Yes, I know you can make an argument for how someone can be “good” in some way even though they are a billionaire. Yes, I know it is a fallen world and strict accountability for anything is going to run into ethical thorns.

But, come on, if you had 5 million dollars (and how would you ever get that?), you would consider yourself free from worry for life (unless you invested it all in Trump crypto). A person with only ONE billion dollars has 200 times your $5 million. Elon Musk has 700 times one billion! It is staggering, right?

There should not be a democracy in which billionaires accompany the president to China instead of elected representatives of the people.

There should not be a system in which people become billionaires, at all. We live in such a system and it is not from the Lord.  I added “it is not from the Lord” because people seem to think capitalism descended from heaven — it just is what it is, so you can be good or bad in it. No, an economic system might be used well, but ours is a human conception run by sociopaths, for the most part. The poster child is the president.

I will do a little bit to convince you of that in a second, but first, the complaining.

I got to writing this piece because the women of Indivisible, of all things, posted a picture of “Good Billionaires Who Give Back.” Think about that.

1. Did you give the billionaires your money so they could give it back? I doubt it — at least not on purpose.
2. Do you really think the billionaires “earned” their billions like you do or they “made ” it out of the thin air of their genius? I doubt it.
3. Don’t you think they took it? Their “giving back” is reparations, at the very least. They schemed and competed and defeated and cornered markets up in their higher echelons of “finance” where we do not have the money to pay to play.

Elon Musk once provided some bullet points for how to get rich like he did:

• Focus on usefulness: “It’s better to approach this from the standpoint of saying… what are some useful things that you do that you wish existed in the world?”

I suppose the world really needed Warren Buffet’s multibillion dollar holding company focused on making money by acquiring undervalued entities to get a snowball of wealth-building moving.

• Solve hard problems: “You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve.”

I suppose Tom Steyer’s Fallon Capital Hedge Fund “casino” for the ultra-wealthy operating on the edges of ethicality in fossil fuels and private prisons really solved a societal problem. I think it only solved how to make more money regardless of the consequences.

• Embrace persistence: “Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”

Several of the “good billionaires” listed got their billions without lifting a finger — no persistence necessary. With the Federal government acting as a subsidiary of the billionaires, no one is going to force a billionaire to do anything. Bush and Obama just bailed them out, since they were too big to fail, too big to hold accountable.

Is Jesus making a list of good billionaires?

From the perspective of Jesus’ teachings, calling someone a “good billionaire” is problematic, at best. The Gospels make it clear that the accumulation of extreme, hoarded wealth is deeply opposed to the kingdom of God. Whether a billionaire is “saved” is up to God’s justice and grace, so if that’s the definition of “good” than so be it. But if good is living according to what Jesus says and demonstrates as good, then “good” and “billionaire” are contradictory.

What Jesus said about wealth is well known. I grew up with people who always had a “but” right after they said what Jesus said about wealth. But we all know.

• Wealth is a tempting idol. You cannot serve both God and wealth (Matthew 6:24). Billionaires need to serve wealth-making to become billionaires.
• Living in the kingdom of God as a wealthy person is almost impossible. The famous story of the rich young ruler has driven many Christian parents to be very anxious when their 17-year-olds read it, since they were preparing them to make it in the world as it is. Jesus explained, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).
• It is better give than to receive (or take, or make, or hoard). In the exchange with the young man, Jesus told him to sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor, prioritizing radical charity over material security. In other places he says “Don’t build bigger barns. Don’t lay up treasures on earth. Give what you have been given.” He is not mysterious about this.

Many theologians and ethicists argue that it is structurally impossible to be a “good billionaire” according to Christian ethics.

• Nothing is good about systemic inequality. Critics argue that possessing billions of dollars while billions live in poverty amounts to hoarding resources, which fundamentally violates Jesus’ command to love your neighbor as yourself.

Patricia Chan is in the list above. She co-founded the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative with her husband, the famous Mark, pledging to put 99% of their Facebook shares in this LLC. Their mission is science, education, and opportunity — housing affordability, criminal justice reform, and immigration reform. They want to “build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone” and to “advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy.” Sounds like the work for an elected government not super rich 40somethings. It also sounds like you put 99% of certain funds in an LLC, but you still control it all as a profit-making possibility.

• They are robber barons. Critics also say no one can legitimately acquire a billion dollars without some degree of labor exploitation, market manipulation, or systemic extraction.

George Soros made his fortune primarily through aggressive global macro investing and currency speculation as a hedge fund manager. His Quantum Fund made his wildest trade in 1992, when he correctly bet the British government would be forced to devalue the pound. You may not know how this works, but by heavily shorting the pound with borrowed money, his fund single-handedly forced the UK out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and made an estimated $1 billion in profit. He’s “the man who broke the Bank of England.”

Can their be a democracy when a billionaire has such power? Making the most money is the law of the system and they pull the triggers.

The same logic that says “guns do not shoot themselves” and “the unborn have a right to life” says that individuals have a responsibility to be good. All people need to steward their money and do good with it. If some end up billionaires, that’s due to their goodness.

To be fair, it can be (and is) argued that wealth itself is not inherently sinful.

• What is in your heart matters. They point out that the Bible does not focus on how much money one has, but whether or not you love it (1 Timothy 6:10). If you don’t read the Old Testament through a New Testament lens then wealthy figures like Abraham and King Solomon are “blessed” rich people (but not the non-Jew, Belshazzar!).

Elon Musk is respected among Evangelicals for just such a reason, he has purportedly good motives and good ends in mind. They respect him despite him being well-known for stiffing vendors, skipping office rent payments, and pushing testing and manufacturing timelines past regulatory limits.

• The more one has the more is required. If a billionaire sees themselves as “managing” the wealth they have been given rather than owning it, and uses their resources to create jobs, fund charities, and uplift the marginalized, their wealth can be used for good.

Iranian-American Pierre Omidyar has a reputation built on this premise. He and his wife, Pam have given $1.2 billion dollar to impact investments and nonprofits since 2004.

The answer is “no.” Billionaires are not good. 

Jesus did not say that wealthy people are automatically condemned (regardless of the tenor of this post). He did not say it is theoretically impossible for them to be saved.

But with every teaching, parable and example he showed how difficult it is for rich individuals to remain humble, detached from their possessions, and reliant on God. When God was revealed in Jesus, his self-giving, impoverishing servanthood lead him to the cross, not a transhuman search for A.I. eternal life.

It is self-giving love that is good. But it won’t make you a billionaire. According to Jesus, wealth is a massive spiritual burden, and a “good billionaire” would have to actively sacrifice their fortune to the service of others to fulfill His teachings. As is regularly noted, men without a conscience make the best billionaires and those who retain one often have to smother it to keep their power or satisfy greedy stockholders.

 

a friend chimed in elsewhere: