(WANTED: A few brave billionaires to change the world)
I agree with Bernie Sanders that billionaires, as a concept, shouldn’t exist. Anybody who is comfortable possessing that much money in a world of such perverse wealth disparity and unmet basic human need honestly must have something wrong with them.
It also says something about a society that allows such an obscenity to flourish in the first place. Shouldn’t we know better by now? Shouldn’t we be better people? Such a hyper-concentration of wealth is so wrong on so many different levels. If billionaires can’t conceive of useful ways to divest themselves of their excesses, then perhaps a just government ought to step in to help them.
I can’t even imagine having the arrogance required to personally hoard such a fortune. If Laurene Jobs (whose most notable accomplishment was being married to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs?) just up and for no reason gifted me her $100 million yacht, I honestly wouldn’t take it. What would I do with it? I’d be embarrassed to even step onboard. It’s just so uncool, so tone deaf. In so many ways!
What could any normal person expect to do with such an over-the-top, unnecessary asset? Immediately sell it (?) would be one obvious solution… Except then, some other freak job would simply buy it up and float around in it just as ostentatiously and ridiculously as Laurene Jobs (or KSM, the notorious Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who could very likely be occupying the very next slip)… So in the end, what good would that really do? Unfortunately, it wouldn’t reduce the number of assholes in the world. If only!
Now, the Forbes Magazine-type people would say that building her yacht created good jobs (pardon the pun). True that, but many more could be employed rebuilding the vast, crumbling infrastructure in our country—if it weren’t the case that so many necessary projects aren’t being funded because of the lack of taxes that the billionaires are able to avoid paying, thanks to the corrupted system that their out-of-proportion power has bought and gamed to their personal advantage. No, such a shameful piece of ship like that should never have been built in the first place.
I wonder what is amiss in the thinking of billionaires and of those who admire them? Could it be as simple as that they’re on the wrong side of the hierarchical vs. egalitarian dichotomy?
The typical thinking of many “haves” (and aspiring “haves”) in modern society is that there is a hierarchy of wealth and opportunity based on what an individual earns, and therefore deserves. Of course, it isn’t important to anyone how exactly that wealth was stockpiled. If he or she has it, it’s just assumed to be theirs, right? And so they can do with it whatever they wish, no questions asked, and without regard to anyone else. No matter the actual costs to society or to the environment, of course. Or to their own souls, in that it’s all “a chasing after the wind” truth be told. Will people ever learn?
The “egalitarian” outlook couldn’t be more different. It’s the notion that we’re all in this “boat” together, and we therefore either live well—or we sink—together. And knowing this, we make decisions in our everyday work and lives that will prosper and benefit the greater good. At its core, it’s the Golden Rule. The example of the servant-king. The call to love your neighbor. A foreshadowing of the new heaven and new earth. It’s so abundantly clear to those who’ll see.
And so with that in mind, wouldn’t it be amazing to witness even one billionaire evolve from a hierarchical orientation (where life is but a game and the purpose of the game is to win – and, of course, to hoard the winnings and “lord it” over everyone else) …to an egalitarian mindset (where it is understood that unless we all win, then in some sense we all lose)… And then he or she will no longer have this twisted, singular fixation on creating profit for profit’s sake, but rather in ushering in a new and better world. An inspired world. A far wealthier world, indeed.
Imagine, for example, if real estate vulture Dan Gilbert dedicated $1 billion (just 1/7th of his personal stash) to a new business model… so that, instead of buying up old fire sale buildings in Detroit, kicking out the tenants, sprucing up the buildings (using taxpayer-funded subsidies to fund and back his projects, of course), and then re-renting them at much higher prices to much wealthier individuals and businesses (I mean, that’s essentially your model, right, Dan?) for no other reason than to simply make more and more money…
What if instead of properties, Dan, you invested in people and ideas that add value to Detroit? What if you sought out business plans and thought to empower thousands of innovative people, maybe going in 51-49 with them, mentoring them, and making the city into one giant field of dreams? There would still be real estate involved, and you’d be in a powerful position to help negotiate with banks and businesses for the most favorable interest rates, etc., for these ventures. In this way, Dan, you could spread around substantial entrepreneurial money in the community and together build an organically-conceived future (one that, whether you believe this or not, you are absolutely incapable of thinking up entirely on your own) that empowers whole communities, and not just makes you more money.
Who even knows what people would come up with that would just blow your mind? Little dreams, big dreams, blown-out freaking amazing Technicolor dreams! And there’d likely be some serious intellectual property created along the way. Talk about changing the landscape in Detroit! I imagine skyway trams and multicolored city buses, with surrounding neighborhoods all competing to be the most unique, with music playing on every corner of the city, and so much excitement in the air… It would be Motown like no town ever before.
I’m probably just dreaming to think that this scenario could ever play out. But ask yourself, what is the key difference between the fictional towns of Bedford Falls and Pottersville in the film, It’s a Wonderful Life. They’re exactly the same people and buildings on the surface, but one has imaginative, egalitarian-minded leadership, while the other is “hierarchical” in nature and informed only by the raw desire to make a profit at everyone else’s expense. Yes, it’s a fictional story. But then again.. is it really??
If Dan Gilbert would ever wake up from his hierarchical mindset and actually decide to do this, he’d not only up his business game geometrically; his name would live on into the future as one of Detroit’s greatest businessmen ever. And beyond that, he would be a disruptive trend setter, thumbing his nose at the typical, limited materialistic ways of looking at the world. He would be beloved like he can’t even imagine, and an inspiration to the other plutocrats out there, showing them all how to do this thing called life right.
But assuming things stay as they are, Dan’s obit will just as likely be straightforward and unmemorable. Based on the other wealthy capitalists who have preceded him, it might sadly all be boiled down to just a couple of paragraphs; his lasting legacy no greater than how much money he passed along to his kids. Period. And we know what second-generation wealth is good for: i.e., NOT MUCH. All you have to do is look at the Ford’s, or the Ilitch’s, or the De Vos’s. Or the Trump’s! How many second generations have been shown to be worth hoarding money from everyone else for? Think hard about this, Dan. Yes, of course your family is the center of your world, but… they don’t need your billions of dollars. You didn’t.
Anyway, Dan Gilbert aside, this is the essence of “What I Do With My Money”– an idea I’d like to develop someday into a Primetime TV show that focuses on “reformed billionaires” — who have seen the light — and choose to demonstrate the kind of enlightened and visionary leadership that this world so desperately needs today. Before the fall of this modern-day Rome. Before the masses rise up with their torches and chains. Before the biosphere is sacrificed on the altar of fanatical capitalism and self-absorbed absurdity. Before this life is over. Wake up, guys! You can’t take it with you!!
So… Is there a billionaire out there who wants to volunteer for my new show? To rise above and lead the way forward? It’s perhaps the biggest opportunity you will ever have, truth be told, because YOU can be the first. Yo, Dan? You listening? What about you, Jeff? Uh, Mike? Laurene? Bill? Beyoncé? Your destiny is calling! You can bet that world history will be watching.
