Rich people aren’t evil

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

I sometimes hear people complain about “those rich people” or “the financial elite”.

A good manager has undeniable value and a talent to run his business project. He or she should get as much power and personal wealth as others agree to give to him or her. They just do their job. Their job is to maximize the profit of the business. Preventing a good manager from using their talent and power would mean to cut one of the branches we are sitting on. Managers are not evil.

Okay, let’s talk about those really powerful individual humans who are both owner and manager of a big business. They are like ancient-time kings, emperors or dictators. They carry huge responsibilities on their shoulders. Many humans may rely and depend on them, for example because they made long-term choices related to a job in that company. A really powerful person may do really big mistakes. So what? Would you have done it better if you had been in their place? Who would do their job if you fire them? We won’t save the world by distributing the power over it equally among all humans. Our problem is not that some humans are successful in accumulating personal power. Our problem is that we allow power accumulation even to non-humans. Our problem are the greedy giants.

If there is something to learn from the Corona pandemic, I suggest a revolution in our legal systems: let us decide that private capital corporations must convert into foundations when their size exceeds a given limit! Let the good managers use their talent to work for the public interest, not for increase those of a wealthy minority. Let us abolish the greedy giants! Let us remove the legal base by which we created them!

Yes –you will have guessed it– this is part of How to save the world.