Billionaires Should Reform. Instead, They’re Preparing for Apocalypse.
The ultra-wealthy are so worried about an uprising that they feel they must continue to build up cash
Some of the more farsighted tech billionaires are already investing in plan B. Instead of undoing the damage, reforming their companies, or restoring the social compact, they’re busy preparing for the apocalypse.
The CEO of a typical company in 1960 made about 20 times as much as its average worker. Today, CEOs make 271 times the salary of the average worker. Sure, they would like to take less and share with their workers, but they don’t know how to give up their wealth safely. As Thomas Jefferson once described the paradox of wanting to free his slaves but fearing their retribution if he did, it’s like “holding a wolf by the ear.” But why do you think his slaves were so angry in the first place?
Similarly, the perception of inequality is itself the main reason human beings treat one another less charitably. It’s not the total amount of abundance in the system that promotes goodwill, but the sense that whatever is available is being distributed justly. The ultra-wealthy 500 families, who own 80% of the world’s assets, are so worried about the impoverished classes staging an uprising — either now or after a…
