Rich is definitely subjective but what matters most is are people rich enough in order to survive? Billionaires have routinely subjected their workers to harsh conditions and have stollen money from the top that would otherwise go to the workers who are making them all of this money.

I personally believe millionaires or even people pull 6-figure salaries aren’t doing that as much. If they are, there is a much bigger stink about it. For example with the Writer’s Guild, the top executives are presumably making tens of millions and they could easily put some of that money back into the writers who have put together amazing shows.

As far as risking it all on an idea, there wasn’t really as much risk as you might think. Jeff Bezos had a rich dad who supported his business. Elon Musk’s dad owned an emerald mine. And sure Musk has a rocky relationship with his dad and he might’ve said he never got any money from that but we can’t take his word for it. Unless Elon Musk’s dad publicly denounced him or something, it’s fair to say he’s gotten a cut of that money.

I’ll agree a lot of us are prudent and too cautious to take any risks, but it’s much easier to get into business when you know that you’re already set for life and don’t really need to do what you’re trying to achieve. It undermines some of the efforts when you realize certain bits about them and factor those in.

Elon Musk went through a messy divorce which is another part of his rollercoaster tragedy to success. But the story shifts when you realize he put himself into that position by telling his first wife on their honeymoon that “he owns her now.” and subsequently micromanages her as if she was an employee until they divorced.

Also cool he paid out roughly $19 billion in charity and taxes. The guy is still worth $177 billion. It’s a lot of money and it helps a lot, but that’s just over a tenth of his overall wealth.