Bob Schwartz

First, not all billionaires, not even most billionaires, are bad for the nation and the people of the nation.

Second, absent some horrible investment decisions, the billionaires will not be impoverished, in this or any future lifetime.

But there are billionaires who are using their money and power to make things worse for people or who don’t care if their money and power make things worse for people.

Here is the good news: A number of those billionaires made and continue to make their money from the buying power of consumers. Buying power as in power. Consumers as in…well, maybe you.

If this sounds simplistic, it isn’t. I am not alone in thinking about where the profits from my purchases of goods and services are going. Sometimes I make conscientious choices. Sometimes—I admit it—I choose price, convenience or utility over other factors.

The thing is, when I see and hear about the billionaires I’ve funded and fund, making the individuals or their companies richer, the path to alternative choices continues to shrink. Consolidation, conglomeration, oligopoly, monopoly rule.

The leverage is still there. ______________ will not find themselves living on the street or standing in a breadline, unless that is where they get their kicks. But if some choices you make keep a little of your money away from them, that’s not such a bad thing, is it?