Comrade Zohran Mamdani, the meshugganah Marxist running for mayor of New York, said recently: “I don’t think we should have billionaires, because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality.”
If we don’t need billionaires, why do we need millionaires in a moment of such inequality? Why should anyone earn more than, say, two or three times the average national income?
Commissar Mamdani may be forgiven if he speaks from a position of profound ignorance. Between graduating from Bowdoin College with a degree in African studies in 2014 and entering the New York State Assembly in 2020, he worked as an organizer for left-wing causes, ran campaigns even loonier than his own and failed as a rap musician – invaluable experience for learning how the world doesn’t work.
Socialism has its greatest appeal for those least grounded in reality. In a 2021 survey, 32% of college students had a favorable view of socialism, while only 24% viewed capitalism favorably.
Karl Marx never set foot on a factory floor. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s last job before entering Congress was tending bar. It’s been 34 years since Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont had a real – i.e., private sector – job.
Sanders insists: “We cannot afford to continue this level of income and wealth inequality, and we cannot afford a billionaire class whose greed and corruption have been at war with the working families of this country for 45 years.”
Why 45 years? That goes back to the Reagan-era tax cuts. For Democrats, tax cuts are always for billionaires.
The Democratic Socialists of America has issued a call to “redistribute wealth from the billionaires who horde it to the workers who made it.”
Billionaires don’t hoard wealth. They invest it. They create businesses, shareholder profits and jobs. American industry was built in the 19th century by men who came from humble beginnings.
Andrew Carnegie came here a penniless immigrant from Scotland. He created the modern American steel industry, became one of the wealthiest men in the country and spent the last 18 years of his life giving away almost 90% of his fortune, building libraries and endowing cultural, scientific and educational institutions.
John D. Rockefeller started as a bookkeeper. At one time, he controlled 90% of the nation’s oil production. He spent his retirement years pioneering targeted philanthropy through the Rockefeller Foundation.
Today, America’s most famous billionaires – household names such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates – made their fortunes meeting consumer demand through companies such as Tesla, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon.
No one is forced to buy from Amazon. They do because its prices are competitive, its inventory is extensive, and its service is unparalleled.
The Heritage Foundation found that nine of the 10 richest men in America made their fortunes through the companies they organized.
They didn’t hoard. They invested, innovated and answered consumer demand.
A good description of how capitalism works is Humphrey Bogart’s speech in the 1954 movie “Sabrina.” When his brother asks him what’s the point of starting a business – is it money, power? – Bogie replies: “A new product has been found, something of use to the world. A new industry moves into an undeveloped area. Factories go up, machines go in and you’re in business. It’s coincidental that people who’ve never seen a dime now have a dollar and barefooted kids wear shoes and have their faces washed. What’s wrong with an urge that gives people libraries, hospitals, baseball diamonds and movies on a Saturday night?”
There are no billionaires in North Korea, Venezuela or Cuba. There was none in the Soviet Union, China before economic reform, East Germany or communist Poland. Everything was owned by the state, and all economic activity was directed by bureaucrats.
These societies were distinguished by misery. People looked drab. They spent hours in bread lines. They had gray little jobs. Russian workers used to say, “We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us.”
In politics, envy no longer works. In a 2024 Harris poll, 54% of respondents, including 44% of Democrats, said there should not be a limit on the amount of wealth someone can accumulate.
I’ll never be rich. I’m not a risk-taker. I don’t have the vision, drive or organizational skills needed to run a successful business. But I live a hell of a lot better because there are people who can do what I can’t.
If someone wants to start a Billionaires Appreciation Day, I’m in.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.