I think you have the correct set of facts but entirely the wrong conclusion.
Would the richest people WANT to liquidate holdings for the value that Forbes estimates their worth at? I doubt it.
The marginal value of millions of dollars to these billionaires' lives is close to zero.
However, those holdings constitute control and power over important institutions at the heart of the power structures of the most powerful country on earth.
I don't care about how much money other people have. But I do care about how much control other people have.
Ergo, I am much more concerned about the power-distribution effect of a few people controlling large stakes in institutions significant to the operation of society, than I am about the estimated dollar value of their stake.
If anything, the hypothetical value of these assets under-estimates the amount of social power for which those dollars are a proxy.
There's a reason billionaires buy money-losing newspapers and social networks.
my only conclusion from TFA is "someone has emitted some horseshit with chunks of numbers in it"
your point is far more central to the discussion i feel the people compiling the figures wanted to spark. And while its a worthy argument i hafta say "why didn't they put it in those terms, then?"
> your point is far more central to the discussion i feel the people compiling the figures wanted to spark.
I tend to agree.
> And while its a worthy argument i hafta say "why didn't they put it in those terms, then?"
Writing is difficult. Persuasive writing is even more difficult. And persuasive writing to a large and undefined audience, in a way that will make that entire audience happy, is basically impossible.
Would the richest people WANT to liquidate holdings for the value that Forbes estimates their worth at? I doubt it.
The marginal value of millions of dollars to these billionaires' lives is close to zero.
However, those holdings constitute control and power over important institutions at the heart of the power structures of the most powerful country on earth.
I don't care about how much money other people have. But I do care about how much control other people have.
Ergo, I am much more concerned about the power-distribution effect of a few people controlling large stakes in institutions significant to the operation of society, than I am about the estimated dollar value of their stake.
If anything, the hypothetical value of these assets under-estimates the amount of social power for which those dollars are a proxy.
There's a reason billionaires buy money-losing newspapers and social networks.