Self Made Billionaire: Myth or Reality?

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, absolutely. However is there anyone else in the 200 richest people in the UK that have had more of a contribution to their wealth (she has ~£820 million, making her the 196th richest person in the UK)? My position is that no one is self made, but the megastars of media have contributed more directly that the oligarchs of industry and finance.

Well she may not be a billionaire. I suppose pounds are worth more so in US dollars she might scrape in.

Still I used Lucas as an example and JK Rowling might be another. They're low on the scale of Billionaires.

Love or hate them they created something artistically so yeah it's about as ethical as a billionaire can get.

 

[Sommerswerd]

They shouldn't exist, so I don't really care how they did it. Wealth hoarding requires excessive exploitation, inherently, and whether they did it through inheritance or their own inclinations toward increasing suffering is irrelevant.

There are two scenes that stick out in my mind related to this subject. One is a scene in Margin Call, where the head stockbroker, played by Jeremy Irons is having a post-mortem, straight-talk conversation with the head lieutenant stockbroker, played by Kevin Spacey, about the economic meltdown that they have just "started", because they realized before everyone else that the world's economy was a house of cards on the brink of imminent collapse and so they sold everything before it was too late and started the panic on Wall Street. Irons' character essentially scoffs at the coming doom and misery, as he is eating his fancy steak or whatever in his fancy restaurant at the top of the fancy building, distancing himself from any responsibility, declaring essentially that the booms and busts are inevitable, winners and losers are inevitable and money "is all made up" anyway. More or less "I got mine so eff everybody else. I rulz everyone else drulz". A pretty chilling scene.

Spoiler Margin Call :

The other scene is from The Big Short. Brad Pitt's character scolds his two younger partners for dancing and jubilating on the short sell they just capitalized on for huge potential earnings. He points out that what they are essentially celebrating is necessarily connected to the misery, suffering and ultimately the deaths of other people. "Every 1% increase in unemployment results in 40,000 deaths" is the sobering line.

Spoiler The Big Short - NSFW - bad words :

 

[Narz]

Hardly, the bulk of her profits come from movie licensing, the financial success of which is obviously due to the hard work of many, many more people than just the stories she wrote.

If the stories didn't resonate w people no one would be making movies of them.

She had to put the initial work in.

Should you not get a paycheck cause you drove to work in a car someone else made?

 

[Narz]

They’re almost all self made, to the extent that phrase has meaning.

Mostly agree.

They all played the game and won. Obviously they all had advantages but you still have to be good to win that big.

Like playing in the NBA it helps to be tall, naturally athletic and have your talents nurtured since you were little but you still have to work damn hard.

 

[Gorbles]

She had to put the initial work in.

And?

Are you arguing that everybody else didn't? That everybody's pay was magically commensurate to the effort and quality they put in? If so, I have a bridge to sell you. Or whatever factory whose workers churn out the merchandise for pennies. Your choice.

 

[Narz]

And?

? Harry Potter was her invention so she gets credit.

Are you arguing that everybody else didn't?

It's her story. Everyone else should be thanking her that they got to piggyback off her story.

That everybody's pay was magically commensurate to the effort and quality they put in?

Magic? Wut?

She had a brand and others capitalized on it and you're portraying them as victims somehow? She made many people very rich and probably got that kid who played Harry alot of sex.

If so, I have a bridge to sell you. Or whatever factory whose workers churn out the merchandise for pennies. Your choice.

Somehow JK is not responsible for her story but is responsible for the working conditions of someone making a Slytherin t-shirt in Vietnam? Surely you're jk?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

jk Rowling; Michael Jordan

There are elements of Harry Potter that were ripped off from fantasy author Ursula K. LeGuin, who was not impressed at all that Rowling has never had the integrity to at least say she was inspired by LeGuin's stories.

Kinda like the many elements of Star Wars that were ripped off from Dune, and (to my knowledge), George Lucas has never had the integrity to admit it.

She had a brand and others capitalized on it and you're portraying them as victims somehow? She made many people very rich and probably got that kid who played Harry alot of sex.

Whut?

 

[Narz]

There are elements of Harry Potter that were ripped off from fantasy author Ursula K. LeGuin

There's nothing new under the sun.

Everything good is also accused of being derivative.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There's nothing new under the sun.

Everything good is also accused of being derivative.

In this case, LeGuin herself went public. In the case of Star Wars/Dune, Frank Herbert went public. He could have sued, but opted not to.

 

[amadeus]

Getting more abstract, nobody is 100% self-made because we all benefit from the work of our forebearers.

I really don’t know what to make of it, anyway. Facebook is worth more than General Motors? I mean, one makes six million cars a year. The other is a bulletin board telling me why I should take ivermectin. Seems like lunacy to me.

 

[Narz]

I really don’t know what to make of it, anyway. Facebook is worth more than General Motors? I mean, one makes six million cars a year. The other is a bulletin board telling me why I should take ivermectin. Seems like lunacy to me.

I'm too lazy to look it up but I'd imagine the money made by and thru FB dwarfs GM by at least 100 fold.

 

[Sommerswerd]

There's nothing new under the sun. Everything good is also accused of being derivative.

Everything is derivative. All that matters is how derivative it is, specifically whether you can either prove in Court that they should have to pay you for copying, or get them to pay you to settle with them before you have to prove it in Court.

 

[Gorbles]

? Harry Potter was her invention so she gets credit.

Wasn't arguing that she deserved no credit.

She had a brand and others capitalized on it and you're portraying them as victims somehow?

Wasn't calling them victims, no.

Somehow JK is not responsible for her story

Again, not what I was arguing.

If you want to argue with a version of me you have in your head, that's entirely your choice. Likewise, if you don't understand what I'm getting at, misinterpreting everything I say in the most hostile way possible is also your choice. I ain't fussed with engaging in either case.

 

[Zardnaar]

JK Rowling is very low on the billionaire poll.

I'm kind of fine with entertainment billionaires I suppose.

 

[El_Machinae]

Okay:

I collected aluminum cans along the highway until I could buy a lottery ticket.

I didn't have a coffee that day so that I could afford said lottery ticket, which I then bought.

I won ten million dollars, tax-free because in Canada.

I purchased $9.5 million of crypto (average cost: $70) and then I cashed out at (average) $33,000, consistently beating trends with active trading. Paid my taxes.

Meanwhile, I only posted about how dumb and stupid crypto was.

Am I a self-made billionaire?

 

[Hygro]

Yes though “made” is now the stretched word. Maybe self directed.

Edit no the more I think about it the more the answer is just yes.

 

[warpus]

I'm a self-made hundredaire AMA

 

[Angst]

They exist. But they're not statistically relevant when appealing to them as a posibility when pushing politics.

 

[Zardnaar]

Okay:

I collected aluminum cans along the highway until I could buy a lottery ticket.

I didn't have a coffee that day so that I could afford said lottery ticket, which I then bought.

I won ten million dollars, tax-free because in Canada.

I purchased $9.5 million of crypto (average cost: $70) and then I cashed out at (average) $33,000, consistently beating trends with active trading. Paid my taxes.

Meanwhile, I only posted about how dumb and stupid crypto was.

Am I a self-made billionaire?

Yes. It's stupid but yeah you are and I suppose it's even ethical or ethical enough.

 

[El_Machinae]

Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out the minimum threshold or if for some people the term is entirely mythical.
There is no amount of cornu cutaneum that makes a horse into a unicorn