2021-07-21_Why_I_Defend_Billionaires
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00:00:30.000 | - Welcome to Radical Personal Finance,
00:00:32.000 | a show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge,
00:00:34.000 | skills, insight, and encouragement you need
00:00:36.000 | to live a rich and meaningful life now
00:00:38.000 | while building a plan for financial freedom
00:00:40.000 | in 10 years or less.
00:00:41.000 | My name is Joshua Sheets, I am your host,
00:00:43.000 | and today on the show I'm gonna tell you
00:00:45.000 | why I defend billionaires,
00:00:48.000 | why I systematically defend intentionally billionaires.
00:00:53.000 | In a recent series of shows,
00:00:56.000 | I've been analyzing some of the ProPublica journalism
00:01:00.000 | where the journalists at ProPublica
00:01:03.000 | have been analyzing the confidential tax records
00:01:07.000 | of some of the wealthiest US Americans.
00:01:10.000 | In the most recent episode,
00:01:12.000 | I talked about their article on Peter Thiel,
00:01:15.000 | and I have systematically defended
00:01:18.000 | some of the billionaires in these articles,
00:01:21.000 | including Peter Thiel.
00:01:23.000 | And I wanna tell you why I do that,
00:01:25.000 | because in some ways,
00:01:27.000 | it's become more culturally acceptable
00:01:31.000 | to be opposed to billionaires
00:01:34.000 | than it is to defend billionaires.
00:01:37.000 | But I wanna tell you why I intentionally choose
00:01:40.000 | to defend billionaires,
00:01:42.000 | even though I'm not one of them yet.
00:01:46.000 | The first principle is something that I live by
00:01:50.000 | or try to live by, and it is this.
00:01:53.000 | Always defend and affirm
00:01:57.000 | the things that you want more of in your life.
00:02:02.000 | If you want something that you don't have yet,
00:02:06.000 | you should systematically stand up for it,
00:02:09.000 | call it out, and affirm it.
00:02:12.000 | I think of this with my own children.
00:02:14.000 | My goal, my ambition,
00:02:16.000 | is to spend three or four or five times
00:02:20.000 | more of my time
00:02:23.000 | systematically affirming my children
00:02:25.000 | for the things that they do well,
00:02:27.000 | for the things that they're really good at,
00:02:29.000 | as compared to the time that I spend criticizing them
00:02:32.000 | or correcting them for things that they're not doing well.
00:02:35.000 | If I'm working with a friend,
00:02:37.000 | I wanna spend more of my time
00:02:39.000 | encouraging my friend for the things that he or she does well
00:02:43.000 | versus tearing them down and trying to correct them
00:02:46.000 | for the things that they're not doing well.
00:02:48.000 | And I believe that this applies at every level of society.
00:02:52.000 | Some of the most bitter people that you'll find
00:02:56.000 | are those who spend all of their time
00:02:59.000 | criticizing something that they object to.
00:03:03.000 | They're just often unpleasant people.
00:03:06.000 | And in my opinion, the reason they're unpleasant
00:03:08.000 | is they spend all their time
00:03:10.000 | focusing on the things that they don't want in their life
00:03:14.000 | as compared to the things that they do want.
00:03:16.000 | And I have found for me that
00:03:18.000 | when I spend a lot of time talking about the things that I do want,
00:03:22.000 | then I tend to experience more of those.
00:03:25.000 | So if I see somebody behaving in a way that is kind,
00:03:29.000 | I want to do my very best to notice it
00:03:32.000 | and at least acknowledge it to myself
00:03:35.000 | that I really like how kindly that person is behaving.
00:03:39.000 | And if possible, call it out to them.
00:03:42.000 | I really appreciate Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so.
00:03:45.000 | I really appreciate how kind you were in this situation.
00:03:48.000 | It encouraged me.
00:03:49.000 | Or how patient you are.
00:03:51.000 | I want to call out those things that I appreciate
00:03:54.000 | and that I want more of in my life and in the world.
00:03:58.000 | How does this relate to wealth?
00:04:00.000 | Well, very specifically, I want more wealth.
00:04:04.000 | I want more wealth in my life.
00:04:07.000 | I want more wealth in your life.
00:04:10.000 | And I want more wealth in the world around.
00:04:13.000 | I really do.
00:04:14.000 | I genuinely hope 10 years from now
00:04:17.000 | that I have 10 times as much wealth as I have today.
00:04:22.000 | I want that for me.
00:04:24.000 | I want that for you.
00:04:25.000 | And I want that for every single one of our neighbors.
00:04:28.000 | You and I are living in a world
00:04:31.000 | that is infinitely wealthier and infinitely better
00:04:36.000 | than the world of our parents 50 years ago
00:04:39.000 | or the world of our grandparents 75 years ago
00:04:43.000 | or our previous generations a century or two ago.
00:04:48.000 | You and I don't have any of the problems
00:04:51.000 | that some of our forebearers wrestled with
00:04:54.000 | in their poverty.
00:04:56.000 | And I'm grateful for that.
00:04:58.000 | But I don't want it to stop here.
00:04:59.000 | I don't want to live in a poorer world 10 years from now.
00:05:03.000 | I want to live in a wealthier world 10 years from now.
00:05:07.000 | And so because of that, I am going to systematically encourage
00:05:11.000 | and compliment those who build wealth.
00:05:14.000 | I'm going to do my best to lead by example
00:05:16.000 | of showing how I build wealth.
00:05:18.000 | I'm going to do my best to teach others how to build wealth.
00:05:22.000 | And I'm going to systematically praise those who do build wealth.
00:05:27.000 | And if you're looking for an example
00:05:29.000 | of some of the people who are the most effective,
00:05:32.000 | the most productive at building wealth,
00:05:35.000 | look at a billionaire.
00:05:37.000 | Look at a guy like Peter Thiel who started with very little.
00:05:40.000 | And transformed very little into a lot.
00:05:44.000 | I'm going to study someone like that.
00:05:46.000 | And I'm going to do my very best to model and imitate
00:05:50.000 | somebody like that.
00:05:52.000 | And so I praise and call out the things
00:05:55.000 | that I want to see more of in the world.
00:05:57.000 | And one of those things is wealth.
00:06:00.000 | I want to see more wealth in the world.
00:06:03.000 | And so because of that, I systematically defend wealth.
00:06:08.000 | You say, "Okay, Joshua, well, maybe I could see
00:06:12.000 | that being the case if wealth was a sign of good things.
00:06:16.000 | But what about all the bad things that come with wealth?
00:06:19.000 | What about those who become wealthy due to cheating?"
00:06:22.000 | Well, there are two things I'd like to say in response to that.
00:06:25.000 | The second principle is I genuinely believe
00:06:29.000 | that those who build wealth sustainably,
00:06:33.000 | those who build the most wealth,
00:06:35.000 | and those who build wealth in such a way
00:06:38.000 | that they can reasonably expect to keep it for the long term,
00:06:43.000 | are always those who build wealth the right way.
00:06:46.000 | And I believe the right way is through service.
00:06:50.000 | I do my very best, imperfectly I'm sure,
00:06:53.000 | but I do my very best to live based upon
00:06:57.000 | a systematically Christian worldview.
00:07:00.000 | And it's my own personal Christian worldview
00:07:02.000 | that leads me to believe that those who are the highest in society
00:07:07.000 | get there when they serve the most effectively.
00:07:10.000 | This flows from the teachings of Jesus Christ himself,
00:07:13.000 | who said, "He who would be the greatest among you
00:07:15.000 | must be the servant of all."
00:07:17.000 | And Christians believe that Jesus modeled the right behavior for us
00:07:21.000 | when, at that time that he spoke those words,
00:07:25.000 | he modeled service.
00:07:27.000 | Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the God of the universe,
00:07:30.000 | the God who created the universe,
00:07:32.000 | king of all the universe and this earth,
00:07:35.000 | and yet the king of the earth humbled himself
00:07:39.000 | and took up a towel and washed the feet of his disciples.
00:07:44.000 | And of course in that cultural context,
00:07:46.000 | that was disgusting to do.
00:07:48.000 | The feet were pretty gross,
00:07:50.000 | and that was a job that was generally reserved
00:07:52.000 | for the humblest of servants and slaves.
00:07:56.000 | And yet here's Jesus Christ laying out the example
00:07:59.000 | of serving his own disciples.
00:08:03.000 | And I believe that that established the model
00:08:06.000 | for the world going forward.
00:08:08.000 | That if you desire to be wealthy,
00:08:10.000 | if you desire to be great,
00:08:12.000 | the way that you achieve that greatness
00:08:14.000 | is by serving all.
00:08:17.000 | Serving your neighbor,
00:08:19.000 | serving your loved ones,
00:08:21.000 | serving the world more broadly.
00:08:24.000 | Now when you have a market system
00:08:27.000 | without coercion, force, and violence,
00:08:32.000 | those who serve the most people the most effectively
00:08:36.000 | build the greatest wealth.
00:08:39.000 | If you look at a free market system,
00:08:41.000 | or in a mostly free market system,
00:08:44.000 | you will always find that the wealthiest people
00:08:46.000 | in that system are those who serve others effectively.
00:08:52.000 | Billionaires become billionaires
00:08:55.000 | because they develop products, services,
00:08:58.000 | and solutions that people want.
00:09:01.000 | Sam Walton and the Walton family
00:09:04.000 | became billionaires because he found a way
00:09:08.000 | to serve hundreds of millions of people
00:09:12.000 | more effectively than the merchants of his day were doing.
00:09:18.000 | He gave them better products at lower prices.
00:09:21.000 | He put stores in areas that were poorly served,
00:09:24.000 | and he became a billionaire.
00:09:26.000 | A few decades later,
00:09:28.000 | Jeff Bezos did the same thing.
00:09:30.000 | He came up with a way of systematically serving
00:09:33.000 | more people better,
00:09:36.000 | and thus he became very wealthy.
00:09:38.000 | Now Peter Thiel accomplished the exact same thing.
00:09:41.000 | He came up with, along with his collaborators,
00:09:44.000 | he came up with a system that allowed him to serve
00:09:47.000 | many more people with a product, a service,
00:09:51.000 | that genuinely helps them.
00:09:53.000 | I personally am exceedingly grateful that PayPal exists.
00:09:57.000 | I have used PayPal since the very earliest of days.
00:10:00.000 | In the beginning, PayPal facilitated my ability
00:10:03.000 | to buy and sell things on eBay.
00:10:05.000 | It was wonderful.
00:10:06.000 | I remember when I first made my first purchase on eBay,
00:10:08.000 | and the whole world opened up to me,
00:10:10.000 | and I could find all these weird, esoteric things
00:10:13.000 | that I was into, and buy them for a few dollars.
00:10:17.000 | And PayPal facilitated that.
00:10:19.000 | It allowed me to accomplish those transactions
00:10:21.000 | simply and easily.
00:10:23.000 | Over the years, I've continued to appreciate and use PayPal.
00:10:27.000 | Even up to current day.
00:10:29.000 | Last year, I raised a couple tens of thousands of dollars
00:10:32.000 | for people who were in tremendous need using PayPal.
00:10:36.000 | I was involved with some relief work happening
00:10:39.000 | in the beleaguered nation of Venezuela,
00:10:42.000 | and I put out a call for any of my listeners
00:10:44.000 | who wanted to donate to some of the relief work
00:10:47.000 | that I was involved in.
00:10:49.000 | It was extremely simple for me to raise the money,
00:10:52.000 | because I just said, "Go to paypal.me/joshuasheats
00:10:55.000 | and send me money," and people did it.
00:10:58.000 | Then I took that money, put it in my bank account,
00:11:00.000 | took out cash from my bank account,
00:11:02.000 | gave it to the appropriate people doing the relief work,
00:11:04.000 | and I was able, with a minimum of expense,
00:11:07.000 | with a minimum of bureaucratic interference,
00:11:10.000 | I was able to raise several tens of thousands of dollars
00:11:13.000 | for people who needed it.
00:11:15.000 | And that is still a very effective work
00:11:19.000 | that's being done today because of that money.
00:11:22.000 | It has flourished and it has grown.
00:11:25.000 | So I'm grateful for PayPal.
00:11:27.000 | One thing that's very easy for people in the United States
00:11:30.000 | and some other Western economies to forget
00:11:33.000 | is how difficult and expensive the financial systems are
00:11:37.000 | for the vast majority of people in this world.
00:11:40.000 | Those of us who come from the United States
00:11:42.000 | are accustomed to having very high-quality financial services
00:11:46.000 | delivered to them very, very cheaply.
00:11:48.000 | You speak to the average American and tell them
00:11:50.000 | they have to pay a monthly fee for their banking,
00:11:52.000 | and they'll look at you like you're crazy.
00:11:54.000 | "Are you kidding me?
00:11:55.000 | Why wouldn't the bank pay me for them having my money?"
00:11:59.000 | And so we're accustomed to recognizing
00:12:01.000 | that we have a system that works pretty well.
00:12:04.000 | But the vast majority of the world
00:12:06.000 | does not live under such a system.
00:12:08.000 | The vast majority of the world is very poorly served,
00:12:12.000 | if they're served at all, by the financial systems around.
00:12:15.000 | They're expensive, they're hard to deal with,
00:12:17.000 | they just don't work for them.
00:12:19.000 | And so companies like PayPal made a massive difference
00:12:23.000 | in the early days for those people.
00:12:26.000 | They're still making a difference,
00:12:28.000 | and what's more importantly, a company like PayPal
00:12:31.000 | paved the way for the increasingly robust
00:12:34.000 | financial services systems that we're living in right now.
00:12:37.000 | Maybe today it's more likely that if you want to send me money,
00:12:40.000 | you might Venmo it to me,
00:12:42.000 | or use some Facebook cash app or something,
00:12:45.000 | or send it to me with Apple Pay.
00:12:47.000 | But all of these systems have built upon the ground
00:12:51.000 | that a company like PayPal trailblazed.
00:12:54.000 | And I'm grateful that they exist.
00:12:56.000 | I'm grateful for PayPal.
00:12:58.000 | My life is better today because of PayPal.
00:13:00.000 | And so am I happy that Peter Thiel became very wealthy
00:13:04.000 | because of his early efforts in PayPal?
00:13:07.000 | I'm thrilled about it.
00:13:09.000 | I am absolutely thrilled about it.
00:13:11.000 | Because my life is better because Peter Thiel served me.
00:13:16.000 | Your life is better because Peter Thiel served you.
00:13:20.000 | And I'm glad that Peter Thiel can be wealthy.
00:13:23.000 | So I believe that those who build wealth for the long term
00:13:27.000 | have to get there by serving others.
00:13:29.000 | And so I look at wealth,
00:13:32.000 | somebody who's a millionaire, a billionaire,
00:13:35.000 | I look at wealth as a marker
00:13:38.000 | of how effectively a person has served others.
00:13:42.000 | And the wealthiest among us have often served others the best,
00:13:47.000 | the most effectively.
00:13:49.000 | Now the next principle, however, is
00:13:52.000 | what if they've done something wrong to get there?
00:13:56.000 | Right? That's what the ProPublica articles are talking about.
00:14:00.000 | What if they've done something wrong?
00:14:02.000 | Now to their credit,
00:14:04.000 | the journalists involved in the ProPublica articles
00:14:07.000 | have not made allocations that they can't support.
00:14:11.000 | I've commented on how impressed I personally am
00:14:15.000 | at how they've found virtually no dirt
00:14:18.000 | on some of these wealthiest people
00:14:21.000 | in the United States of America.
00:14:23.000 | That's unusual.
00:14:25.000 | That's unusual in the history of the world.
00:14:27.000 | For a journalist to have virtually unfettered access
00:14:32.000 | to the most intimate of details
00:14:34.000 | of the wealthiest people in a country,
00:14:36.000 | and then to come away without many scandalous
00:14:40.000 | or salacious details to share with the world around,
00:14:44.000 | is pretty remarkable.
00:14:46.000 | That's a testament to the general honesty
00:14:50.000 | of the wealthy taxpayers in the United States.
00:14:53.000 | That's a testament to the people of the United States
00:14:56.000 | who've built a system where the wealthiest can get there
00:15:00.000 | by serving and not by taking advantage of others,
00:15:03.000 | not by robbing and killing and stealing from others.
00:15:07.000 | The most damning of accusations
00:15:11.000 | that the ProPublica journalists could raise
00:15:13.000 | for Peter Thiel was that perhaps he undervalued
00:15:19.000 | the stock that he put into his Roth IRA.
00:15:23.000 | In that episode, I talked about how maybe that's true,
00:15:26.000 | but that's a hard argument to make
00:15:29.000 | when you're dealing with illiquid things
00:15:31.000 | like early stage shares of a company.
00:15:34.000 | Now, you can question that,
00:15:37.000 | and I think it's fair to question that.
00:15:39.000 | You and I don't know.
00:15:40.000 | But here's the next principle
00:15:42.000 | that I want to systematically defend.
00:15:44.000 | I believe very, very deeply,
00:15:48.000 | it's a firm and deep conviction for me,
00:15:51.000 | that we should always defend the principle
00:15:55.000 | that another person is innocent
00:15:58.000 | until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:16:02.000 | Now, of course, those words are very commonly understood
00:16:06.000 | by any person who's been involved
00:16:08.000 | in a criminal trial in the United States.
00:16:11.000 | In the U.S. American legal system,
00:16:13.000 | in a criminal court of law,
00:16:15.000 | in order for somebody to be found guilty,
00:16:18.000 | they have to be proven to be guilty
00:16:21.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:16:24.000 | We know that there are people
00:16:27.000 | who are genuinely guilty of the crime
00:16:31.000 | for which they are later set free
00:16:35.000 | who get off because we require
00:16:37.000 | a very high standard of evidence.
00:16:40.000 | But I believe that's the right tactic,
00:16:43.000 | the right principle for us to maintain.
00:16:46.000 | We should always defend that somebody is not guilty.
00:16:51.000 | They're innocent until they're proven guilty
00:16:53.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:16:55.000 | And I would rather have 10 guilty people
00:16:57.000 | walking around free
00:17:00.000 | than I would one innocent person
00:17:03.000 | who's wrongly convicted
00:17:05.000 | because a lower standard was held.
00:17:09.000 | But here's what's beautiful
00:17:10.000 | about that particular set of words,
00:17:13.000 | that particular phrase.
00:17:15.000 | I believe that that is a worthy principle
00:17:18.000 | that you and I should apply
00:17:20.000 | to every area of our life.
00:17:22.000 | And I personally, in the same vein
00:17:25.000 | that I want to defend those things that I appreciate,
00:17:27.000 | I want to lead in setting that example.
00:17:30.000 | I want to be the kind of person who,
00:17:32.000 | when I read an article in a newspaper
00:17:35.000 | about so-and-so is alleged
00:17:38.000 | to have done something wrong,
00:17:40.000 | or we think that so-and-so may have been involved
00:17:43.000 | in some scandalous thing,
00:17:45.000 | I want to be the kind of person
00:17:46.000 | who quickly reacts to that and says,
00:17:49.000 | "No, I'm going to judge this person to be innocent
00:17:53.000 | "until they're proven guilty
00:17:55.000 | "beyond a reasonable doubt."
00:17:57.000 | I don't want to be the kind of person
00:17:58.000 | who jumps on another person and says,
00:18:00.000 | "I don't like that person.
00:18:01.000 | "They're from the wrong political party
00:18:03.000 | "or the wrong religious persuasion
00:18:04.000 | "or the wrong side of town,
00:18:06.000 | "so you know what, they're probably guilty."
00:18:08.000 | I want to be the kind of person
00:18:10.000 | who defends their innocence
00:18:11.000 | until they're proven guilty
00:18:14.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:18:16.000 | And so when I read an article
00:18:17.000 | about a guy like Peter Thiel
00:18:19.000 | and the journalist intimates
00:18:22.000 | that perhaps this PayPal stock was undervalued,
00:18:27.000 | I refuse, flat-out refuse,
00:18:31.000 | to indulge any questioning
00:18:35.000 | or any questioning or suspicion
00:18:40.000 | that he did something wrong
00:18:42.000 | until that's proven guilty,
00:18:45.000 | until he's proven guilty
00:18:46.000 | by those who have the appropriate information.
00:18:48.000 | I will not be the kind of person
00:18:50.000 | who sits back and gossips about,
00:18:52.000 | "You know what, he's rich,
00:18:53.000 | "so he's probably guilty.
00:18:55.000 | "He probably got there
00:18:57.000 | "because he undervalued his stock."
00:18:59.000 | First of all, we're dealing with
00:19:00.000 | a fairly mundane accounting question.
00:19:03.000 | Peter Thiel would be incredibly wealthy
00:19:05.000 | whether he had valued his original PayPal stock
00:19:09.000 | at a third of what he did
00:19:10.000 | or at three times what he did.
00:19:12.000 | That didn't matter.
00:19:13.000 | That was simply an accounting mechanism
00:19:15.000 | with the IRS.
00:19:18.000 | And so he really did nothing wrong, period.
00:19:21.000 | But even if he did,
00:19:22.000 | I want to be the kind of person
00:19:24.000 | who defends someone's innocence
00:19:26.000 | until they're proven guilty.
00:19:28.000 | And I see the relaxation of this standard
00:19:32.000 | as a deeply toxic trend
00:19:34.000 | in your life and in my life
00:19:36.000 | that people walk around
00:19:37.000 | ascribing guilt to others
00:19:39.000 | and saying, "Oh, you know,
00:19:40.000 | "so-and-so is a Democrat,"
00:19:42.000 | or, "So-and-so is a Republican,"
00:19:43.000 | or, "So-and-so is a Trumpster,
00:19:45.000 | "and so they're probably guilty
00:19:47.000 | "of this great crime."
00:19:48.000 | No, I'm done with that.
00:19:49.000 | I don't want to live in that world.
00:19:51.000 | I believe that you are innocent
00:19:55.000 | of any wrongdoing
00:19:57.000 | that is alleged about you
00:19:59.000 | until you are proven to be guilty
00:20:01.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:20:03.000 | It's not to say, of course,
00:20:04.000 | that there aren't guilty people.
00:20:06.000 | Of course there are.
00:20:07.000 | But I'm going to defend your innocence
00:20:09.000 | until you're proven to be guilty.
00:20:12.000 | And I believe that when we do that,
00:20:15.000 | it makes us better people, right,
00:20:18.000 | who actually look for evidence
00:20:20.000 | instead of just jumping on the bandwagon
00:20:22.000 | to be against somebody
00:20:23.000 | that we disagree with.
00:20:24.000 | It also just leads to a better world.
00:20:27.000 | It leads to the kind--
00:20:28.000 | you become the kind of person
00:20:30.000 | that people want to be around,
00:20:31.000 | that people like to be with.
00:20:33.000 | And it causes you to just simply
00:20:35.000 | live in a better world.
00:20:36.000 | You go around in a happy haze
00:20:39.000 | of positive expectations of other people,
00:20:41.000 | and you live a better life,
00:20:42.000 | and you make the world better.
00:20:44.000 | And so I'm going to practice that.
00:20:46.000 | Now, if you can prove that a billionaire
00:20:49.000 | is guilty of something,
00:20:51.000 | I'll stand beside you
00:20:52.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:20:53.000 | Not to be perfect,
00:20:54.000 | but beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:20:55.000 | You can prove that so-and-so
00:20:57.000 | is guilty of something.
00:20:58.000 | I'll stand side-by-side with you
00:21:00.000 | and be with you
00:21:02.000 | in throwing the first stones.
00:21:04.000 | But you've got to prove
00:21:06.000 | that they are guilty,
00:21:07.000 | and it has to be proof
00:21:08.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:21:10.000 | So I believe in that principle,
00:21:12.000 | and so thus, I'm going to
00:21:14.000 | systematically defend it,
00:21:16.000 | because that's the principle
00:21:17.000 | that I want to be held--
00:21:18.000 | that I want to be held to.
00:21:19.000 | I want you to defend my innocence
00:21:23.000 | until I'm proven to be guilty of something,
00:21:25.000 | if someday the people come for me
00:21:28.000 | and they write articles about me.
00:21:31.000 | Now, why else do I defend billionaires?
00:21:35.000 | Notice that I said earlier
00:21:36.000 | that in a relatively free system,
00:21:38.000 | in a system where people can choose
00:21:41.000 | how they want to spend their money
00:21:42.000 | and with whom they want to associate,
00:21:44.000 | the way to become great
00:21:46.000 | is to serve others effectively.
00:21:51.000 | We don't live in a perfect system,
00:21:54.000 | but we live in a system
00:21:55.000 | that is closer to that
00:21:57.000 | rather than in the realm
00:21:59.000 | of force and coercion.
00:22:00.000 | So why else do I defend billionaires?
00:22:04.000 | Well, the reason is
00:22:07.000 | billionaires function mostly
00:22:11.000 | in that system,
00:22:12.000 | where they have to make offers to people
00:22:15.000 | and see if people want to do business with them,
00:22:17.000 | versus the immoral system
00:22:19.000 | of force, coercion,
00:22:22.000 | and violence against other people.
00:22:24.000 | And so when I read a series of articles,
00:22:26.000 | for example, from ProPublica,
00:22:28.000 | and of course ProPublica is advocating
00:22:31.000 | for increasing taxation of billionaires,
00:22:34.000 | I am very uncomfortable with that,
00:22:37.000 | because the single largest group
00:22:41.000 | of proven criminals
00:22:43.000 | in the history of the world
00:22:45.000 | have always come from those
00:22:47.000 | who've been involved
00:22:48.000 | in taking other people's money,
00:22:50.000 | controlling it through
00:22:52.000 | the institutions of government,
00:22:55.000 | and then using that for the way
00:22:57.000 | that they think is best.
00:22:59.000 | Hundreds of millions of lives
00:23:02.000 | were lost in the 20th century
00:23:04.000 | because of those kinds of people.
00:23:06.000 | Those people have generally committed
00:23:10.000 | the largest crimes,
00:23:12.000 | stolen the most money,
00:23:14.000 | killed the most people,
00:23:15.000 | oppressed the largest number of people
00:23:18.000 | when they have done so,
00:23:20.000 | with the powers
00:23:22.000 | of the institutions of government.
00:23:24.000 | Now when the institutions of government
00:23:26.000 | are small and underfunded,
00:23:29.000 | then those same institutions now
00:23:32.000 | have to fight for their legitimacy
00:23:34.000 | in the public eye.
00:23:35.000 | And to the extent that the public
00:23:37.000 | sees them as doing good work,
00:23:40.000 | they'll reward them with more power.
00:23:42.000 | If you have a district attorney
00:23:44.000 | in your local area
00:23:46.000 | who runs a small office,
00:23:48.000 | but that office is very heavily involved
00:23:51.000 | in fighting crime,
00:23:52.000 | going after those who deserve it,
00:23:53.000 | exposing corruption,
00:23:55.000 | the people will turn around
00:23:56.000 | and they'll reward that person
00:23:58.000 | with a higher budget.
00:24:00.000 | They'll reward that department
00:24:01.000 | for their good work.
00:24:02.000 | They'll give them good press
00:24:03.000 | and they'll honor that person.
00:24:05.000 | But in a system like the United States,
00:24:07.000 | you do not live in that system.
00:24:09.000 | Instead, we're dealing with a behemoth,
00:24:13.000 | an incredibly corrupt, immoral behemoth
00:24:17.000 | that is responsible for the deaths
00:24:18.000 | of millions of people around the world,
00:24:20.000 | that is responsible for interfering
00:24:22.000 | in the affairs of practically
00:24:23.000 | every country in the world,
00:24:26.000 | interfering in the free and open elections
00:24:28.000 | of countries around the world,
00:24:29.000 | killing people, deposing dictators,
00:24:31.000 | sending armies here and there,
00:24:33.000 | interfering in the internal affairs
00:24:35.000 | of countries all around the world.
00:24:37.000 | I do not want that group of people
00:24:41.000 | whose lives are marked by involvement
00:24:43.000 | in a corrupt system
00:24:45.000 | to have more resources.
00:24:47.000 | I want them to have 20%
00:24:49.000 | of the resources that they have now.
00:24:53.000 | Another biblical principle.
00:24:55.000 | To him who is, to him,
00:24:59.000 | I'll skip that for a moment, okay?
00:25:01.000 | I want them to have less is the point.
00:25:04.000 | I want them to be shown faithful
00:25:06.000 | with what they do have
00:25:07.000 | before they have more.
00:25:08.000 | And as far as I'm concerned,
00:25:09.000 | if you or I ever hired somebody
00:25:12.000 | who did anything like
00:25:15.000 | what your federal government does,
00:25:18.000 | we would have fired them decades ago.
00:25:20.000 | We would have cut their budget by 80%.
00:25:22.000 | And so when you talk about tax revenues,
00:25:25.000 | I would much rather Peter Thiel
00:25:27.000 | have a few extra billion dollars
00:25:29.000 | because he doesn't have the power
00:25:30.000 | of coercion, of force.
00:25:32.000 | He's not out there interfering
00:25:33.000 | in people's lives the way
00:25:35.000 | that an institution like
00:25:36.000 | the US government is.
00:25:38.000 | Now, does this violate my principle
00:25:40.000 | of innocent until proven guilty?
00:25:43.000 | I have to be very careful, right?
00:25:44.000 | I want to be judged by that,
00:25:45.000 | so I want to judge by that.
00:25:47.000 | At this point in time, though,
00:25:49.000 | it seems pretty obvious to me
00:25:52.000 | that anybody who is involved
00:25:55.000 | in any way as a government agent
00:25:59.000 | is on a very slippery slope.
00:26:03.000 | And perhaps there are a few people
00:26:05.000 | who are doing genuine good
00:26:07.000 | in those areas, perhaps, right?
00:26:09.000 | We all have our politician that we like.
00:26:12.000 | But on the whole,
00:26:14.000 | there is abundant evidence
00:26:16.000 | with the millions of people killed,
00:26:18.000 | the tremendous corruption
00:26:21.000 | all around the world,
00:26:22.000 | there is abundant evidence
00:26:23.000 | to believe at this point in time
00:26:27.000 | the case has been proven
00:26:28.000 | that these people are guilty.
00:26:30.000 | So I don't want those people
00:26:32.000 | to have more money.
00:26:34.000 | I simply don't.
00:26:36.000 | Now, that's my opinion.
00:26:38.000 | Your mileage may vary.
00:26:39.000 | But I have observed
00:26:41.000 | that the more money
00:26:42.000 | that those people have,
00:26:44.000 | the more corrupt they become.
00:26:46.000 | The more power
00:26:47.000 | that government bureaucrats have
00:26:49.000 | because they have more money,
00:26:52.000 | the more corrupt they become.
00:26:54.000 | The more they wind up
00:26:55.000 | wanting to perpetuate
00:26:56.000 | the systems of corruption
00:26:58.000 | that give them that money.
00:26:59.000 | And so instead of bringing
00:27:00.000 | the world a service and saying,
00:27:02.000 | "Here, here's something.
00:27:03.000 | "Would you like it?
00:27:04.000 | "I bring it to you
00:27:05.000 | "and I offer it to you.
00:27:06.000 | "Would you like to buy this?"
00:27:08.000 | They bring the world
00:27:09.000 | inferior products
00:27:10.000 | that nobody really wants.
00:27:12.000 | And then they,
00:27:13.000 | figuratively speaking,
00:27:14.000 | most of the time,
00:27:15.000 | point guns at people's head
00:27:16.000 | and say, "Now, pay us for this.
00:27:18.000 | "Pay up, suckers."
00:27:20.000 | So if you're dealing
00:27:21.000 | in a world of tax disputes,
00:27:23.000 | I'm almost always going to side
00:27:25.000 | against the tax collector
00:27:26.000 | and in favor of the taxpayer
00:27:29.000 | in virtually every circumstance.
00:27:32.000 | Now, is there an argument
00:27:34.000 | that says, "Hey, so and so
00:27:35.000 | "should pay their taxes?"
00:27:36.000 | Yeah, there is.
00:27:37.000 | And I'm not opposed to that,
00:27:39.000 | although sometimes I wonder
00:27:40.000 | if I'll always be opposed
00:27:41.000 | to simply saying,
00:27:43.000 | "Follow the law."
00:27:44.000 | But the point remains
00:27:46.000 | that when no wrongful behavior
00:27:51.000 | is proven,
00:27:54.000 | you should side with those
00:27:56.000 | who are genuinely serving you
00:28:01.000 | rather than those
00:28:02.000 | who are genuinely enslaving you.
00:28:06.000 | The last and final point.
00:28:08.000 | Why will I systematically
00:28:09.000 | defend billionaires,
00:28:11.000 | especially as opposed
00:28:12.000 | to people like ProPublica
00:28:15.000 | or their journalists?
00:28:17.000 | To be clear,
00:28:18.000 | I'm not accusing their journalists
00:28:19.000 | of wrongdoing.
00:28:20.000 | I'm not accusing their journalists
00:28:21.000 | of getting something grossly wrong.
00:28:23.000 | But why would I defend them?
00:28:26.000 | Why would I defend someone like Thiel
00:28:28.000 | instead of those journalists?
00:28:31.000 | Those journalists cannot
00:28:33.000 | and have not, for me,
00:28:34.000 | articulated a clear argument
00:28:38.000 | as to how much is enough.
00:28:40.000 | Anytime I find somebody
00:28:41.000 | advocating for more taxes,
00:28:43.000 | higher tax collection,
00:28:45.000 | higher tax rates, et cetera,
00:28:47.000 | I always ask, "Well, how much?"
00:28:49.000 | What's the appropriate number?
00:28:51.000 | If you believe that 10% of taxes
00:28:54.000 | is too little,
00:28:55.000 | what's the right number?
00:28:56.000 | Well, it should be 20%.
00:28:58.000 | Okay, well, why?
00:28:59.000 | How do you get there?
00:29:01.000 | And so at this point in time,
00:29:02.000 | I have yet to find the proponent
00:29:04.000 | of higher taxation
00:29:06.000 | who will give me a number
00:29:08.000 | and then defend it.
00:29:09.000 | They always say,
00:29:10.000 | "Just a little bit more.
00:29:12.000 | "Just a little bit more."
00:29:14.000 | And so because of that,
00:29:15.000 | and because of the inherent violence
00:29:17.000 | associated with tax collection,
00:29:19.000 | forcing people to give you their money
00:29:21.000 | because you believe that they should,
00:29:25.000 | I don't trust them.
00:29:27.000 | I don't trust anybody advocating
00:29:29.000 | for higher taxation, ever,
00:29:32.000 | until they can answer
00:29:33.000 | some of those baseline questions.
00:29:35.000 | Now, I'm not sure if I'm necessarily
00:29:38.000 | a 0% tax guy,
00:29:41.000 | but I'm a whole lot more comfortable
00:29:43.000 | with those who follow the rules
00:29:45.000 | and systematically move their taxes
00:29:48.000 | in as close of a direction to 0%
00:29:51.000 | as I am with those who want to move
00:29:53.000 | other people's taxes
00:29:54.000 | in the direction of 100%.
00:29:57.000 | Again,
00:29:59.000 | who is more likely
00:30:02.000 | to be in the realm of moral behavior?
00:30:08.000 | The man or woman who's going to the market
00:30:10.000 | and who's saying to other people,
00:30:12.000 | "Here is a product.
00:30:13.000 | "Here is a service that will serve you.
00:30:15.000 | "Would you like to buy this thing from me?"
00:30:17.000 | and is profiting from it?
00:30:19.000 | Or the man or woman
00:30:20.000 | who's going to the market and saying,
00:30:22.000 | "You have something that I want,
00:30:24.000 | "and so I'm going to come and take it from you,
00:30:26.000 | "or I'm going to send others to take it from you
00:30:28.000 | "because you have something that I want,
00:30:30.000 | "and I want my guys,
00:30:32.000 | "I want my gals to control it."
00:30:36.000 | At the end of the day,
00:30:38.000 | you're probably going to wind up siding
00:30:40.000 | with one of those sides
00:30:43.000 | as a matter of default position.
00:30:47.000 | And I've made the choice
00:30:48.000 | that I prefer the world of freedom
00:30:50.000 | and non-coercion
00:30:52.000 | as compared to the world of control
00:30:55.000 | and coercion.
00:30:57.000 | Does that mean that potentially
00:30:59.000 | a billionaire might slip through
00:31:02.000 | who doesn't deserve it?
00:31:04.000 | Does.
00:31:06.000 | But I would rather have 10 of those guys
00:31:08.000 | slip through
00:31:12.000 | rather than suppress the system
00:31:15.000 | that has brought you and me
00:31:18.000 | a very wealthy life
00:31:21.000 | and a tremendous lifestyle.
00:31:24.000 | I don't believe that all billionaires
00:31:28.000 | should be defended.
00:31:30.000 | I do believe that some people
00:31:32.000 | have become billionaires
00:31:35.000 | based upon outright immoral actions.
00:31:40.000 | I'm not 100% sure of who those people are.
00:31:44.000 | People often, for example,
00:31:45.000 | people often allege that
00:31:46.000 | Vladimir Putin may be one of the wealthiest men
00:31:49.000 | in the world, perhaps, right?
00:31:50.000 | But we don't know.
00:31:52.000 | Maybe he does or doesn't deserve that.
00:31:54.000 | Maybe he doesn't deserve to be a billionaire.
00:31:56.000 | If that's the case, I would point out to you
00:31:58.000 | that the way that he became wealthy
00:31:59.000 | was by using the tools of government,
00:32:02.000 | not through using the tools of the free market.
00:32:06.000 | So I won't necessarily defend all billionaires,
00:32:10.000 | although I want to be disciplined enough
00:32:14.000 | to maintain anybody's innocence
00:32:18.000 | until they're proven guilty.
00:32:21.000 | Peter Thiel or Bill Gates
00:32:25.000 | or Jeff Bezos
00:32:27.000 | or George Soros, right?
00:32:33.000 | These are not the men who are coercing others.
00:32:36.000 | Rather, these are the men who are saying,
00:32:40.000 | "How can we bring a product to market?
00:32:43.000 | "How can we bring a solution to market?"
00:32:47.000 | And I like living in the world
00:32:51.000 | that these men's products and solutions have created.
00:32:55.000 | I like living in a wealthy society.
00:32:59.000 | It's because of that.
00:33:01.000 | My default position is going to be
00:33:03.000 | to defend wealthy people
00:33:05.000 | who built their wealth through service.
00:33:11.000 | My default position, if an accusation is brought against them,
00:33:14.000 | is going to be that they're innocent
00:33:17.000 | until proven guilty.
00:33:20.000 | And my default position is going to be
00:33:23.000 | to defend your right
00:33:27.000 | to maintain control of your own money,
00:33:29.000 | my right to retain control over my own money,
00:33:33.000 | and that guy's right to retain control over his own money
00:33:37.000 | from those who want to come and take it
00:33:39.000 | because they think that they can spend your money
00:33:43.000 | better than you can,
00:33:45.000 | especially when those people
00:33:47.000 | are the ones who control the goons with the guns.
00:33:51.000 | To me, that seems like a reliable starting position.
00:33:57.000 | If along the way,
00:34:00.000 | good evidence comes out
00:34:02.000 | that somebody has committed a crime,
00:34:05.000 | that somebody is proven to be guilty,
00:34:07.000 | beyond a reasonable doubt,
00:34:09.000 | then I'll change my position.
00:34:12.000 | At that point in time,
00:34:14.000 | I will then judge the morality of the law
00:34:17.000 | as well as whether somebody broke it.
00:34:20.000 | This is the basic principle of a fully informed jury person.
00:34:25.000 | That it's always your right
00:34:27.000 | to judge whether a law should exist.
00:34:30.000 | If you're on a jury and someone's being charged before you,
00:34:34.000 | you have the right when you're on that jury
00:34:36.000 | to judge whether a law is right or wrong,
00:34:40.000 | regardless of whether somebody has broken it.
00:34:43.000 | It's always your right.
00:34:45.000 | It's the fully informed jury movement.
00:34:47.000 | I would love to see legislation passed
00:34:50.000 | in every state in the United States
00:34:52.000 | that every jury person is required to be held,
00:34:55.000 | required to be informed of their right.
00:34:57.000 | It's called the Fully Informed Jury Association,
00:34:59.000 | the amendment.
00:35:01.000 | At that point in time,
00:35:03.000 | you and I can then judge the law.
00:35:05.000 | Maybe Peter Thiel did break the law.
00:35:08.000 | Maybe he's proven to be guilty.
00:35:10.000 | Then we ask the question, should this law exist?
00:35:12.000 | You and I have the right to judge any law,
00:35:14.000 | as whether it exists, and argue among ourselves
00:35:17.000 | our case as to why it should exist or shouldn't exist
00:35:20.000 | or what becomes of it.
00:35:22.000 | If you're wondering why I defend billionaires, that's why.
00:35:25.000 | I want to be a billionaire.
00:35:27.000 | I want you to be a billionaire.
00:35:29.000 | I want more billionaires to exist.
00:35:32.000 | As far as I can tell,
00:35:35.000 | more billionaires that exist
00:35:37.000 | means the more money that's been created
00:35:39.000 | by serving others.
00:35:41.000 | The wealthier the society that you and I live in.
00:35:44.000 | As far as I can tell,
00:35:46.000 | most billionaires wind up giving away their billions.
00:35:49.000 | And that's becoming increasingly popular.
00:35:51.000 | It's probably how it should be.
00:35:53.000 | And so, I'm happy with that.
00:35:55.000 | And so I'm going to systematically defend billionaires
00:35:58.000 | until they're proven to be guilty of something.
00:36:01.000 | That's why I defend billionaires.
00:36:03.000 | Thank you for listening.
00:36:04.000 | Be back with you very soon.
00:36:06.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]