Kevin O'Leary says billionaires don’t get 'the credit they deserve' for creating thousands of jobs
Several experts believe that America is experiencing a K-shaped economy with an ever-widening inequality gap when it comes to wealth. As a result, billionaires have come under heavy fire, both from the public and from those in power. There have even been calls to raise taxes on the wealthiest individuals, and some states have already enacted such measures. Amidst all this negative press, Kevin O’Leary, a billionaire and entrepreneur, has come to the rescue of those like him.
O’Leary became famous thanks to his time on “Shark Tank,” but he was already a highly successful investor and entrepreneur long before the show even aired. He believes that billionaires do not get the credit they deserve for creating thousands of jobs. He also claimed that such billionaires pay their taxes and give their wealth back to the community. That is something he believes gets lost when one talks about the massive inequality the country is currently facing. “What we don’t give credit to [are] these extremely successful entrepreneurs that create hundreds of 1000’s of jobs in America…if not millions,” he said as per a report in Fortune. “All those people pay taxes, and they turn around and give all their wealth back. I just want to do a shout-out for that, because it’s lost in this narrative of inequality. It really is, and it’s a huge mistake.”
A lot of people who are not happy with billionaires believe that they are not in tune with the public’s struggles and sentiments. O’Leary countered that argument by stating that a lot of the billionaires today started with nothing. He used Michael Dell as an example, who started his now $79 billion tech company from his college dorm. The Shark Tank judge said that America needed more people like him.
“When you talk about these wealthy people that you suggest may be tone deaf, most of them started with nothing. They pursued the American dream. They were wildly successful. We need 1,000 more Michael Dells,” he explained. O’Leary also spoke about how such billionaire investors were examples of turning the American dream into a reality, and stated that such people must be allowed to do what they do.
“The number one export of America is not energy, it’s not technology, it’s the American dream. And that is exactly what entrepreneurship is: the idea that it isn’t the pursuit of greed and money—it’s the pursuit of personal freedom. Only we can provide that by allowing entrepreneurs to do what they do,” he added. However, regardless of what O’Leary might believe, the fact is that millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet while the rich keep getting richer. Hence, it is no surprise that the general public views such high-wealth individuals in a negative light.
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