@rbreich What about Taylor Swift?

@rbreich I know very few billionaires, but the few I do know didn't get there via any of those 5 means.

@rbreich
#AltText
Billie Eilish asked an important question:
"If you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?"

There are FIVE ways to accumulate a billion dollars:

1)Profiting from a monopoly
2) Insider-trading
3) Political payoffs
4) Fraud
5) Inheritance

Billionaires are the result of a failed system.

(
Thumbnail photo at top shows a bearded person gazing at camera, expression friendly neutral. Robert Reich; blue checkmark. @rbreich.bsky.social
)

@rbreich

It‘s not a shame being a billionaire and it can be useful to move something. Think of Mark Cuban and his Cost Plus Drugs project.

Think also about German Jacob Fugger the Younger and his housing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuggerei

Also the Krupp family had a housing project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarethe_Krupp

If it happens that market propels and your company gets temporarily a strong market position, the ethics make the difference. The Tech Bros create BS and destroy societies. But not all do so.

@rbreich Screenshot of a Bluesky post, no ALT text, why are y’all continuing to kiss up to this account. He doesn’t even respect this platform enough to post text content

@rbreich 1 through 4 are all fraud, and we should look at that degree of inheritance the same way.

@rbreich Aside from some Silicon Valley companies randomly taking off and ballooning in value, the interesting case is Patagonia. The founder became a billionaire but basically gave the money away. The company history is not what you'd expect (and they treat their employees well):

https://www.patagonia.com/company-history/

@rbreich https://socprofb.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/the-gospel-according-to-mammon-why-a-trillionaire-is-a-moral-absurdity/

@rbreich Not how, why?

@rbreich Has there ever been a billionaire (or millionaire for that matter) who set out to accumulate their wealth for an actual *purpose* -- in order to spend it on fixing some problem or improving the world in some way? Has there *ever* been a *reason*/goal/purpose for someone becoming a [m|b]illionaire?

@rbreich Those are definitely the most common ways I can think of.

I have heard Taylor swift became one in the past few months.

If true, she would be one of the few who earned it. Not into her songs much, but she at least didn't cheat to make her money.

Btw, you forgot one other way to become a billionaire, data collection and lots of it including advertisements that do that.

@rbreich First read that as "*WHY* (as in for what purpose) did you set out to accumulate all these resources?"

And of course, the answer is just that there is no goal or reason, and all it gets used for is to continue accumulating more.

No goal. No greater good. Nothing that it's all *for*. No reason. No purpose. No plan. Nothing.

@rbreich Also 6) Powerball jackpot > $1B (I'm currently working this angle.)

@rbreich I disagree to some extent - I have met $billionaires who actually have done hard, creative, work and who got lucky.

For instance, the Google Guys had a really good idea and, although Google has since fallen to the dark side, their initial work (and wealth) was done without those five elements.

In other areas, one might ask, which of those FIVE ways did Taylor Swift make her $B sized bundle?

I will admit that many, possibly the majority, of $billionaires have done so in those five ways - I have met some who are clearly very evil, immoral, corrupt, people. Much of the US tech industry and hedge fund industry is filled with such people. Despite their belief, greed is *not* good.

@rbreich

Every dollar in a billie's bank account is a pint of blood they sucked out of another person who wasn't looking.

@rbreich Truth

@rbreich Taylor Swift became one by being the monopoly purveyor of Taylor Swift concerts.

But all the others? Yeah, space em.

And Taylor, sweetie? Lower your ticket prices, please.

@rbreich yep just ask big tech and the oil companies, they are well versed in all those things

@rbreich Also: exploitation of workforce.