Why There's No Such Thing as a Good Billionaire

Adam Conover1 HN recommenders · 2022–2023
2.7M views · commentary · dated · Uploaded 2022-10-13

Adam Conover argues that billionaire philanthropy is harmful, using examples like Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard. He says we should stop accepting the myths about benevolent billionaires.

HN uses it in threads about wealth and charity, either as support for the view that no billionaire is benevolent or as a contested counterpoint.

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4 comments from Hacker News

@w1nst0nsm1th2022 · in “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledges to give away most of his wealth”

I didn't read they article but I don't have to... [VIDEO] It's all about avoiding taxes. It's an 120 years old story.

@agentultra2022 · in “Two Executives in Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire Plead Guilty to Fraud”

There are no such things as benevolent billionaires. There’s a problem with a society that enables billionaires to exist at all. It shouldn’t even be possible but we’re here for a lot of reasons. [VIDEO]

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@forkerenok2023 · in “Gordon Moore, Intel Co-Founder, Dies at 94”

> why the ultra rich, once they've cashed out, create foundations that hand out grants? Not qualified to say whether this is exactly the case here, but I think this video about charities/funds as power-wielding vehicles bears some relevance: [VIDEO] Disclaimer: not a big fan of the delivery style in the video.

@blktiger2023 · in “Apollo will close down on June 30th”

Adam Connover has a video that pretty directly contradicts this assertion. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in-between. [VIDEO]