I’ve heard people say about rich people, “They couldn’t have gotten where they are without the masses buying their products — if we hadn’t bought what they were selling, they wouldn’t be rich.” This is followed by some assertion that the rich person owes society something in return.
But here’s the problem with that. That rich person already gave us something — they made us wealthier by providing a great product or service. Millions of people have been made wealthier by using Amazon. Millions have been made wealthier by using Apple and Microsoft and Google and Facebook products. Millions have been made wealthier by shopping at Walmart. The list goes on and on.
In the end, if you added up all the wealth that’s been created on the consumer side of the equation by companies who have multimillionaire or multibillionaire CEOs, you’d probably find that “wealth inequality” is a total misnomer. These individuals society so readily vilifies have not only made themselves incredibly wealthy, but they’ve made us wealthy as well.
Well said!