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The Jet Set Lifestyles of The Planet's Billionaires Exposed [1]

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Date: 2023-11-21  

We have a cult of wealth in America. We wax lyrical about the things billionaires do -even if just 12 of them pollute more than 2m households -, we are fascinated by what they think, we look to them as political leaders and intellectual gurus -even when they don’t know what they’re talking about-, and we view their interventions in society’s problem as a mark of their goodness, whereas, we should see it as a mark of deep societal problems. Billionaire philanthropy is often touted as a sign of how our plutocrats are becoming more socially responsible. Yet, this perspective masks the degree to which such philanthropy is a sign of a failing society. This is a particularly American failing. Other countries have billionaires, but society doesn’t expect them to be philanthropic, nor does it extol their giving, and that’s a good thing.

Let’s start in Europe. Bernard Arnault, the owner and CEO of French luxury goods brand, LVMH, is the second richest person in the world, with a fortune of $211 billion. Most Americans have never heard of Arnault, and most French people, never hear from him. He is a sphynx, invisible, as are Europe’s billionaires. There’s no website on his favorite books, there are no appearances on reality TV, he doesn’t express his political views and back any particular candidate, and for the French, this is exactly as it should be. We know far more about American billionaires because American society is geared toward a cult of the rich. We assume that being rich means that a person is smart, a source of wisdom, a potential political leader, and a source of social change. We want to know what books Jeff Bezos is reading, what Mark Zuckerberg’s daily routine is like, what Elon Musk thinks about Israel-Palestine, what Bill Gates thinks about climate change, and, as Donald Trump’s election shows, we are ready to vote for a person largely because we think that being a billionaire makes a person fit for office. Billionaires not only fascinate us, we look up to them. We are eager to praise them when they do good.

A study by French magazine, Challenges , found that French billionaires are far less charitable than their American counterparts. Why is this? The reason is quite simply: in America, when we see a poor person, we assume that they did something wrong, whereas in France, and other European nations, the assumption is that the state is at fault, has let that person down. So, society expects the state to solve societal problems, whereas in America, we leave societal problems to the private sector, and in doing so, we center billionaires in solutions. So, there are no French equivalents to the fellowships, and grants, and initiatives, and hospitals-named-after billionaires, and all the other things that are common to America. It is the state that ensures universal healthcare, the state that steps in to improve education outcomes, it is the state that leads climate change initiatives, and in France and Europe as a whole, living standards are far higher than in America. In the last “Human Development Report” , the United States ranked 21st in the world for living standards, and according to Numbeo’s crowd-sourced ranking , America is 16th. The reason is obvious: you cannot build a society on the philanthropy of billionaires, but we have attempted to build a society where the state invests the minimum it can into society. There is a problem when a billionaire’s philanthropy is needed to see more funding go into healthcare, or education, rather than praising billionaires, we should be horrified.

The other thing is, America’s tax policy is so kind to billionaires that they can, like Buffett, legitimately say that they are under-taxed. We have a ridiculously pro-rich tax policy. Here's an example: a billionaire likely has the majority of their wealth tied to assets, but our tax policy targets income. if a billionaire doesn’t sell part of their assets, they won’t pay any tax, and if they sell at a loss, they will get tax relief. So, practically, billionaires can get away with paying very little in taxes, because their income is small in relation to their wealth. Billionaires also have access to so many tools to drive down their tax rate, so that it is quite possible for a billionaire to go years without paying taxes. This is very different from the European model, where the ultra-wealthy pay far higher tax rates. In such a society, billionaires give the way everyone does, by paying their taxes, so their generosity is not needed, there is no need to appeal to their good sense to solve some of society’s problems.

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