A lot of the innovations come from funding from the government. Things like green energy, the internet, and soon self driving cars all come from funding for the

A lot of the innovations come from funding from the government. Things like green energy, the internet, and soon self driving cars all come from funding for the government, either through incentives (like the DARPA self driving challenges a few years ago) or just straight up state sponsored research. You don't need billionaires to make things happen. Also, I will ask, where are all the billionaires who actually spend their money to do good once they've amassed their wealth? Bill Gates has done this, but lots of these people are abject failures at actually using their money directly to do good. They might have innovated in while they were acquiring their money, but once they get it they don't seem so innovative anymore.