Top investor says those who criticize billionaires forget the jobs they create

The widening wealth gap has become a central concern across all income brackets — from the Occupy Wall Street movement to petitions led by the ultra-rich calling for higher taxes on the richest. However, Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary doesn’t believe billionaires’ rising wealth should be demonized when talking about income inequality in the United States.

“What doesn’t get enough credit are these wildly successful entrepreneurs who are creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in America…if not millions,” O’Leary said recently on NewsNation’s On Balance with Leland Vittert podcast.

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“All these people pay taxes and then give all their wealth back,” O’Leary continued. “I want to acknowledge this, because this is lost in this narrative of inequality. In fact it is lost, and it is a huge mistake.”

Rather than focusing on the wealth divide and the problems of a K-shaped economy, O’Leary emphasized the philanthropic and entrepreneurial merits of the ultrarich. He pointed to the fact that some billionaires, like Warren Buffett, are donating large portions of their fortunes, and also mentioned Michael Dell’s $6.25 billion contribution to “Trump Accounts” intended for children.

In addition to the growth they bring to the job market, the president of O’Leary Ventures also argued that the rich already pay a high amount in taxes. California, he said, is “attacking the rich” with its new Billionaires Tax Act, which calls for imposing a flat 5% tax on the total wealth of all state residents with a net worth of $1 billion or more.

Although billionaires can pay larger amounts in taxes, this represents a smaller portion of their empires. Those who made the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans paid an average effective tax rate of 24% between 2018 and 2020, compared with 30% among all other US taxpayers, according to a 2024 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Fortune reached out to O’Leary for comment, but he could not immediately be reached.

Billionaires Have Achieved Their American Dream—But Can Others?

In addition to contributing to more tax revenue and stimulating the economy, O’Leary also argued that some billionaires are entrepreneurs who started from scratch and should not be punished for having achieved financial success in their careers.

“When you talk about these rich people who you suggest might be insensitive, most of them started with nothing. They pursued the American dream. They were extremely successful,” O’Leary continued, again mentioning Dell, who started his now $79 billion technology company in his college dorm room. “We need a thousand more Michael Dells.”

O’Leary argued that the US should try to preserve its entrepreneurial spirit, allowing founders to succeed without strings attached.

“America’s number one export is not energy, it’s not technology, it’s the American Dream. And that’s exactly what entrepreneurship is: the idea that it’s not about the pursuit of greed and money — it’s about the pursuit of personal freedom,” O’Leary said. “Only we can deliver this by enabling entrepreneurs to do what they know how to do.”

When looking at the list of the world’s richest people, there are several recognizable figures who are self-made billionaires: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos rose to the highest echelons after leading relatively ordinary lives. They have become posters for the American dream — but do a small handful of success stories represent the majority?

Today, most Americans are excluded from this vision. Achieving the typical milestones of the American dream — like having a house in the suburbs, two kids and a car in the garage — costs a staggering $5 million, according to a 2025 analysis from financial media site Investopedia.

That’s a breathtaking figure, $600,000 above last year’s estimate and a nearly 50% increase from just two years ago. Meanwhile, a typical American with a bachelor’s degree earns just $2.8 million over the course of their career.

And the current U.S. K-shaped economy only exacerbates affordability crises for the poorest; Higher-income Americans see their earnings and wealth grow, while lower-income people struggle with smaller raises and the high cost of living.

The country’s $38.5 trillion national debt may be stifling the American dream, according to Kurt Couchman, senior fiscal policy fellow at the think tank Americans for Prosperity.

“Growing debt risks a bond market reckoning, with potentially serious consequences for the American people,” Couchman said last year. “The actions of your representatives in Congress will determine whether the conditions of the American dream—peace, freedom, and prosperity—will survive or whether the future will be in decline.”