It's always interesting to see which celebrities step into the political fray. Their views are often incongruent or a mishmash of ideas, but they're frequently incredibly influential, especially among younger generations.
Nine-time Grammy award winner Billie Eilish did just that, sending a message for billionaires at the WSJ Innovator Awards, where she was a recipient on October 29: "I'd say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things and maybe give it to some people that need it," Eilish said. "Love you all, but there's a few people in here who have a lot more money than me. And if you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties."
Eilish's comment was bold, and in some ways, I don't disagree with the popular singer. But Eilish, who has an estimated net worth of approximately $50 million, calling out billionaires in attendance, urging them to be more charitable, was ironic. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, was honored for her work in philanthropy in science, was there, among others. Filmmaker George Lucas was honored also, along with his wife Mellody Hobson, for design, in their efforts to create the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to life. His net worth is reportedly $5.3 billion, according to Forbes.
At the event, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" host Stephen Colbert announced that Eilish is putting her money where her mouth is. She is donating $11.5 million of the proceeds from her music tour, "Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour," to organizations related to food inequity and climate change.
I've said for years that if Hollywood stars pooled just a sliver of their wealth together, they could probably resolve a lot of food shortages in the U.S. However, that said, Eilish doesn't seem to be just calling out a double standard among wealthy elites. She also seems to be taking a classic liberal stance, which is to chide, scold, or even disdain billionaires for being rich. Not surprisingly, Eilish is a liberal. She at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and has been outspoken in her views against President Donald Trump.
Wealthy Americans, millionaires and billionaires, may not be quite as philanthropic as they used to be, but being rich shouldn't be automatically equated with being greedy, unethical, or immoral. Many billionaires in America employ thousands of people. Even with recent layoffs, Amazon—owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos—employs just under 1.55 million people worldwide. Meta CEO Zuckerberg, also a billionaire, employs about 74,000 people. The Walton family, who built Walmart, is reportedly one of, if not the, richest in the world. >Walmart employs about 2.1 million people.
Employing people is not the same as being philanthropic, but giving people a paycheck in return for their hard work is an incredible contribution to society. Wealthy people are often quite generous, too. According to Forbes, "the lifetime giving of the nation's top 25 philanthropists through December 30, 2024, rose to $241 billion," more than the year before.
In a 2021 article on this topic in City Journal, author John O. McGinnis took umbrage with the left's criticism of the wealthiest in society because their wealth demonstrates competence. "But the substantial majority of the very rich are self-made—two-thirds of the Forbes 400 built their own businesses, a proportion that is growing—and they add far more to the welfare of consumers than they retain in wealth." I'd argue that hiring thousands, and in some cases millions, of people hungry for work is a net benefit for consumers.
Eilish's insinuation is that billionaires should give their money away because if they don't, no one will have any. But that isn't true. Economist Milton Friedman railed against the idea that wealth is a "fixed pie" or a "zero-sum game," or that just because rich people are rich, the poor folks are staying poor. Society benefits overall from rich people, including poor people.
Eilish isn't wrong to encourage wealthy people, including billionaires, to be charitable and philanthropic, but that doesn't mean billionaires shouldn't exist either.
