“We cannot afford a billionaire class whose greed and corruption have been at war with the working families of this country for 45 years,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) once said. But when you consider the vital economic activities funded by billionaires, it becomes clear that it’s a society without billionaires that we can’t afford.
Not all Americans are rich. But all of them are more prosperous because they live in a society where great entrepreneurs can attain great wealth through their vision, innovation, and industriousness.
A typical American living in the mid-1800s couldn’t have imagined the amount of wealth and prosperity Americans would enjoy in the 20th century, let alone today. Simple appliances and conveniences that modern middle-class Americans take for granted didn’t exist. The innovators who were most instrumental in inventing and commercializing revolutionary new products became very wealthy, but they improved other Americans’ lives in the process. Their wealth reflected the value their work brought to the lives of millions of people.
People in the mid-1800s lit their homes with candles or oil lamps. They couldn’t flip on a light switch or plug in an electric appliance. They cooked meals with a wood or coal stove or over an open flame. They relied on animal power for transportation and agriculture. They had no refrigerators, cars, phones, microwaves, music recordings, or personal cameras.