Billionaires should exist.

“I don’t think we should have billionaires,” says Zohran Mamdani.

Okay, so what do you propose Mr. future New York City major? Kill them? Enslave them like Stalin did to the kulaks?

You’ll say I’m being hyperbolic. Fine, but the left gets away far too much with these stupid tropes without saying clearly what they mean.

Do we tax billionaires so much that they cease to be billionaires? Well the biggest billionaires in the world (Musk, Bezos, Zuck, etc.) derive their vast wealth from holding stock in companies they founded — valuable companies people are investing in. Do you want to tax that and blow up America’s financial system?

I’m a liberal. Tax the income of billionaires (and millionaires) for social welfare programs. Prosecute them if their companies are mistreating workers, restricting competition in the marketplace, or buying off the government.

You could do all of that without somehow vaguely eliminating billionaires, which by the way would make it impossible to tax them!

Call me a bootlicker, but billionaires are rich because they provide immense economic value to society — more than most of us! They are rich for a reason. This doesn’t necessarily make them virtuous people or worthy statesmen, but in the very least they know how to advance society through innovation. Before he lost his mind, Elon brought electric cars, once considered a moonshot, to the masses. Jeff Bezos turned an online book store into the cheapest, fastest way to get almost anything you want. Their ideas, embodied in massive companies, have made us all richer. That’s not something to sneeze at.

Not all billionaires are contributing such immense value. I hate Facebook, and Instagram Reels are killing brain cells.

And they do influence our politics! But that’s more reason to pass laws that restrict their influence, like how much they can donate to candidates directly or through dark money groups. And yes, they will oppose that, but if you are organized enough, you can get people to the polls to elect hopefully decent politicians.

At no point can we just wave a magic wand and wish billionaires away. If we do, they’ll take their brains and money elsewhere and make other people rich instead of us, just like billionaires will leave New York City when Mamdani becomes mayor.

The only reason leftists say this shit is because it riles up the masses to get votes. We need someone to blame for inequality and suffering. And they are the enemy of choice.

Perhaps Mamdani, Bernie, and other socialists don’t really mean what they say. They are actually just making a critique of capitalism’s failings. Then why don’t they say that?

Words matter. Economic populism can be dangerous. Communism was not only a colossal failure. It killed tens of millions. And it all started with socialists thumping their chests about the bourgeoisie.

Be careful what you wish for.

TL;DR

Billionaires provide immense economic value to Americans and the world. They are not perfect, and many of them do bad things. That’s why we have (and should pass more) laws to hold them and their corporations to account. If you think that’s impossible, good luck with the alternative. It’s called communism. And it sucks.