> For every Charlie Munger there are tons of working poor that get up everyday
Not tons. Millions. If not hundreds of millions.
Not tons. Millions. If not hundreds of millions.
But let’s debate the merits of yet another billionaire lecturing everyone about the merits of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and not being a victim.
Hard work doesn’t make billionaires. Systems that accelerate privileged positions and concentrate wealth to the top do. And that’s not necessarily bad. But it’s generally bad when it’s this extreme.
That said I wish his family well and am sorry for his passing. He was always a gentleman and kind to the core.
> Hard work doesn’t make billionaires. Systems that accelerate privileged positions and concentrate wealth to the top do.
¿Por qué no los dos? Jeff Bezos worked pretty hard to end up where he is now.
You’re severely underestimating how much a billion dollars is if you really think this is true.
The wealth of an average HNer is much more comparable to the average American than to the wealth of billionaires.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35567986
But of course the truth is it’s a 42 year old (avg) man (91%) that makes $88,716 per year so you’re NOT wrong.
But the idea that Jeff Bezos got where he is because of hard work is inverted. Many work hard, few become billionaires. So what is wrong with the argument of los dos?
This: it may be true that hard work is generally a prerequisite for becoming a billionaire, it is a correlation and not causative effect. The cause of billionaires is wealth concentration itself and a system of overly generous tax advantage for equity owners. That is why the majority of billionaires have sprung from finance and investments — highly leveraged paper wealth from paper products — and not from the likes of Amazon.
I subscribe to the idea that billionaires are a product of the tax system and not the result of some kind of superhuman top-of-heap exceptional personal merit.