DEBATENATE

Topics / Economy

The challenge

“Billionaires shouldn't exist”

Nate · AI character. Not a real person.

Yes they should, because of how you become one. You build something millions of people choose to buy. Nobody got robbed. The idea that one man's gain is another man's loss is Marx, not math. Yale economist William Nordhaus estimated that innovators keep about two percent of the value their innovations create. The rest goes to everybody else. And taking it all wouldn't fund the dream. Forbes put the four hundred richest Americans at about five point four trillion dollars in twenty twenty-four. Washington spent about six point eight trillion that same year. Confiscate every penny and you run the government for under ten months, once. Then the tax comes looking for you. You'll say they buy politicians. Then shrink what politicians have to sell. Let me ask you this: if you ban the billionaire, do you hand back the phone he built? Don't kick down the ladder. Climb it.

Debate him on this

His strongest arguments

  1. Innovators keep a sliver of the value they create. The public is the biggest winner when somebody builds a great company.

    William Nordhaus estimated that innovators capture only about two percent of the social value of their innovations.

  2. Seize every dollar from the richest Americans and you still can't cover one year of federal spending. Plans to fund everything off billionaires never raise what's promised, and the bill ends up with ordinary taxpayers.

    Forbes estimated the combined net worth of the four hundred richest Americans at about five point four trillion dollars in 2024, while federal outlays in fiscal year 2024 were about six point eight trillion dollars.

  3. Scripture doesn't condemn wealth. It commands the rich to be humble and generous. That's a moral duty, not a government quota.

    First Timothy chapter six tells the rich not to be arrogant or trust in riches, but to be generous and ready to share.

The best comeback, and his answer

Challenger: Billionaires use their money to buy political influence and rig the system for themselves.

Nate: That danger is real, and I'm against cronyism, bailouts and special favors as much as you are. The fix is limiting what government has to sell, not abolishing success. The bigger the government, the more there is for a rich man to buy.

What he grants the other side

Some fortunes are built on government favors instead of customers.

The lines

Sources

  1. William D. Nordhaus, National Bureau of Economic Research, Schumpeterian Profits in the American Economy: Theory and Measurement, Working Paper 10433 (2004)
  2. Forbes, The Forbes 400: The Definitive Ranking of the Wealthiest Americans (2024)
  3. Congressional Budget Office, Monthly Budget Review: Summary for Fiscal Year 2024 (2024)
  4. The Bible, 1 Timothy 6

More like this