The billion-dollar question: Can you be TOO rich?

Jan 23, 2022

Abigail Disney is the granddaughter of Roy O.

But these days she thinks that great wealth isn't necessarily so magical.

"I really believe that money ruins people," she said.

I think money is like that.

She's criticized the multi-million-dollar salary of now-former Disney CEO Bob Iger, and just released a documentary, "The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales," that looks at income inequity in the U.S.

What really appalls Abigail Disney is some of the behavior of the super-rich, like when Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launched themselves into orbit.

"Limitarianism is just a word for the thought that there should be a moral limit to how much wealth you can accumulate," Robeyns told Whitaker.

Robeyns believes the case against the super-rich isn't just moral; it's also environmental, from the profits of businesses that haven't paid for polluting the atmosphere, to the emissions from mega-mansions and private planes, and the unused dollars just sitting in offshore accounts.

I don't think you need a billion.".

Whitaker asked Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who made more than a few dollars as the founder of a biopharmaceutical company, "Do you think that there's a point at which it becomes a problem for an individual, but also for society, when not just one person, but a whole class of people, has vastly more wealth than anybody else in the society?".

"I don't think that's inherently a problem," Ramaswamy replied.

To which Abigail Disney said, "I think that's hogwash

Anybody who's just there for the money, thank you very much, I don't wanna work with them."

Abigail Disney said, "I don't think it's right for a private individual, a group of individuals, to have that much say in the direction of social issues that all of us are affected by."

"The source of equality that I think we need to restore isn't an equality of wealth, it isn't a redistribution of wealth; it is a restoration of the idea that we are equal as citizens," he said

"I prefer to talk about, not a redistribution of wealth, but a redistribution of duty."

A startling new study just out from Oxfam, called "Inequality Kills," finds that the world's 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the pandemic – while income levels for the 99-percent of people around the globe actually fell. 

Whitaker asked Robeyns, "From a real-world perspective, how realistic is what you're talking about, putting an absolute limit on wealth?"

"I do not believe that in my lifetime there will be any country that has a general limit to wealth."

But here's one last thing to think about: If recent history is any guide, in just the eight minutes it took viewers to watch this story, Jeff Bezos' wealth increased by a million dollars.