The Anti-Billionaires

Michael Baylosis
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 13, 2019

Every billionaire is a policy failure,” so goes a slogan associated with

the Left. And if you were to ask US Sen. Bernie Sanders, billionaires
shouldn’t even exist. Can someone become insanely rich on honesty and
hard work alone? Do we benefit from their existence at all? Should
society place expectations on their accumulated wealth?

Billionaires have been a subject of plentiful fascination. They are like

the outliers of all outliers, the Everest of material success. In our
meritorious society, where class progression is an aspiration and a
possibility, they are seen as those who have braved the biggest of all
odds.

But there is a growing alternative view, one where their business models
are being challenged , even threatened, sometimes by national leaders. In
other parts of the world, they are the hot subject of a special kind of
taxes. And the faith society once lavished on them—for their acumen or
sense of philanthropy—has gone dry. Paul Krugman recently asked in
The New York Times whether it was time for “bursting the billionaire
bubble.”

It has been reported that there is a billionaire created every 48 hours.

The exclusive club apparently gains membership exponentially. This
year, some of these additions grabbed international headlines—Kylie
Jenner, for instance, who, according to a Forbes article in March, was set
to become “the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.” In June, Jay-Z
was branded “hip hop’s first billionaire,” also by Forbes. Spotify’s
Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon have also joined the ranks.

If this is an equal society, there probably should be no billionaires, and

people like Kylie and Jay-Z wouldn’t even become filthy rich. But we
don’t live in a society like that. Instead, we live in an environment where
demand fuels enterprise. And with high demand comes high revenues
for those with the capital and resources to meet such demands. Thus,
them billionaires.
But are billionaires a political glitch? Are they an indication that the
government failed, in fact, to have a system that ensures that majority of
the income goes to the many?

Leaders have started to notice. Sanders is proposing to tax the superrich

at rates as high as 8 percent for wealth over $10 billion, while Sen.
Elizabeth Warren wants to levy a 2-percent tax on wealth above $50
million and 3 percent on wealth above $1 billion. In the United
Kingdom, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn vows to run after those
who have enriched themselves by exploiting a “rigged system.” Britons
share his views, according to recent surveys results. They believe that
having more billionaires prove that “society is getting worse” and that
there should be “no billionaire under any circumstances.”

In our country, President Duterte has publicly expressed outrage over

“oligarchs“ for various reasons, such as billions in unpaid taxes and
alleged economic sabotage. Early this month, he ranted that he would
show Filipinos how to “slap millionaires and billionaires.”

The anti-billionaire sentiment is understandable and may have its merits.

No one should get rich, let alone mind-bogglingly rich, at the expense of
others. As Grace Blakeley wrote for The New Statesman, billionaires
don’t create wealth, they extract them. These capitalists take over
valuable and scarce resources, then overcharge those who use them.
Those who have accumulated wealth by exploitation or through
government loopholes rightly deserve the ire of society.

The government, for its part, should be more conscientious not only
about creating wealth, but more importantly, also ensuring that it ends
up being distributed equitably—that many more share in its benefits.
When certain firms are granted virtual monopolies over resources or its
owners become cronies of the powers that be, the situation creates an
enormous opportunity for abnormal wealth creation. Add to that labor
and tax policies that shift resources to a privileged few. In a fair world,
markets should be engineered or structured not to lean toward a select
segment of the population.

But while it is easy to blame the system and/or the politicians behind it,
we’ve also contributed much to creating these billionaires. We’ve
purchased their products, patronized their businesses and depended on
their services. Our consumerism is the lubricant that gets the wheel
turning for them.