few things with which you can get rich without overt exploitation — avoiding exploitation there would mean to spread your income among those whose influences and infrastructure enabled your success)
@twitterreject @ArneBab @rbreich So you're saying that Oprah Winfrey must have done something immoral, you just can't identify what that was.
Did I get that right?
@JimMaruschak No, I’m saying that she grew rich in an environment where money comes from exploitation.
In this case that’s the system of advertisement funded media.
"no evidence she paid anyone anything less than they deserved" — that depends on what you think people deserve.
(though you’re still ignoring what I wrote in parentheses)
@twitterreject @rbreich
@rbreich The meaning of crossing a picket line. An article I read about Dalton Trumbo and the 1960 Spartacus mentioned that President Kennedy, a month after his inauguration crossed a 'picket line' instigated by the American Legion in order to view the movie. The article while approving of Kennedy's role in ending blacklisting stated that crossing a picket line was 'not cool' for a Democrat and a civil rights advocate. This was not a 'picket line' in my book.
Your thoughts?
@rbreich
If I owned a large farm, and fashioned all the fences, gates, feed bins and shelters to advantage bloodthirsty pigs, I'd soon have a large bloodthirsty pig farm.
So, the question is, can I sell those bloodthirsty pigs for enough money to start another, more balanced farm? I'd even name it Orwell's Acres!
But you forgot to mention luck. There's a whole lot of luck involved. Rarely just the lucky timing, but almost never a total absence of wannabe competitors who failed to capture the niche and achieve the de facto monopoly. It's a little different from a legitimate lottery only in that sometimes no one wins in real life, but in both cases we basically never talk about the losers.
"I was born an orphan on the moon. When I was 40 seconds old I taught myself how to photosynthesize my own oxygen using moon dust and positive thoughts. I trained my body for years until I could jump high enough to achieve escape velocity and leapt from the moon into point nemo in the pacific ocean."
Republicans have been successful in blaming the comparative poverty of millennials on their Starbucks coffee addiction and their preferences in Avocado Toast.
The GOP are experts at creating false narratives and distraction from the tax evasion practices of the 1% .
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/business/irs-tax-avoidance.html
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