Carl Rhodes
UK£19.99
Bristol University Press

In this book, Carl Rhodes, Dean of the UTS Business School, seeks to address several key myths around a group of individuals who are seemingly not content with dominating the business world, but the world of politics and society as a whole.

The book outlines the four myths which the billionaires of today, including Australia’s Richard Pratt and Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest (pictured) perpetuate:

They are heroes pursuing the American dream on a global scale. The dangers here are immense – that the US model of business – and its accompanying values – are seen as the ‘correct’ way of doing business. This is globalisation run riot – crushing national identities and culture in its path.

They are generous philanthropic benefactors who should be recognised as such. If only this were the case. The percentage of their wealth donated to ‘good causes’ is but a small fraction – one which is replaced by either tax breaks or income generation. Essentially, they earn faster than they ‘give’.

They are billionaires as a result of meritorious endeavour – you too can be a billionaire, if only you work hard enough and self-sacrifice. Here of course we should forget the handouts gifted to the successful businesspeople. It is unfortunate that Elon Musk, for example, essentially became the world’s richest man by investing his father’s money – yet created a myth that sees many people on the street view him as the creator of the electric car. Being born into privilege is hardly meritorious.

They are vigilantes working tirelessly to solve the world’s problems where government and politicians have hopelessly failed. Again, we should be grateful for their self-sacrifice when they could be otherwise making more money for themselves. There are questions here around, for instance, accountability. We can hold politicians to account – we do so through both the electoral system and the checks and balances inherent in our system of government. With billionaires, we have no means whatsoever of keeping them in check. This is a very dangerous scenario – one which will undoubtedly be tested over the coming years under Donald Trump.

The reader of this book could feel quite depressed simply by the way in which we have collectively become beholden to the good billionaire. Yet as the book suggests, all may not be lost. Whilst the gap between rich and poor has got wider, the likes of Bernie Saunders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in Britain managed to mobilise young people to the cause of challenging the ‘good billionaire’ myth and all it represents.

Here, we have bodies, such as the Australia Institute which continues to offer constructive, critical appraisal of public policy and the power of home grown billionaires.