How come people still believe that billionaires become billionaires because they work harder?
How come people still believe that billionaires become billionaires because they work harder?
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How come people still believe that billionaires become billionaires because they work harder?
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One reason? It’s often true, in no small part. Is that the ONLY reason they’re rich? No, but I’ve never seen anyone claim it is. But Jeff Bezos, for example…he does work hard, whether you like it or not.
Because they potentially can
Now I do think a lot might be a result of just generational wealth or mesing people over
But the media always likes to glorify any stories they can find of those “exceptional” peopl who pulled it off
It’s a a part of the capitalist narrative to assure the poor “We are rich because we are better than you”
Similar to how nobility works
Probably left over from protestant ideals. Look up the sociologist max weber, and how he thought protestants, because it worried them that they didn’t know if they had gods favor til you go to heaven or hell, started to see material success as God’s way of showing youre in favor while alive. My guess is that Americans or heavily noncatholic capitalists countries share the prosperity gospel view
Who believes billionaires work hard? Or, harder than other people? I assume billionaires have multiple teams of people working for them and are rarely seen by most workers.
Self made billionaire see problems and obstructions as opportunities and work c
Because they want to believe that THEY can do it too.
Doesn’t matter if your money is inherited or earned . In order to sustain money you possess,you have to work hard. There are many people who won lottery tickets worth good fortune. But they couldn’t sustain it.
Except for inheritances, no one became a billionnaire without working damn hard. Tell me one counter-example.
They work smarter, and most of those guys seem to live their job.
They take bigger risks, and yes they also typically work harder, rest is being right time at the right place (lucky opportunity). So not everyone working hard and taking big risk is going to make it.
Because they were told so repeatedly, it drowns out all other possibilities and it becomes common sense, something you don’t question.
Anyone who thinks that hard work alone will build massive wealth is naive.
Even becoming a lower single digit millionaire takes more than hard work for most people.
Becoming significantly wealthier in older age than you were in your 20s and 30s usually takes some combination of hard work, good luck/timing, generational wealth inherited from your parents, investing, intelligence, creativity, and saving.
Becoming a billionaire takes way more of all of those ingredients.
Really hard work is absolutely an element that is required to build wealth but it’s only one piece of the formula.
Billionaires need people to work hard
Because lazy people definitely don’t become billionaires. Say what you want about Elon Musk and how his dad gave him money to get started. Give that same money to a lazy person and they’re not building 3 successful companies
Here are a few self-made or nearly-self-made billionaires:
No one believes that
Because people are terrible at statistics. Like utterly utterly ridiculously bad.
The reason it’s so egregious is that in our normal lives, it doesn’t matter / basic assumptions work just fine, so we’re constantly being reinforced that we’re right to think in the patterns that we do.
But, like, of all the billionaires that worked hard, they’re all going to give Ted talks about how they got their billions. And they’re all going to say “I worked hard this way, I did this, I did that”. And so you’re gonna see that and think ‘wow, all those billionaires did X (worked hard) that must be the key.’
But what you’re not seeing is 6 billion Ted talks from other people saying “I did X too” who aren’t billionaires. The X, (whatever it is, worked hard, networked, etc) is kind of irrelevant. The truth is they were lucky. Right place, right time. They were the one in six billion where it paid off.
Most started out in wealthy families, so they could take risks, knowing they had a family safety net if things did not work out.
Because they want to believe that all that stops them from being a billionaire is their choice not to work themselves to death.
In reality, it’s mostly the money they were born into and what’s left isn’t far from luck. But most people, most especially including the billionaires themselves who spend immense resources polishing their image, don’t want to believe that.
Especially the luck part.
That’s what she said
How come you lump all of them together? And it’s never been work harder is work smarter. Some got there by their work some because of being rich already and not blowing it on stupid shit, and some inherited it.
Not all are the same. Just like not all people are the same.
Propaganda and delusion.
Because the billionaires own the media and control the narrative.
Because it’s easier to be a boot-licker who is brainwashed by the rich than it is to be someone with empathy
A century of propaganda in schools about American exceptionalism.
John Menard. When he started his checks bounced all over town. It got to the point suppliers would only take cash from him. Yes, I know how he is, but he worked his ass off to get his business going.
Because before they became billionaires they were millionaires and they did the hard work reading the Million status, basically from M to B were just stocks.
Bill Gates did Code and spent sleepless nights and weekend doing the work and so is ZuckerBerg.
Yeah Bill Gates and Zuckerberg werealready richstudying in Harvard and all, but people forgot these two did their share of work. .. Bezos as well.
Those two are just examples, there are hundreds of Billionaires out there, most of them did the work getting to their initial Millions, then stock explosion follows after IPO.
Did you guys really thought facebook just built itself from scratch??
If you start a successful business and use the smart ways to multiply your money you can be rich. Market your business well and use others to help you sell and distribute at lower costs than the products’ cost.
Scale it.
Realize that you hear about the successes. Many businesses fail.
Then mule would be rich if that is the true.
Same reason people thought Trump would save them
PRopaganda
Good PR. Convincing the working class they’re all millionaires/billionaires in waiting who are going to strike it rich any day now is how the ultra wealthy con people into voting against their own interests.
Taxing the 800 people who hold 60% of the world’s wealth an extra 1-2% more? Okay, probably seems fair.
Taxing me 1-2% more when I become one of those 800 people? Unacceptable, I earned that imaginary money!
There’s a lot of brainwashing involved. It’s like a religion: there are saints, the rare few who supposedly made it; there is the faith that somehow you are going to make it too if you only believe; there’s also this self-image in America that it’s a good and moral place because it give you a chance to become a billionaire if only you try hard enough.
For many people, to accept that it is impossible is to give up their heroes, their faith, their belief in the goodness of their country and the universe.
ITT: People think Technology companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, Intel, NVidia…
Were built by fairies and magical creatures.
They don’t work harder. They work smarter. Noone becomes rich by working harder.
This is an opinion masquerading as a question.
Work does usually factor into it. Elon Musk has myriad flaws but laziness is not among them.
Work, luck, intelligence, talent, luck, timing, luck…. Lots of things factor into it.
Paul McCartney. Did he start out rich?
Billionaires work smarter not harder
You are programed to believe it will work.
Then you are desperate to believe it will work. (most people get stuck right here…)
Then you realize no amount of work = billionaire, that you must exploit it from others en mass to acquire that volume of capital.
Because it’s often the truth
They are really fucking smart and work really fucking hard….because they love starting their own business. If it were easy to become a billionaire….why don’t you do it?
Billionaires almost always were lucky in some respect and had multiple enablers that allow them to take advantage of opportunities that is in front of them.
Some of them work damn hard because they are swimming with sharks now, their peers and underlings would have no problems taking money away from a fool.
For most people, you wouldn’t know how to become a billionarie even if the chance smack you in your face, the rules at the top are so different most people don’t even know how they work.
If you ever sit down with CEOs and even some modestly rich individuals and listen to the way they talk, most people in this thread would have no clue what they are talking about, its a different world.
As for working harder, there are only so many hours in day before you need to sleep, so no they don’t work harder but the type of things they spend their time on is infinitely more profitable than the type of things you spend your time on.
Because our society has trained them to think that way. They’ll tell you that any kind of redistributive efforts are bad because they don’t trust the people doing the redistributing, but they do trust billionaires because they create jobs. Complete brainwashing.
Because generally speaking they do.
It’s not only hard work but hard work is definitely a major proponent of it.
I would confidently bet a billionaire works harder than the average American
or that a business failed because the owner “didn’t work hard enough” along the same lines
They become billionaires “usually” from hurting others. The ones that are good are hard to find and probably aren’t keen on being around their peers. Very few of them worked hard.
Because people are stupid. They will believe things their subconscious knows to be false because their conscious mind desires it to be true.
They don’t believe that, I’d argue they never did. Generally speaking, the more you organise, invest, research, network, apply yourself and take calculated risks for longer term benefits the better off you’ll be compared to the other version of yourself that didn’t do those things.
More broadly, they believe is that in general it is useful for our society to encourage people to take responsibility for providing for themselves and growing their own capacities as much as possible instead of being pessimistic, overly focussing on “luck” or “connections” and otherwise emphasising excuses to “give up trying” and instead focus on exploiting social security, charity and government hand outs.
They do work harder…. at stepping on people and fucking them over. You don’t get that rich by having scruples.
So many people have a serf mentality. Worshipping the King or the Kennedys.
Although I think billionaires as a whole work harder than the average person, their success largely comes from working smarter than the average person
Work harder, smarter, and know when to take risks. Alsp patience and discipline. Purchasing that $90,000 truck every 2 years and spending weekends in the pubs won’t get you there.
Implying billionaires don’t work hard is insane. Obviously becoming a billionaire involves a lot of luck, but it without question takes work too. About 30% of billionaires inherit their wealth, they’re not all from inheritances. Plus if you gave every American a 1 million dollar check, bet half them wouldn’t have a dime in 5 years because most people are fucking terrible at managing money. Literally only half the adults in this country even work full time, most people are dependent on someone else. Most billionaires work like Vince McMahon, man worked 90+ hours a week til he was 76 years old.
Creativity is work. Hard work alone doesn’t make money. You have to work hard, work smart and see a niche that isn’t being served. Come up with a new and innovative good or service. Market it well and have a bit of luck.
Republican propaganda.
All Americans like to pretend they are all just one really good day away from becoming one…
I mean usually yeah, you need to work hard to make a lot of money. But that’s like one ingredient out of several. And certainly not determinative.
I’m starting to think they have sold their souls to Satan. It’s like they’ve invested everything in this world and left nothing for the next.
I swear it’s like they’d be miserable knowing that some homeless guy found a really nice refrigerator box to live in. It’s like they would have nightmares about it and not be able to sleep until they took the box away.
There are a lot of comments about mostly being born into money. What is wrong with generational wealth in the eyes of people? Is it that they don’t have functional family, thus sold themselves to the greater mercy of the governments and general society? No desire for producing a future generation to pass things onto?
At some point along the line, a continuity of people worked for money, got lucky they avoided disaster, and saved frugally in order to achieve initial fortune, built it layer by layer, and then decided who to pass it along to family and chosen friends and favored interests. This cycle repeats for generations. It did not happen overnight, and it was not the work of a single individual.
Is it the individualist mentality along with being told the lie that they can be and do any anything they want? Is it because the erosion of property rights and the increase in taxation has left the entryway into the process of building generational wealth unapproachable? Does nobody look forward to future generations and plan accordingly? Has keeping up with the joneses, instant gratification, and desiring the property of others dominated their view of the world?
Yes, most extreme wealth is part of a family legacy and born into. Generations of people worked according to building this wealth exactly so that their children and children’s children wouldn’t have to work as hard or know as much misery as themselves. Family dynamics, home structure and function are an immense portion of determining long term success.
Not harder but much smarter.
Because people are stupid and suffer from Stockholm syndrome. They defend their captures. Similar to why they believe in religion (Pascals wager) and the value of money. All these delusions are only held by humans. Off a squirrel a $100 bill or an acorn you found and, unless the squirrel is trying to build a nest, it’s not gonna care about the paper. That paper that many think is worth their lives…that squirrel wouldn’t even care about.
Because that is the BS line they’ve been told since birth. We’ve also built BS myths around them like Gates building MS out of his garage (after receiving a $300k investment, which is close to $3 million in today’s dollars… And he chose his garage to save on rent).
Some of the biggest lies ever told are the myths surrounding how rich people became rich in our country.
I dispute that anybody says this. To become a billionaire you must have the idea and strategy to start and/or build a company into an extremely large and successful endeavor, or do that several times. This requires incredibly hard work, but also the idea and perception to see the opportunity
People really don’t know the difference between a million and a billion. Without a visual aid, it’s just some abstract number.
Oh and propaganda. The wealthy have access to spread propaganda more easily. The more money someone has, the more they can bribe, lobby, and advertise
Well idk about billionaires but becoming a millionaire is definitely possible from nothing. Not just hard work if you come from nothing, but hard work, smart work, and sacrifice. I have family members that are millionaires today that started from nothing. One of my close friends I’m pretty sure is close or already became a millionaire, and Im personally on track to become one in 5-7 years at the rate im going with investments and other stuff I do. So becoming rich/wealthy is not farfetched. Now becoming a billionaire might be a whole other level I cant grasp.
Because many millionaires do become millionaires through hard work and good financial habits. They don’t realize how very much more a billion is.
the same way people think they can win the lottery. it’s happened in the past with people like Carnegie. but, that’s about it
Most billionaires started and built their business before you were even born OP. So
You wouldn’t have seen the build up to their position today. I watched Amazon grow as I grew up
Because most really did. Rarely do you get that kinda money from a lottery or inheritance. Do you think Jeff didn’t work hard in his garage? Are you serious? You think Musk and his team who built I think it was WhatsApp didn’t work hard? Are you serious?
Because they’re blindsided right-wing media, and the thought of you may become rich by working harder makes breaking your back working for pennies that bit more bare able
It’s not that they work harder, it’s that they work smarter. Society shapes your belief system so that you stay in the working class. Not a billionaire, but did escape the working class system.
Because it is true they work + have systems in place.
I saw this quote online:
“The richest men in the world are:
75% Entrepreneurs
15% Investors
7% Athletes
3% Artists-
0% Employees
Nobody got rich with a Salary, It’s a scam.”
no one becomes a billionaire accidentally. They choose the field that yields the results.
to become part of the 1% (or maybe even part of the 5%), you need to do things that the 95% don’t. you build the right skills, you build capital, you manage your risk, you make multiple income streams, you make big choices in your life/career.
Slow and subtlet brainwashing of the masses to work against the best interests of themselves.
We have plenty of examples of billionaires becoming billionaires after working harder in our lifetime alone.
A sweet lie is preferable to a painful truth.
“you need to get up at 4:30, go jogging, read a book while eating a healthy breakfast and then move fast and break things…”
most billionairs in imy opinion get there not bc there product is good nessarily but bc they use some immoral unethical ways to get it.
Because if they were told the truth that it also has to do with how privileged their family must be for them to become rich, it would lead to another type of “eat the rich” movement, and the rich don’t want that to happen so they keep perpetuating this lie.