Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire

“Vast and widening economic injustice on a global scale is obscured by the moralization of the ultra-rich,” according to this biting critique. Rhodes (Woke Capitalism), an organization studies professor at the University of Technology Sydney, argues that lionizing billionaires as either heroic, generous, meritorious, or crusading serves to mask their misdeeds while deflating calls to more equitably distribute wealth. Suggesting that the myth of the “heroic billionaire” is embodied by Donald Trump’s attempts to cast his success as the result of skillful bootstrapping instead of his father’s largesse, Rhodes posits that the flip side of thinking that “anybody can be rich if they just apply themselves” is that “those who are not rich deserve not to be.” Rhodes discourages praising billionaires’ philanthropy, contending that while it’s laudable that Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has pledged to dedicate much of his company’s profits to climate change initiatives, his example nonetheless demonstrates how the rich are free to set policy agendas without input from the public. Rhodes makes a cogent case that billionaires undermine democratic values by wielding their wealth while remaining unaccountable to people affected by their decisions, though the lines between his four “archetypes” are somewhat arbitrary (the “meritorious billionaire” is indistinguishable from the “heroic” type). Still, it’s a persuasive deconstruction of the self-serving narratives of the über-wealthy. (Jan.)