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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDon't call Howard Schultz a billionaire. He's a 'person of means'
Howard Schultz is worth around $3.4bn. While one might think that would make the former Starbucks CEO and would-be presidential candidate a billionaire, he would prefer you didnt use that term. You see, while billionaire may seem like a simple descriptor, it is actually a disgusting slur.
Schultz enlightened us as to the problematic nature of the b-word at a book event in New York last Monday. When asked by New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin whether he thought billionaires had become too powerful in American life, the coffee magnate complained that the moniker billionaire now has become the catchphrase. Rather than using a word like billionaire to describe a person with billions of dollars, Schultz suggested it may be better to use expressions like people of means or people of wealth.
Poor Schultz. He was just trying to help us all out; generously digging into his rich vocabulary and spreading the semantic wealth. However, after footage of the interview went viral this week, the businessman has been mercilessly mocked. People of mean spirit have been suggesting their own alternatives to billionaire such as robber barons, cash vampires, and various other phrases that are probably too rude to repeat.
While Schultzs clumsy attempt to rebrand the term billionaire is amusing, its also instructive. You see, what he unsuccessfully tried to do in that interview is what the super-rich have successfully been doing for a very long time: justifying their unjustifiable fortunes by deploying strategic euphemisms. Spinning inequality with disingenuous synonyms. You could call it wealth-washing.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/06/dont-call-howard-schultz-billionaire-wealth-washing
Vinca
(50,276 posts)Go away, Howard. Just go away.
marble falls
(57,099 posts)JHB
(37,160 posts)..., per FDR.
Anyone who claims concern as the deficit and national debit but targets Social Security and Medicare while recoiling at raising revenue by restoring progressive taxation on very high incomes is wearing that crown.
Go run your burnt coffee empire, Schultz!
superpatriotman
(6,249 posts)They dont OWN them.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)nt
If it aint broke, dont fix it.
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)donkeypoofed
(2,187 posts).....it still doesn't change the fact that he'll be doing nothing but splitting the vote and helping.Donnie Two Scoops to win. Such an arrogant idiot!
demigoddess
(6,641 posts)3 way elections. On the right, it gets a democrat elected, on the left it gets the republican elected. These people should have been smart enough to see it. So, is he a dummy or does he know what he is doing? That is my question.