Why I Don’t Trust Most Billionaires

First, let me confess I’ve never met a billionaire, so I have very little to go on, in terms of their nature...absolutely nothing based on personal interaction.  But I have tried to grasp the concept of how much a billion is. I still am not able to fully understand the enormity of that amount.  But what I do understand makes me skeptical of those that are billionaires...because of what I believe about human nature. Billionaires really are in a class beyond my experience and even my imagination, honestly.

The easiest way for me to break down the enormity of a billion is to scale it down to something a bit more understandable. If we’re not careful, we might think a billion is kind of similar to a million...maybe because the words rhyme...and a billion follows a million...so really, how different could they be?  But that is a huge mistake to think of it so simply. However, most of us have at least some concept of how much a million is. So we’ll start there as a reference point. 

Just for fun, or really for context, divide one million by your annual salary. That will tell you how many years you’d have to work to earn a million dollars... not to acquire a million dollars...but just to earn that amount. For reference I’ll use $65,000 as an annual income. A person earning $65,000 annually would need 16 years to earn a million dollars. So, for that person to accumulate a million dollars over a  lifetime, they’d have to do some serious investing, or have other funds available. 

I think most people reading this can identify with a $65,000 annual income, maybe a combined annual income of $130,000. We either remember when we made that amount, or we hope to get there soon, or we know people in that income range. What I’m trying to say is, that’s a fairly reasonable working man’s wage, and identifiable for most of us. Even still...getting to a million is not an easy task. 

Probably the biggest investment most of us makes financially is our home. Again, for the sake of simplicity and an amount I think most of us can identify with, I’ll use a value of $200,000 as an average home value in the US.  We might not be there yet, or maybe it would be a step back for some of us. But again, I believe it’s at least identifiable for most of us. 

So, a couple of numbers for reference points: $65k ($130k if both work), and $200k. 

Now, simply put...a billion is a thousand millions. And that’s a big difference. That means...if it takes us a lifetime to acquire a million dollars, through saving and investing, it would take a thousand of us to get to a billion.

So, to scale things down, let’s pretend a single dollar bill represents a million dollars. Imagine a “million dollar” dollar bill. A billionaire would have a thousand such dollar bills... a thousand of those million dollar dollar bills. You and I? Not even close. That $65k annual income would be 6.5 cents compared to just one of those dollars. That $200k home...20 cents. Many of us work 30 years trying to accomplish home ownership. A drop in the bucket compared to the thousand bills a billionaire holds. 

And if someone has multiple billions then that’s multiple stacks of a thousand one dollar bills. Someone worth 10 billion...10 stacks of a thousand dollar bills. And most of us operate in the realm of 6 or 7 cents per year by comparison. 

I’m not trying to paint a picture of what’s right or what’s wrong...simply what is. 

Of course I love to conjecture when it comes to human nature, especially in regards to human worth. Are we really all equal in God’s eyes? I say yes. Are we all equal in each others’ eyes. I say...most probably not. 

People with the multiple stacks of a thousand dollar bills aren’t going to be very concerned about you as an individual. Unless they have a humanitarian streak in their nature, their interest in us will be but a human capital interest...not so you can get your 6.5 cents...but so they can get another stack of bills. That’s how they got there...by dealing to acquire more, not by being benevolent. Their stakes are higher, and as such, they play by different rules than most of us ever imagine. 

So, I admit, these thoughts go through my mind when I hear discussions on who is essential or who is expendable or even sacrificial. I’m not saying wealth is evil. But I’m suggesting that human nature, much like an appetite, can be bent on acquiring more and more, with less and less regard for the individuals that helped get them there.

So, the first link shows an individual wealth tracker over the last 20 years. I couldn’t look away. I love those trackers. 

And something I tend to trust less than people ...corporations ...especially if corporations receive huge bailouts and still lay-off their employees. The 2nd link shows a value tracker of the world’s most valuable companies.

Wealthiest People in the World Tracker
Most Valuable Companies in the World Tracker