• @Wrench@lemmy.world
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    851 year ago

    They would still have all the advantages of the business connections they made as a billionaire, and would still have a massive advantage over everyone else.

    Run the experiment.

    • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      301 year ago

      But many of their connections would be poor as well. Do you think people actually care what Elon or Bezos think? They’re not geniuses, they just have money. Compare them to Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett, who actually knew what they were doing.

      No one seriously asks Bezos or Elon for advice because they were just lucky. Their companies succeed despite them, not because of them. Like the guy who started Uber (forgot his name). Nobody listens to them.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        451 year ago

        Compare them to Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett, who actually knew what they were doing.

        Steve Jobs, the man who thought he could beat pancreatic cancer with a juice cleanse?

      • @Sanctus@lemmy.world
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        31 year ago

        Steve Jobs was a grade A cunt with the rest of them. Don’t give him a pass for his high charisma score. Dude walked into Atari with no fucken shoes on back in the 70s trying to get a job. I used to work with a 72 year old dude who was a head repairman there working on the consoles. Its all confidence, smoke, and mirrors. Skills are secondary to spewing bullshit and making people feel excited.

        • @KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          11 year ago

          If he wasn’t integral to Apple’s success, then why did they fail after he left, and then succeed after he returned? What innovative products has Tim Apple created? Air Pods? The Apple Watch?

          • @Sanctus@lemmy.world
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            01 year ago

            Why do we have party faces in tabletops? Why focus our skillsets on salesmenship while others become engineers? He was a great ringleader, he could probably sell people a wet banana peel like it was life changing. Maybe the products themselves aren’t as stellar as Jobs made them out to be. Maybe a phone is just a phone and when Merlin isn’t there blowing smoke up your ass you can finally see that.

    • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      231 year ago

      Or would their connections who weren’t billionaires just exploit them so they could take the top spot?

    • @gimsy@feddit.it
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      91 year ago

      Well, if you remove from ALL billionaires, they won’t be much different from me or my neighbor

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      61 year ago

      They would still have all the advantages of the business connections they made as a billionaire

      Business connections to other people who also had their money stripped away.

      I mean, we’ll never run the experiment because the folks in charge of the Laboratory of Democracy all sit on the boards of Microsoft, Boeing, and Berkshire Hathaway. But Bill Gates doesn’t benefit by hobnobbing with Warren Buffet when neither of them have any money.