The former Starbucks CEO’s attempt to rebrand the b-word shows how the super-rich justify their immense wealth
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 didn’t 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”.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RFHAU1
