Opinion: It seems a billionaire with a microphone will often give advice that might not necessarily deserve the attention it gets
It is hard to open a newspaper or turn on your radio without hearing some billionaire spout off on some important topic. Sometimes, billionaires give sound advice. Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, suggests that you should buy stocks in companies that have a track record of making good products and hold on to them. He argues that the first rule of investment is not to lose money and the second rule is not to forget the first rule. All of this strikes me as sound and sensible advice.
On the other hand, give a billionaire a microphone and it is likely that he (and the billionaires most quoted in the press are virtually always men) will give advice that might not quite deserve the attention it gets. For example, Denis O'Brien, founder of Digicel, has argued that remote working is harming the country and that civil service employees should return to the office. You can make good faith arguments for and against this proposition.
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From RTÉ News, businessman Denis O'Brien claims remote working is a 'mistake'
But the businessman also went on to claim, in a widely-reported address to the Business Post's Economic Outlook Forum, that Irish emoloyees and graduates have become "entitled" in the workplace. It is not hard to imagine one of the disgruntled aristocrats in Downton Abbey saying the same thing about servants these days.
In an Irish Times piece, Stripe co-founder John Collison made the point that infrastructure development in Ireland is too slow. I suspect that you would be greeted with a chorus of approval if you made a similar claim at any gathering in Ireland. The suggestions for solving this problem would be no worse than those offered by Collison.
Collison suggests that there should be weekly meetings where officials are forced to account for the pace of housing and infrastructure projects. Anyone who has ever worked in a large organisation will recognize that "more meetings" is rarely an effective solution.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Sean Keyes from Progress Ireland, analyses the arguments made by their financial backer John Collison, on how to tackle issues in delivering housing and major infrastructure projects
He also suggested that a tool such as capping legal fees for judicial review cases "must be used boldly", adding that those who take such cases "should have some skin in the game". He might think that infrastructure problems could be solved if the only people who can challenge infrastructure decisions are those who are rich enough to handle the cost. But the idea that people without money to spare to pay out for litigation do not have skin in the game is somewhat tone deaf.
Charles Buskirk is co-founder of Rockbridge Network, a tech donor network supported by Peter Thiel and affiliated with US vice-president J.D. Vance. He has argued that society should be led by the "productive elite". The core argument he makes is that only a small number of the elite know what is right for the country to do and have the capability to make this happen and we should let this aristocracy take the lead in running things.
Elon Musk has accomplished many worthwhile things, but has also provided an ongoing torrent of bad ideas and advice. Sometimes, these have been decisions within his purported areas of expertise, such as the Cybertruck or the Hyperloop, but he has struck out most spectacularly when venturing into areas where he does not appear to know what he is doing.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Elon Musk could become the world's first trillionaire
Examples include his leadership of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an ill-fated adventure that saw young tech bros let loose to cut US government departments with a chainsaw rather than a scalpel. There is also his decision to launch Grokopedia, an online alternative to Wikipedia designed to push right-wing talking points. This venture has included a substantial amount of false information, including the claim (which was subsequently removed) that Donald Trump won the 2020 US election.
Why do billionaires do this so often? Why do they air complaints about uppity employees or argue that the aristocracy should run things or claim that only the rich should be allowed to weigh in on infrastructure projects? One argument is that the ultrarich live in a completely different world from the rest of us and they are simply out of touch. The ultrarich spend huge amounts to live in a bubble or privacy, secrecy and privilege. A recent Wall Street Journal story noted that the rich don’t wait in lines, they don’t have to jostle with airport crowds and they often do not interact with anyone outside of a small circle of like-minded and similarly rich peers (other than waiters, bartenders, private jet pilots and the like).
Why do the ultrarich do this so often? One argument is they live in a different world from the rest of us and are simply out of touch
I believe one of the reasons Warren Buffett has not joined the chorus of billionaires offering tone-deaf advice is that he never walled himself off from the rest of the world. He still lives in the same modest house he bought in the 1950s for less than $40,000, drives his own car and shops at the same stores many of his employees frequent.
Perhaps if more billionaires left their compounds, got off of their yachts, abandoned their private clubs and spent time rubbing elbows with the rest of us, they would realise that they are not always the smartest people in the room. Perhaps then, they would start offering less frequent and less silly advice to the rest of us.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
