re: #70 Anymouse 🌹🏡😷

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Money can buy power, diplomacy, or a military. Each of those elements are as you note, not the same.

It sure is easier to earn your second billion dollars than it is your first. Once you have that first though (either through inheritance or winning the lottery, the so-called Protestant work ethic isn’t going to do it), getting the attention of politicians suddenly becomes much easier.

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Many of the modern billionaires earned it through their personal skills— and not through inheritance — Oprah, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Bill Gates etc. I suppose one could say that they “won the lottery” because their technology succeeded while others failed, but it did involve real work, dedication, and sheer brilliance.