Welcome to Z-Pack:.your antidote to the 24/7 news cycle. Cut through the noise, understand what matters, and get on with your week - in 5 minutes

If this is your first Z-Pack, welcome - I'm Zach.

_{The vibe-killer disclaimer: The opinions in this post and all other posts only represent myself and do not represent the opinions of my employer or any groups I am a member of.
This is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.}

⬇️ Let’s get it

Eat the Rich? Or Just a Nibble?

_{A ~7 minute read today people - thank you for your understanding} 🥲

It’s time. We have to do this.

We have to talk about them..

The ~ billionaires ~

The Zuckatron, Nasty Musky, Booty Bezos — the brain rot wants you to believe they’re the root of all evil, but you’re being tricked (and not by them).

At the risk of sounding like I’m defending them _{(a hush falls over the crowd)}, billionaires shouldn’t be your focus. And blaming them is kind of a cop-out.

Here's my attempt to explain why without sounding like a billionaire bootlicker.

_{Warning to the red-blooded communists reading this: i’m about to make the case for capitalism (w/ some regulations, ofc). Proceed at your own risk.}

You’re more than zero-sum

The common narrative is that today's billionaires are modern-day robber barons, exploiting the masses to build their fortunes, like medieval lords hoarding grain while peasants _{(that’s us)} starve. But this isn’t the 1500s, and Karl Marx never considered employee stock options or the tech + service economy.

As the co-founder of Vox, Matthew Yglesias, puts it:

And I mostly agree.

Yes, billionaires benefit enormously from the current system, but so do millions of employees, shareholders, and local economies. These founders created products and services that billions of people use and, dare I say, enjoy every single day. Phones, computers, online shopping, payment systems, even life-saving vaccines – these innovations didn't just enrich a few; they created entire ecosystems of wealth and health.

In simple terms:

• Employees: They earn substantial salaries and can have a stake in the company's success by owning equity

• Local Economies: They benefit from the spending power generated by these companies (the fancy term is "agglomeration effects _(snooze)" but let's just call it "money flowing")

• Global Impact: The products and services created by companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google benefit people everywhere

People love to act like we’re all eating from a fixed pie. That if someone gets a bigger slice, the rest of us get less. But economies aren’t fixed-size pies. They grow. This isn't a zero-sum game, where one person's gain is another's loss — this kind of thinking is for the birds (and unhappier people).

So when you get paid, you're not stealing from your coworker. You show up, do your job, and help the company grow, creating more value for its customers. And if that company is successful, its valuation increases. If you own equity, your net worth increases; if not, you can expect, at minimum, annual salary bumps. That's how most of these billionaires make their "money" – it's largely tied to the value of the companies they built.

Most importantly, a high valuation doesn't automatically mean workers need to suffer, just like improving worker conditions doesn't automatically lead to bankruptcy.

Case in point: Costco.

• Pays better wages.

• Treats workers well.

• Still wildly profitable.

They've proven that good wages, happy employees, and strong profits can coexist.

So when politicians say “no one becomes a billionaire without cheating”, what they’re really saying is “no company can be worth billions without exploiting people.” And that just doesn’t hold up.

Let’s look at this in a practical example.

As Paul Graham points out, a startup making $200 million a year in profit could easily be worth $7 billion, and a founder owning just 15% would be a billionaire.

Where do we draw the line? Should we prevent founders from owning a reasonable stake in their own companies? Should we stifle innovation to prevent anyone from becoming "too" successful, even though this would benefit millions of others?

_{Freeze-frame: I do not believe in trickle-down economics! The government plays a key role in protecting workers and ensuring we can all get wealthier!}

Let’s see what’s left on our list:

• “Every billionaire is a policy failure”

• “Eat the rich.” _{dumb but fun to say}

• "You don’t become a billionaire by being ethical.”

• “If hard work made you rich, nurses would be billionaires."

• “Billionaires are just nepo-babies.”

• Billionaire taxation > billionaire philanthropy

Ethics “R” Us

"You don’t become a billionaire by being ethical."

Ok, are there shady billionaires? Duh. _{(Looking at you, Sacklers)}

And if we’re talking past billionaires, like Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and their fellow cronies, they didn’t exactly get rich by playing nice. I’m sure they were smart and hard-working, but these guys also crushed labor movements, colluded, and even hired private militias to kill striking workers!

But today’s billionaires? They aren’t quite in the same league (thank god).

Most billionaires today — at least the broligarchs _(cringe) — made their wealth by creating things people want (and even need).

• Microsoft

• Meta

• Apple

• Amazon

• Google

As you all have heard me say here, the past was rough, but at the end of the day, the idea that all of these modern-day billionaires are some villains twirling their mustaches and forcing workers into coal mines is a bit outdated. You can acknowledge that AND advocate for labor protections (subtweeting Amazon).

Did Billionaires Even Work Hard? Or Just Get Lucky?

"If hard work made you rich, nurses would be billionaires."

Hard work is necessary but not sufficient. As Shaan Puri argues, choosing the right game to play is crucial. A janitor can work tirelessly, busting their ass working 80-hour weeks, but their profession doesn’t let them get to billions. That's not a judgment on them — it's a reality cap.

Starting a company is a different game, one with higher risk and potentially higher rewards, which still requires lots of luck and timing.

The billionaires we talk about — Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg — didn’t just work hard. They played a game where success equalled exponential rewards.

The neppyysssssss

"They’re just nepo-babies."

Yes, being born rich helps. Of course, lol. A kid with wealthy parents has more access, more funding, and more safety nets.

But nepotism only gets you so far _{(stay with me)}.

You can be the C-tier failson of a billionaire and coast to a comfy executive job.

But making a billion? Or billionsss? That’s a different breed.

How do I know? Well, if you gave me a $100,000 like Bezos allegedly received, I can guarantee you that I would not have been able to build Amazon.

🚨🚨🚨 _{Pause — all I’m saying is that if you know an easy path to make billions, hmu please! I’m not singing their praises.}

Back to the list:

• “Every billionaire is a policy failure”

• “Eat the rich.” _{dumb but fun to say}

• "You don’t become a billionaire by being ethical.”

• “If hard work made you rich, nurses would be billionaires."

• “Billionaires are just nepo-babies.”

• Billionaire taxation > billionaire philanthropy

Tax the Billions to Hell!!!

Billionaire taxation > billionaire philanthropy

Should we tax billionaires into oblivion? Or is philanthropy the better play?

Look, billionaire philanthropy isn’t perfect. But ignoring the real-world impact of their giving is just bad faith.

• Gates Foundation has plausibly saved at least 10 million lives.

• Dustin Moskovitz & Cari Tuna have improved conditions for >100M animals + facilitated prisone-reform

• Norman Borlaug’s agricultural research (funded by Ford & Rockefeller Foundations) likely saved 1 billion people from starvation.

Would the government have done this more effectively? Maybe (we’ll never know).

But what we DEFINITELY know is that governments can be very slow, bureaucratic, and tied down by politics — like we’ve all recently witnessed with the attack on USAID. 

Private philanthropy can move faster and swing for the fences.

And for those saying “tax the hell out of them instead”, I get it. But consider:

1. Governments are already trillions of dollars bigger than billionaire philanthropy

2. More taxes ≠ smarter spending. The government funds bad things sometimes (need I specify?)

I used to be in the "billionaires are arsonists pretending to be firefighters" camp (thanks, Anand Giridharadas).

But I've realized that billionaire philanthropy, while clearly imperfect, can be a powerful force for good. It allows for a diversity of approaches, experimentation, and a level of ambition that government often struggles to match.

Think of it like a diversified investment portfolio. You wouldn't put all your money in one stock _{(please agree)}. That’s way too risky:

Final Thought: The Art of the Scapegoat

As Kamil Galeev wrote:

"Politics is the art of scapegoating."

So when you hear people say “billionaires are the reason you can’t buy a house”, pause and ask: Is that really it? (Hint: it’s not).

Because if billionaires actually ran the world like TikTok says, they wouldn’t have to spend so much lobbying for influence; they would get everything they want.

They’re not your friends.
They’re not food.
Most importantly, they’re not our overlords (but should still be smacked with taxes).

Dunk on them for buying superyachts and sports teams.
Criticize them for wielding their money in damaging, chaotic ways.
But stop fixating on billionaires and acting like they decide everything in your life.

If you’re going to get on to them, at least bully them into doing things like the Bezos Earth Fund, for example, which exceeded the UN's Green Fund's budget back in 2020.

That's the kind of ambition that helps.

Attributing societal woes and problems to "billionaires" is like attributing every problem to "stupidity" – it's a convenient excuse to avoid deeper analysis — a privilege. It's a way to shut down your own critical thinking and avoid grappling with the messy, annoying reality of the world.

Thanks for taking the Pack,

Zach

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The Content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.