Billionaires: the good, the bad and the mean

The self made Warren Buffet may see himself now as one of the many who get overpaid for their talents and efforts saying "I don't believe in dynastic wealth"… those who grow up in wealthy circumstances are … "members of the lucky sperm club" Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy, the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents. 

There are shadows cast over how these high flyers  made there millions. Buffett’s investments involving coal, tobacco, real estate and Gates, investments in the company with poor human rights; Monsanto

During the RJR Nabisco, Inc. hostile takeover fight in 1987, Buffett was quoted as telling John Gutfreund, I'll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It's addictive. And there's fantastic brand loyalty - Buffett, quoted in Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. Buffet is also said to have disowned his adopted granddaughter. She appeared in a documentary on the rich poor gap, revealing her experiences as his granddaughter, saying he did not legally or emotionally adopt her nor did the extended family.

 So should we expect and accept the flaws of this new version of the modern hero: the benign imperfect billionaire? Does it even matter. We are all asked to donate to charities after disasters such as bushfires or floods. Many of us, of even modest means, give with passion and generosity. Mostly this is driven by compassion and a sense of what it might feel like if it happened to us. Don’t many of us in the OECD  live mixed lives of advantage and a token level of care for the poor?

However in a world where capital is all, those who rise to the top of the heap may become de-facto monarchs who are able to bestow and confer or refuse and purloin at will, like Global Lords of the Manor.

Without wishing to detract from the significance of the contributions of The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, we should remember that  the rich and privileged do not always use wealth to promote the common good.

Occupy Wall Street with its slogan, we are the 99 per cent, [as opposed to the 1 per cent who control the wealth], was a protest that emerged strongly after the Global Financial Crisis  and the subsequent bailout of the big banks. It was mocked and derided by some as having no articulated goals, direction or cohesion. But it raised an important issue: the inordinate power of the few to buy and control governments resources and the destiny of the multitudes. It became a worldwide protest.

Globally, the gap between the privileged few and the majority of the poor is widening.

The World Economic Forum identifies growing inequity as one of the greatest risks to global stability in its Global Risks Report of 2013. Extreme wealth is societally corrosive argues OXFAM  in its pre briefing report at Davos. The reports stated that super wealth  is economically inefficient and politically divisive. There is growing consensus that it is not just poverty that needs to be addressed but inequality. These are not the same. The more that wealth resides with the few, the more inequity grows, and therefore poverty becomes entrenched.

The abiding irony remains. Many love our billionaires because they are seen as standing for what we all might achieve, especially the self made kind. The reverse is actually true.

The so called filthy rich take the lions’ share collectively leaving the majority to scrounge amongst the leavings or to depend on the whim of the largesse of the privileged.

The Republicans in America and Conservatives  in Australia fear and loath the remedy. This would require the higher taxing of the wealthy seen as the curtailing of the power of individuals. Enshrined is a philosophy of their own simplistic brand of karma. If you work you deserve all the spoils of your efforts even if these are excessive. If you are poor low waged, disadvantaged or unemployed you have brought this upon yourself. According to shadow treasurer Joe Hockey you are unentitled.  

 We saw a former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd seek to impose an effective tax on big mining  that was vehemently opposed . It is not too far a stretch to say that big coal had a hand in his fall. The mining Industry spent 22 million in a 6 week campaign to oppose the planned resource super profits mining tax.

 It is the big investors in the status quo that are driving us to disaster while reassuring us of our future prosperity. The few still control the resources that belong to the many and to which they are not entitled.