And yet I think the only one who’s actually happy is probably Buffet. Most of them are so hated by everyone and clearly have mental, emotional or social problems.
Especially Musk, I don’t think you can pay me his net worth to convince me to be him (although all the better since I’m also rather attached to my head and I’d rather not lose it).
Warren Buffet is the closest thing there is to a “good” billionaire. He made his money through responsible investing (investing in stocks based on the quality of the company and product rather than demanding short-term profit at the expense of future sustainability like the rest of the market), openly campaigns for higher taxes on the wealthy, pays his employees a generous wage, and was one of the first to join Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge and the only billionaire I know of to immediately follow through and donate away huge swaths of his fortune, while the other Pledges only gave vague promises to donate a portion of their wealth to charity at some point before they die.
He’s not perfect, but if more wealthy people were like him the world would be a much better place.
I don’t think there’s enough information about Gabe Newell to make a solid determination of morality. His company makes a good product - one that focuses on maximizing the quality of the user experience instead of extracting every cent it can. That’s rare and admirable, but Valve also ushered in the era of loot crates with TF2 and CS and designed some of the most predatory forms of that model.
Regarding Gabe himself, if he makes large donations to charity he doesn’t advertise that fact. But he’s a private person, so it’s possible he’s a major philanthropist but keeps it anonymous. He seemingly lacks the obvious vices of other billionaires (he doesn’t interfere in politics or commit sex crimes) and hasn’t been caught in any scandals. The worst thing he’s done that I’m aware of is that time Valve gave a fake job offer to the Half-Life 2 leaker in hopes of getting him into the country so the feds could grab him.
He also doesn’t seem to do much with his money. His main hobby is collecting knives, something he could have done with a fraction of a fraction of a percent of his wealth. He does own a fleet of yachts, but he demands they be as environmentally friendly as possible and leases them out for ecological research when he’s not using them.
I’d personally rate him as neutral. He’s not doing anything to make the world worse, but he’s not really doing much to improve it either. The bar is just so low for billionaires that he seems amazing in comparison.
That’s definitely true, but from what I’ve heard, he pays his employees VERY well. Most, if not all are millionaires i believe. But yeah, the yacht thing wigs me out. There are people (probably not his employees) who are living pay day to pay day, often below that, and he buys a $500M yacht. But yeah, all your points stand true.
And yet I think the only one who’s actually happy is probably Buffet. Most of them are so hated by everyone and clearly have mental, emotional or social problems.
Especially Musk, I don’t think you can pay me his net worth to convince me to be him (although all the better since I’m also rather attached to my head and I’d rather not lose it).
Warren Buffet is the closest thing there is to a “good” billionaire. He made his money through responsible investing (investing in stocks based on the quality of the company and product rather than demanding short-term profit at the expense of future sustainability like the rest of the market), openly campaigns for higher taxes on the wealthy, pays his employees a generous wage, and was one of the first to join Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge and the only billionaire I know of to immediately follow through and donate away huge swaths of his fortune, while the other Pledges only gave vague promises to donate a portion of their wealth to charity at some point before they die.
He’s not perfect, but if more wealthy people were like him the world would be a much better place.
if any good billionaires exist, I’d say gaben is almost there. but i hate the mega wealthy, so that’s a bit of a stretch in my mind.
I don’t think there’s enough information about Gabe Newell to make a solid determination of morality. His company makes a good product - one that focuses on maximizing the quality of the user experience instead of extracting every cent it can. That’s rare and admirable, but Valve also ushered in the era of loot crates with TF2 and CS and designed some of the most predatory forms of that model.
Regarding Gabe himself, if he makes large donations to charity he doesn’t advertise that fact. But he’s a private person, so it’s possible he’s a major philanthropist but keeps it anonymous. He seemingly lacks the obvious vices of other billionaires (he doesn’t interfere in politics or commit sex crimes) and hasn’t been caught in any scandals. The worst thing he’s done that I’m aware of is that time Valve gave a fake job offer to the Half-Life 2 leaker in hopes of getting him into the country so the feds could grab him.
He also doesn’t seem to do much with his money. His main hobby is collecting knives, something he could have done with a fraction of a fraction of a percent of his wealth. He does own a fleet of yachts, but he demands they be as environmentally friendly as possible and leases them out for ecological research when he’s not using them.
I’d personally rate him as neutral. He’s not doing anything to make the world worse, but he’s not really doing much to improve it either. The bar is just so low for billionaires that he seems amazing in comparison.
And yachts. Big ones. Ones that make rich people look like peasants.
That’s definitely true, but from what I’ve heard, he pays his employees VERY well. Most, if not all are millionaires i believe. But yeah, the yacht thing wigs me out. There are people (probably not his employees) who are living pay day to pay day, often below that, and he buys a $500M yacht. But yeah, all your points stand true.