[Rebuff5007]

Every conversation about the existence of billionaires misses the point: Its not about whether or not billionaires should exist. Its about whether they should exist at the same moment in time when there are people cannot get healthcare or have a decent roof over their head, or a number of other basic things.

[paulcole]

I think this misses the point as well.

If we eliminated billionaires would everyone have healthcare, a decent roof over their head, and other basic things?

I generally believe that to not be the case. The government misspends (to an extent) the money it has now. So the solution is to give them more money to misspend?

[harimau777]

The billionaires themselves cause massive harm on society due to the extreme power that wealth inequality gives them. So getting rid of billionaires, even if their money wasn't actually used for anything useful, would still be a win for society.

[paulcole]

So if Jeff Bezos (and every other billionaire) was worth $999,999,999, then the world is much better off?

You’re going to have to explain the logic of that to me.

Do you disagree that (many, perhaps not all) billionaires also create a massive amount of value for society? Would Jeff Bezos be a billionaire if Amazon was a net drain on society?

Jeff Bezos being incredibly rich doesn’t make my life worse. In fact, Amazon makes my life better. I’ve had jobs that existed because Amazon existed. I’ve had things I wanted to buy delivered very quickly. I read my Kindle for hundreds of hours a year.