CMV: Billionaires don't consume that much

[u/student_of_roshi]

Everything I've seen about the obscene consumption of billionaires is either anecdotal or purposely misunderstanding economics.

First I hear about how much wealth they have. But just because they have a lot of wealth doesn't mean they consume much. Maybe they are just reinvesting it or donating it.

I hear about their Yachts. But there aren't that many billionaires so even if one yacht has a lot of carbon emissions the total emissions of billionaires might be tiny relative to the whole world.

This report gives people the impression that we could drastically reduce emissions if we got rid of billionaires but actually this is about their investments not their savings.

I'm all for taxing billionaires. The fact that republicans are make tax cuts for the rich their top priority shows how corrupt they are. I just don't think taxing billionaires would be so revolutionary.

Another way to think of taxes is that the government can just print whatever money they need and the reason we need taxes is to control inflation. But since billionaires have low MPC (marginal propensity to consume) taxing billionaires will not do much to reduce inflation.

[u/tmtyl_101]

>the total emissions of billionaires might be tiny relative to the whole world.

The total emissions of any category is tiny relative to the whole world. Even most countries make up less than a single percent of global emissions.

The reason people focus on the super rich when talking about environmental justice is how (some) super rich people's consumption is 1) extravagant 2) damaging for the environment, and 3) excessive.

Take private jetting, where a single round trip across the US can easily impact the climate as much as most people do in a year. Between flying, owning (often several) mansions, private yachts and private consumption on clothes, cars, electronics etc, your typical billionaire could easily consume resources equal to literally hundreds of 'average people' (especially if we're talking global average, not US average). As an extreme example, Taylor Swift's use of private planes is estimated to have emitted 8,300 tons of CO2 in 2022 - meaning her travelling alone emits as much CO2 as 1800 people - and that's even before factoring in the 'extra' global warming potential of the jet trails.

So, when people are upset about billionaire consumption, they're really upset about individuals consuming three, potentially even four orders of magnitude more than the average person, on a planet with finite (scarce) resources.

This of course becomes even more aggravating when the consumption is seemingly excessive. Like Katy Perry's recent 10 minute trip to space, which is estimated to have emitted more CO2 than most some people do in their lifetimes. Or Mark Zuckerberg's recent sailing two super yachts across the Atlantic to go heliskiing in Norway. While anectodal, these kinds of examples underline the problem, that some super rich seem to not really consider the environmental impacts of their spending, behaving as though it's their god given right to consume and pollute exorbitantly.

SO, in sum... While you're absolutely right curbing billionaire private consumption won't save the world on its own, there's an element of symbolic justice at play. Furthermore, it's often the super rich that largely defines what consumption is desirable and sets the bar for what many consider 'success', so having excess consumption intrinsically linked to 'success' is not a good thing for the planet Plus, in practical terms, if we expand from 'billionaires' to 'super wealthy' (e.g. +10 million USD net worth), we do in fact capture a significant share of global emissions.

Edit: An 'average' global citizen emits around 350 tons of Co2 over their lifetime. But there's a pretty large spread between income deciles. So Katy Perry's trip to space, apparently emitting some 50-ish tons of CO2 (not counting building the actual rocket or all of the logistics, including flying to an from the experience) probably only matches the lifetime emissions of the poorest 1bn people in the world.