Cryptizard t1_j24m0x0 wrote on December 29, 2022 at 4:59 PM

I think you are confused about what it means to be an ultra-rich billionaire. They are not sitting on billions of dollars of cash and just choosing not to use it to help people. They are “worth” billions of dollars because they own companies that are worth that much. The companies are doing things that are valuable to society, which is why they are worth that money in the first place.

Yes, Elon Musk could try to liquidate Tesla and use that money to feed the poor or whatever, but then nobody is making electric cars, thousands of employees are fired and lose their income/health insurance, research on battery tech stops, etc. It’s not clear this is even a net benefit.

commandersprocket t1_j24zui4 wrote on December 29, 2022 at 6:27 PM

While this is true for Musk (who has started a list of innovative companies) it is not true of most ultra-rich billionaires. The top 20 list (the top 20 of the Fortune 400) is the Mars, Walton, and Koch families (all inherited wealth, all funding reactionary political agenda), Serge Brin and Larry Page (no longer with Google), Bill Gates (no longer with Microsoft), Larry Ellison, Phil Night (no longer with Nike), Micheal Dell, Micheal Bloomberg, Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos and ex-wife Mackenzie Scott and Warren Buffet. As a group, they ARE 100% "sitting on billions of cash" (most have largely divested of their initial companies) and choosing not to use it to help people (with the notable exception of Mackenzie Scott). Musk via SpaceX/Tesla/Boring company/Neuralink IS the only one creating additional value to society...the rest are just milking their wealth via financial advisors and buying yachts/mansions/sports teams/congresspeople to show other wealthy people how wealthy/power they have.

Cryptizard t1_j251li2 wrote on December 29, 2022 at 6:38 PM

Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Michael Bloomburg and Warren Buffet have pledged to (and already started) give all their money away. Bill Gates has almost single-handedly eradicated polio around the world.

Anyway, none of these people are holding onto cash. They have investments in other companies, which if they just liquidated would, again, cause a lot of damage to those companies, their employees and the other investors. Those companies are doing something helpful to society or else they wouldn't be making money.