The Truth Behind “Self-Made” Billionaires | Robert Reich

[Music] self-made billionaires are a myth just like unicorns of course being self-made is a nice idea it suggests that anybody can claw their way to the top if they're willing to work hard enough it's what the American dream is all about if Kylie Jenner can become a self-made billionaire at age 21 so can you and I even as wages stay stagnant and wealth inequality grows it's a comfort to think that we're all simply one Cosmetics company and some elbow Greece away from Fortune unfortunately a nice idea is all it is the origins of self-made billionaires

are often depicted as a Rags to Riches rise to the top fueled by nothing but personal grit and the courage to take risks like dropping out of college or starting a business in a garage but in reality the origins of many billionaires aren't so humble they're more like riches to even more riches stories rooted in upper middle class upbringings how much risk did Bill Gates take on when his mother used her business connections to help Microsoft land a deal making software for IBM Elon Musk came from a family that reportedly owned shares in an emerald

mine in Africa Jeff bezos's garage based start was funded by a quar million doll investment from his parents if your safety net to joining the billionaire class is remaining upper class that's not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps nor is failing to pay your fair share of taxes along the way along with musk and Bezos Michael Bloomberg George Soros and Carl ion have all gotten away with paying zero federal income taxes some years that's a big helping hand courtesy of legal loopholes and American taxpayers who pick up the tab all while our tax dollars subsidize

the corporations owned by these so-called self Reliant entrepreneurs did you get a thank you card from any of them I sure as hell didn't other common ways that billionaires build their coffers off the backs of others include paying garbage wages and subjecting workers to abusive labor conditions but portraying themselves as rugged individuals who overcame poverty or did it on their own remains an effective propaganda tool for the ultra wealthy one that keeps workers from rising up collectively to demand Fair wages and one that ultimately distracts from the rule that billionaires play in fostering poverty in

the first place billionaires say their success proves they can spend money more wisely and efficiently than the government yet they have no problem with government spending when it comes to receiving corporate [Music] subsidies when arguing for even more tax breaks they claim each dollar the government takes from them is a dollar less for their critical role in expanding prosperity for all Americans through job creation and philanthropy well that's rubbish 50 years of tax cuts for the wealthy have failed to trickle down as a result of Trump's tax cuts 2018 saw the 400 richest American families

pay a lower tax rate than the middle class and US billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion during the the first two years of a pandemic that was economically catastrophic for just about everybody else they want to have their cake and everyone else's cake and eat it too behind every 10 figure net worth is systemic inequality inherited wealth labor exploitation tax loopholes and government subsidies to claim these fortunes are self-made is to perpetuate a myth that blames the wealth Gap on the choices of everyday Americans billionaires are not made by rugged individuals they're made by policy

failures and a system that rewards wealth over work know the truth