I just found this out about Michael Bloomberg: He is a "self made billionare"

[PETRUS]

101. I don't think you understand what I'm saying.

The case of Jeff Bezos and Amazon does far more to support my point than it does to contradict it. I'll get into that in a moment, but first I want to point out that there's nothing in my argument that implies that new technology does not emerge, that new modes of production and distribution don't arise, and that new fortunes are not made in the process. Of course this happens. To think this has any bearing is to have missed the point. (Also, while this isn't pertinent to our discussion, Amazon had a competitive advantage vs. a retailer like Waldenbooks because of tax policy - which, by the way, deprived states of a not insignificant amount of revenue - and capital markets weren't interested in funding Waldenbooks at a loss (unlike Amazon) so it could enter new markets - it wanted that operation to continue making money.)

Regarding the point about connections and access to capital (which you've interpreted more narrowly than I meant it): Bezos went to Princeton and worked in finance. He had ties to venture capital. Amazon operated at a loss for some time. This wasn't Joe Schmoe starting a business in his garage, this was an operation with serious financial backing. Those doors were open for Bezos before he even started Amazon.

Further to that point is the fact the world is not short on good ideas or capable people, but there isn't even remotely equality of opportunity, and even if there was the system only allows so many "winners" at any given time. There's a somewhat famous quote by the scientist Stephen Jay Gould quote that goes "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." Have you heard it before? Bezos wasn't the only person with the idea of selling things online, and he wasn't even the first. He happened to win that lottery, but I can say with something close to 100% confidence that we'd still have internet commerce today even if Bezos had drowned in the second grade.

Another critical aspect of what we're discussing is the tendency (within capitalism) of capital and industry to consolidate, unless fiscal and regulatory policy provides a counter-balance. There's a reason why there are only a few major players in any given market. Concentrated capital is a source of incredible power, it can dictate how people spend their time, what resources are deployed and to what ends, exert influence on the political system (do you have any idea how much damage the Koch brothers have done?), and it allows the holders to extract enormous economic rents. Nobody makes a billion dollars working alone (Amazon employs thousands of people and consumes incredible amounts of resources), the system just allows a small number of people to capture an out-sized share of the proceeds from what are, in actual fact, large-scale collective enterprises.