The New York Times considers the answers of the candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination the question “Does anyone deserve a billion dollars?” Some of the answers are, frankly, disqualifying. The correct answer is “I’m not the one to say”. Put another way does Beyonce deserve a half billion dollars? Does Taylor Swift deserve a third of a billion dollars? Those are their net worths. I wouldn’t give either of them a penny but it’s not for me to say. Lots of people think they are. Do they deserve that much money while the average musician earns $20,000 a year? Same answer: it’s not for me to say.
The question assumes that you believe in “true value” or that anybody deserves to receive the amount they need to live the lifestyle they desire. If that weren’t the case we’d never be giving benefits greater than were necessary to maintain a subsistence living in rural Mississippi.
Here’s the question I would ask: does anyone deserve to earn a billion dollars based on rents, royalties, patents, government grants, professional licensing, or arbitraging any of the thousands of federal, state, and local laws and regulations? I don’t believe that anyone deserve to earn more than three standard deviations above the median income based on any of those things but it’s not for me to say.
The NY Times questions for the candidates are a series of ‘gotcha’ questions designed to appeal to the Woke activist crowd that they think will win the election/nomination for them, many of whom apparently believe that Joseph-Proudhon (Property is theft) is correct while texting furiously on the latest I-Phone. Cognitive dissonance, anyone? Ignorance, definitely.