In Defense of Billionaires

Early in my career Michael Swaine offered me one of my first writing assignments along with a great deal of encouragement. He didn’t have to do that, and I owe him a debt of gratitude. We disagree politically; sometimes we deeply offend each other. And yet we remain friends. Today I see he reposted this on Facebook.

This resentment against people doing well reminds me of an old quote from Bernard Meltzer. Meltzer suggested before we speak, we should ask ourselves these four questions:

• Is it true?
• Is it necessary?
• Is it kind?
• Is it helpful?

Let’s examine the angst against billionaires guided by these questions, most importantly and focusing on “is it true.”

Did the billionaires “earn” it?

When Amazon crossed over into a market value of one trillion dollars, Jeff Bezos was worth one hundred and sixty billion.

It seems like a lot, but it is sixteen percent of the value he created. That happens to be exactly what a sports agent gets — sixteen percent. And while a few do try themselves, most of the athletes of the past two generations have used sports agents. After all, 16% less of twice as much is still more than you started with.