The Self-made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme P... [REPACK]

Here, we take a subset of humans in very good condition: the Forbe's billionaire list. First, we test if the assumptions of the model apply, and show that mothers leave more grandchildren through their sons than through their daughters. We then show that billionaires have 60% sons, which is significantly different from the general population, consistent with our hypothesis. However, women who themselves are billionaires have fewer sons than women having children with billionaires, suggesting that maternal testosterone does not explain the observed variation. Furthermore, paternal masculinity as indexed by achievement, could not explain the variation, since there was no variation in sex ratio between self-made or inherited billionaires.

The Self-made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme P...

Hypotheses to explain biased sex ratios in humans include those relating levels of testosterone to offspring sex ratios [39], [32]. For example, Grant argues that maternal testosterone determines offspring sex ratios [28], and that testosterone levels are indicated by work achievement [23]. Other studies have confirmed a link between testosterone and work achievement [39], and people with entrepreneurial tendencies have higher levels of testosterone [40]. Contrary to expectations based on previous findings [23], women who were themselves billionaires, indicating high motivation, had fewer sons, and this was most marked among self-made women and those that were working and expanding their inheritance. Therefore, work achievement, was not a strong predictor of offspring sex ratios, suggesting that either maternal testosterone was not associated with sex ratio, or, more likely, that work achievement is a poor index of testosterone. Recent studies on other mammals have suggested that maternal testosterone levels are related to offspring sex ratios [41], [42]. However, theory also suggests that particularly high achieving women may have more influence over the future success of their daughters than their sons, or daughters may inherit aspects of their mother's rank [43], as seen in other primate species [44].

The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly seen in the numbers: more than 3.1 million deaths and rising, 120 million people pushed into extreme poverty, and a massive global recession. As suffering and poverty have risen, some data show an increase in another extreme: the wealth of billionaires.

Add to that the millions she's earned from TV programs and endorsing products like Puma shoes and PacSun clothing, and $60 million in estimated after-tax dividends she's taken from her company, and she's conservatively worth $900 million, which along with her age makes her the youngest person on the fourth annual ranking of America's Richest Self-Made Women. (We estimate that 37-year-old Kardashian West, for comparison, is worth $350 million.) But she's not just making history as a woman. Another year of growth will make her the youngest self-made billionaire ever, male or female, trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23. (Snapchat's Evan Spiegel also became a billionaire in his early 20s, though it's less clear when he passed that threshold.)

Second, the rough wealth parity between 400 billionaires and 10 million Black households also indicates the extreme and extremely racialized wealth concentration that exists in the contemporary United States. A small fraction of Americans holds most American wealth, and they are almost exclusively white. So, although white households are on average wealthier than Black households at every income level, the vast majority of the total racial wealth gap, in dollar terms, is at the top.

Legendary investor and self-made billionaire Warren Buffett says that reading has been the most crucial habit he's developed. If you're looking to pick up a new book, check out the business classics Buffett and other leaders love.

")) } if (video_thumbnail) video_thumbnail = video_thumbnail.substr(video_thumbnail.indexOf('youtube.com/embed/')+18, 11); video_thumbnail = " " + video_thumbnail + "/hqdefault.jpg"; content += '\ \ \ \ \ ' + post_body + '\ '; } }); $("videos").set('html', content); }; window.addEvent("domready", function() new Request(method: 'get', url: '/api/read/json?callback=videos&tagged=' + video_tag + '&num=' + count + '&start=0', evalResponse: true).send(); new Request(method: 'get', url: '/api/read/json?callback=schedule&tagged=' + schedule_tag + '&start=0&filter=text', evalResponse: true).send(); ); window.addEvent("domready", function() if ($("toggle")) $("toggle").addEvent("click", function() if(notes_state == 0) // open it $("notes_wrapper").setStyle("display", "block"); $("toggle").setStyle("background", "url( _arrow.png) left center no-repeat !important;") notes_state = 1; else // close it $("notes_wrapper").setStyle("display", "none"); $("toggle").setStyle("background", "url( _arrow_right.png) left center no-repeat !important;") notes_state = 0; return false; ); ); "@type":"SocialMediaPosting","url":"https:\/\/robertreich.org\/post\/695958318007664640","mainEntityOfPage":true,"datePublished":"2022-09-20T23:46:13+00:00","author":"robertreich","video":"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/v.tumblr.com\/tumblr_rij8p16X8T1qatccq.mov","name":"This video was shared by Tumblr user @robertreich.","description":"The Truth Behind \u201cSelf-Made\u201d Billionaires Why do we glorify \u201cself-made\u201d billionaires? Well, being \u201cself-made\u201d is a seductive idea \u2014it suggests that anybody can get to the top if they\u0027re willing to work hard enough. It\u2019s what the American Dream is all about. If Kylie Jenner can become a \u201cself-made\u201d billionaire at age 21, so can you and I! Even as wages stay stagnant and wealth inequality grows, it\u2019s a comfort to think that we\u2019re all simply one cosmetics company and some elbow grease away from fortune. Unfortunately, a nice idea is all it is. Self-made billionaires are a myth. Just like unicorns. The origins of self-made billionaires are often depicted as a \u201crags-to-riches\u201d rise to the top fueled by nothing but personal grit and the courage to take risks \u2014 like dropping out of college, or starting a business in a garage. But in reality, the origins of many billionaires aren\u2019t so humble. They\u2019re more \u201criches-to-even-more-riches\u201d stories, rooted in upper-middle class upbringings. How much risk did Bill Gates take on when his mother used her business connections to help Microsoft land a deal-making software for IBM? Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine during the time of Apartheid South Africa. Jeff Bezos\u2019 garage-based start was funded by a quarter-million dollar investment from his parents. If your safety net to joining the billionaire class is remaining upper class \u2013 that\u2019s not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Nor is failing to pay your fair share of taxes along the way. Along with Musk and Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, and Carl Icahn have all gotten away with paying ZERO federal income taxes some years. That\u2019s a big helping hand, courtesy of legal loopholes and American taxpayers who pick up the tab, all while our tax dollars subsidize the corporations owned by these so-called \u201cself-reliant\u201d entrepreneurs. Did you get a thank you card from any of them? I sure as hell didn\u2019t. Other common ways that billionaires build their coffers off the backs of others include paying garbage wages and subjecting workers to abusive labor conditions. But portraying themselves as rugged individuals who overcame poverty or \u201cdid it on their own\u201d remains an effective propaganda tool for the ultrawealthy. One that keeps workers from rising up collectively to demand fairer wages \u2013 and one that ultimately distracts from the role that billionaires play in fostering poverty in the first place. Billionaires say their success proves they can spend money more wisely and efficiently than the government. Well they have no problem with government spending when it comes to corporate subsidies. When arguing for even more tax breaks, they claim each \u201cdollar the government takes from [them] is a dollar less\u201d for their \u201ccritical\u201d role in expanding prosperity for all Americans, through job creation and philanthropy. Well that\u2019s rubbish. 50 years of tax cuts for the wealthy have failed to trickle down. As a result of Trump\u2019s tax cuts, 2018 saw the 400 richest American families pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. And U.S. billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion during the first two years of a pandemic that was economically catastrophic for just about everyone else. They want to have their cake, everyone else\u2019s cake, and eat it, too. Behind every ten-figure net worth is systemic inequality. Inherited wealth. Labor exploitation. Tax loopholes. And government subsidies. To claim these fortunes are \u201cself-made\u201d is to perpetuate a myth that blames the wealth gap on the choices of everyday Americans. Billionaires are not made by rugged individuals. They\u2019re made by policy failures. And a system that rewards wealth over work. Know the truth.","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/wcfm2Zn-IpQ\/hqdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2022-09-20T23:46:13+00:00","articleBody":"The Truth Behind \u201cSelf-Made\u201d BillionairesWhy do we glorify \u201cself-made\u201d billionaires?\nWell, being \u201cself-made\u201d is a seductive idea \u2014it suggests that anybody can get to the top if they\u2019re willing to work hard enough. It\u2019s what the American Dream is all about.\nIf Kylie Jenner can become a \u201cself-made\u201d...","@context":"http:\/\/schema.org" Robert Reich's writes at robertreich.substack.com. His latest book is "THE SYSTEM: Who Rigged It, How To Fix It." He is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written 17 other books, including the best sellers "Aftershock,""The Work of Nations," "Beyond Outrage," and "The Common Good." He is a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, founder of Inequality Media, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentaries "Inequality For All," streaming on YouTube, and "Saving Capitalism," now streaming on Netflix. + MY LINKTREE + SUPPORT INEQUALITY MEDIA+ FOLLOW ON TUMBLR + TWITTER + FACEBOOKNEW: The SystemWho Rigged It, and How We Fix It 041b061a72