By Steve Levy
The latest Marxist rant from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Astoria), which is gaining traction among America’s progressive youth, is that billionaires cannot possibly earn their money.
She doesn’t back it up with any facts, other than to suggest that she is the economics arbiter who has the skills to determine that there is a certain wage that must be capped, and that anything above this amount is ill-earned.
In fact, she comes straight out and says the only way you can be a billionaire is if you cheated or exploited others.
Of course, when she says “billionaire,” she’s referring to those on the political right. Elon Musk is the progressives’ favorite billionaire villain (but only after he became a Trump supporter. Remember, he was their darling when he was promoting electric vehicles.)
Anyway, it would’ve been really interesting if the podcast interviewer had asked this simple question to AOC. Did Jay-Z and Beyoncé earn their billion dollars or was it a result of them breaking the law or exploiting others? And should they give that money back?
How about LeBron James, Oprah Winfrey or Barbra Streisand? And how about billionaire George Soros, the Democrats’ biggest financier? Should he be arrested for having broken the law and exploited others to get his billions?
As I explained in my book Solutions to America’s Problems, Marxists seem to forget that LeBron James earned his money because he has a commodity that others want.
It’s the same with Taylor Swift or Beyoncé selling their records, or Jeff Bezos delivering all your goods to your doorstep.
The quintessential example I use in my book is that of Steve Jobs, who founded a company in his garage that revolutionized the world and enormously enhanced productivity.
Who cares if Steve Jobs became a billionaire if his invention wound up changing the world so vastly for the better?
We’ve often heard people say that it’s unfair for professional athletes to be able to pocket $20 to $40 million a year.
Did they earn it? Of course they did.
How do we know?
Because the team owners were willing to pay them. The owners are willing to pay because these skilled athletes put fannies in the seats. People who pay admission charges, parking fees and concessions. The bottom line is that paying LeBron James $40 million a year enhances the owners’ profits. If they lost money paying LeBron that amount, they simply wouldn’t pay those sums.
And should we put a cap on the royalties that Beyoncé can make for the sale of her records?
When is enough enough or too much?
Who makes that decision? AOC?
This is the problem with Marxism. It centers on class envy. Actually, it’s more like class warfare.
Punish those who succeed and redistribute the money. We’ve seen that before in Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and other failed societies.
One chapter of my book notes how the view of Asia from outer space shows both North and South Korea, where the north at night is totally in the dark, and the south is lit up like a Christmas tree. That’s because the north has no capital investment or economic vibrancy. The inhabitants are equally poor, as they are in Cuba (except, of course, for the oligarchy).
And, by the way, when progressives like Sanders and AOC talk about oligarchies, that’s what they should be referencing.
Who cares if inventors or highly talented folks get rich if their products or skills are enriching our lives? If what they had to offer wasn’t of value to us, we wouldn’t buy what they were selling. That’s something AOC never came to realize while majoring in economics in college.