Billionaires know the reality of the recent past, at least with respect to those countries and industries that had an impact on their fortune. Billionaires in oil and gas from the Middle East, for instance, understand why the wars happened.
Billionaires know the reality of the present, including who has the power, who can take that power away, and who only thinks they have the power and is being used as a puppet, at least in their own spheres of interest. Did Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) really have an exercise machine accident on January 1, 2015, or did he get a beat-down for not keeping a promise? Ask a billionaire. He or she probably knows. Don't bother believing the press - whatever is printed about something like that wouldn't be the truth, just on principle.
Billionaires know the future. Alan Kay said, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." This is a good quote to inspire Stanford and MIT grads eager to add value by creating new products. The reality is, though, that the best way to predict the future is to be a billionaire, have access to think tanks, government lobbyists, bundlers, multiple candidates who will do what you ask even in terms of what they will or won't say in their speeches, and, of course, access to people like President Obama and his top advisors/minders.
