Billionaires aren't inherently bad, obviously. But to get to that level, perhaps our system requires a series of selfish decisions to be made...and possibly unethical decisions.
Zuckerberg famously never wanted ads on FB. It has ads.
Some would say allowing the algorithm to maximize engagement (and $$$) is unethical, as it preys on human nature. That's not a jealousy thing, it's an ethics quandary.
What do large employers do? When times get tight, they do what's fiscally responsible, letting go of many workers to insure the wallets of few stockholders remain thick. Ho-hum if you went to business school, but when times are tight, that's the worst time to lose your job.
How many stockboys or greeters are benefitting from Wal-Mart's seemingly perpetual 5% growth? Maybe the CEO doesn't need that $10 million bonus. Maybe he shouldn't be rewarded for mandating those greeters and stockboys never reach 40 hours in a week, to benefit the company.
Now a person could very fairly be critical of the system and not those who navigate it successfully. That makes sense. But I don't think it's odd to suggest the difficulty/rarity of a billionaire reaching that level ethically.
I don't understand this line of thinking, because you're coming from the standpoint that people don't have agency for themselves. I've had jobs before that I didn't like the pay, or the hours, or the boss, or whatever, so I quit and found a new job. I also realized that I needed something else to get a better job, so I got an education.
Companies that are not concerned about their financial well being will not be in business long. What are you even saying...that when economic conditions get bad they should just "keep on keepin' on" and just let themselves go broke because nobody should ever be out of a job?
Companies are no different than yourself. You have to make tough decisions every day, as a person, in order to navigate this world. You "fire" companies every time you make a purchase, because ultimately you're picking one company over the other. Do you shop at Wal-Mart, or Target, or Amazon? Do you fix your old car, or your AC at your house? Should I go out to eat this week, or save money and stay home. If you chose to stay home, you deprived some business out there of income to ensure your wallet stayed thick.
Walmart pays their employees the bare minimum amount to get the job done, and not a penny more because that's the only way they could keep their prices low and stay in business. It really doesn't matter what the CEO makes in relation to a stockboy or greeter, because the CEO brings in billions in value to the company, while the stock boy or greeter brings minimal value, with minimal training, and can probably be replaced easily. But nobody is forcing the stockboy or greeter to stay there, in fact I'd wager that many of these jobs are filled by young people just starting out, working their way through college or whatever, just a starting point in life, not the end point. I used to see a lot of older people working in Walmart, because they're at the end of their road and they just wanted a simple job with a little income to supplement their SS or pension.
It's funny you brought up the CEO of WalMart, I just looked him up. He joined the company as a summer associate in high school, and worked his way up from there. He had a base pay of $27 million last year, on company revenue of 648 billion.
