Wealth & Tyranny

We Die Without Oxygen.

I know most readers accept facts, evidence, and science and for all of you, I am grateful. For those of you who remain “factose” intolerant, might I suggest you go ahead and hold your breath while attempting to count slowly to 1,000 (or as high as you possibly can) by ones (one:one-thousand, two: one-thousand, three: one-thousand and so on) before sharing your hostile comment and/or something you just saw on Fox “News”.

And as I’ve written before, I’m not against wealth, I remain “pro-wealth” when it has been earned.

Democracies Die in Darkness (and Light)
—When Wealth is Concentrated Among the Few.

Robert Reich reported that there are 815 billionaires in the United States who have hoarded $6.7 trillion in wealth. And 815 out of 346,000,000 people is a much smaller number than 1% of the population.

• When we focus on the wealthiest “one percent” they have accumulated 31.9% of the total wealth in the United States as of 2024.
• By comparison, in 1990 the wealthiest held 17% of the wealth.

The 2010 ‘Citizens’ United vs. Federal Elections Commission decision by the Supreme Court did not tip the “democracy scale” to the wealthy. The ethically challenged Alito, Thomas (and Clarence’s lobbyist insurrection-funding spouse) jumped up and down on the “democracy scale” until it was broken into tiny little pieces. The decision provided the mechanism for people like Elon Musk, Mariam Adelson, Timothy Mellon, Ken Griffin, and Richard & Elizabeth Uihlein to dump millions of dollars into the Trump campaign to buy outsized influence in the United States government, to destroy any thought of democracy, justice, and equality in the US, and to use their influence to either change law and policy -allowing them to accumulate even more wealth (and power), or to promote extremist law and policies intended to destroy equal rights and protections in America.

Wealth Earned vs. Stolen

Wealth Earned: Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Innovation. Vision.

When someone invents, creates, innovates, or improves something of significance and value for society -they should be well-recognized for the painstaking process and richly rewarded based upon value and demand.

Larry Ellison and the Two Steves (Oracle and Apple)

There are many people throughout history who have had the vision, intellect, great timing, a little luck, and in some cases access to capital required to fully realize their vision. It might be in medicine or science such as pasteurization, vaccines against highly contagious and deadly diseases, the telegraph, the telephone, the automobile, or the computer, or miniaturization. At Oracle, where I spent much of my technology career I had deep respect for Larry Ellison and his vision. He saw that a major company, IBM, had a lock on the enterprise computing market, and any large business needed massive computing power to either reduce costs and/or increase revenue to derive greater profitability and competitive advantage. Once IBM sold and installed its proprietary mainframe systems and software, a large enterprise had to pay whatever IBM charged for software and hardware updates -so the enterprise could maintain its compute advantage over the competition. Larry envisioned software systems that could run on any compute environment from IBM mainframes to emerging technology like Digital Equipment Corporation’s “VAX” machines, and eventually PC’s. Larry hired and surrounded himself with others who were innovative visionaries in their own right (Mike Rocha and Cary Millsap quickly come to mind here), and Larry not only built Oracle into a billion-dollar business, and others formed providing consulting, support, hardware, and services, also growing into billion dollar businesses employing tens of thousands of well-paid technologists, engineers, finance, and more.

Or the tale of “Two Steves” -Jobs and Wozniak -who had a dream of smaller computers that were easy to use and accessible to everyone, built a product in their garage, were able to get their vision funded, and presto! -Apple Computer was born.

These are a couple of examples of vision, innovation, and risk that led to the disruption of entire industries and the creation of hundreds of thousands of well-paying careers in the United States and globally. This is the kind of wealth creation I respect and admire. However … (see next section).

Lobbying and Political donations -Democratic versus GOP

I’ve received hostile comments, cards and letters from people telling me to do highly creative things to myself for which I lack the flexibility (or interest) in accomplishing. (Only a couple had to be reported to law enforcement thus far).

Occasionally I receive something that is an interesting argument. One such comment was (and I approximate here) that I call out donations from Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Larry Ellison, however, what about large donations to the Democratic party by wealthy individuals?

It’s a fair point and in a society that celebrates earned wealth instead of stolen wealth -I would find any outsized political donation disturbing.

The difference I explained is that when someone like Michael Bloomberg or Reid Hoffman makes a large donation to the Democratic Party, they are donating to policies that will lead toward a more equal society -they are working to strengthen democracy and are doing so at risk to their wealth accumulation.

When someone like Miriam Adelson, the Walmart heirs, or Linda McMahon write large checks to the GOP they are working to undermine democracy, equality, climate action, and justice, or they are simply trying to buy their way into a Cabinet seat or Ambassador role.

So there is a major difference. When someone like Barre Seid drops a billion dollars into a secretive fund led by Leonard Leo (The Federalist Society) to dramatically change the judicial landscape in the United States, into a system that embraces wealth over people, profit over human rights, or religious extremism, that is something no society with aspirations of justice, democracy, and equality should ever allow.

The organization Open Secrets continues to track major political donations in every election cycle, and I remain grateful for their efforts: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors.

Externalities

According to right-wing “fraudconimist” Milton Friedman, the only social responsibility of a corporation is to maximize profit. Profit is derived from the difference between income and expenses.

Think about this from a personal perspective. You can increase your total income if you, for example, take a second job. Or you ask your boss for a raise. Or maybe you start a “side hustle”. Your expenses might be your mortgage or rent, groceries, utilities, health insurance, student loan payments, car payments. Maybe your electricity bill is $400/month because you live in Phoenix and it is hot, hot, hot. Unbeknownst to your neighbor (who you despise anyway, because they had a “Harris/Walz” yard sign). You figure out a way to run an extension cord so suddenly your air conditioning unit is powered by your neighbor’s electricity. Suddenly your electricity bill is $50/month. Congratulations! You’ve figured out a way to “externalize” the cost of your electricity to your neighbors (who then wonder why their bills are now more expensive). An externality is a method used by major corporations to shift their costs to you and me. Below are a couple of textbook examples.

Walmart

In 2014, Forbes published an article with the following headline:
”Report: Walmart Workers Cost Taxpayers $6.2 Billion In Public Assistance”. I’m a taxpayer. If you’re reading this, you are probably a taxpayer too. If you read just the title, it doesn’t necessarily change your perspective of Walmart, as a low-cost big box department store. It does create a frame where you might not like Walmart workers because they are costing you money. Later, if they attempt to unionize -you might think “Those greedy bastards” are already costing me money, what do they want now? (And this is how legacy media manipulates people who don’t dig beyond the headlines). When you do a little more research you find out that at the same time, Walmart was paying stock dividends of $6.8 Billion -to shareholders (and 50% of the holdings at the time belonged to Walmart/Walton heirs and their foundations) their employees were below federal poverty levels because of how little Walmart was paying them. Some even had to organize food drives to feed themselves and their families. This is an example of a major corporation “maximizing profit” not by growing income or value -but by making taxpayers pay -whether we shop there or not. An externality is a hidden tax -intended to steal hard-earned dollars from you and me and give them to the already obscenely wealthy, like the Walton family.

Chevron, Exxon, Big Oil and Coal

Another example of an externality is when Big Oil damages our environment. Whether it is an oil catastrophe*** such as Deepwater/Horizon, the Exxon Valdez, Union Oil’s poisoning of the ocean near Santa Barbara, California, not only do they do grave environmental harm, they also impact local community economies which upon fishing, tourism, retail, maritime/shipping industries and more. On land, oil and natural gas pipelines or “oil trains” pose significant risk to aquifers, sacred indigenous land, and can cause widescale evacuations, suffering, and death.

Only a fraction of the damage is absorbed (internalized) by culpable corporations. They shift massive costs to you and me.

***(Using the term “Oil spill” is another way legacy media influences our perspective. A spill’s not a big deal, right? It connotes a child knocking over a glass of milk. That is f’ing bullshift. It is a human-made disaster)

Generational Wealth: the Trust Fund Babies

Accumulating significant wealth and then passing it to the next generation gravely injures a society aspiring toward democracy, justice, and equality. This is not to mean that a future generation should be deprived of wealth created by their parent or parents. However, we must understand that when the next generation has been raised by “staff”, has no understanding of privation, has not had to worry about a budget, does not have to ask the price of anything before putting on their “American Express” card, and then they inherit the extreme wealth (and thus wield extraordinary political power), they have not earned anything and are often ignorant of the plight of an average person living paycheck to paycheck. Who was your favorite servant growing up? Oh, you didn’t have one? Your parents must have been lazy losers. Perhaps they cost my family money -were they “Cadillac-driving welfare people”? You didn’t go to a private school? You didn’t summer in Lausanne?

Imbecile narcissists like Elon Musk and Donald Trump

were handed vast sums of money as they began their lives. And now they have been elevated to make vital domestic and foreign policy decisions that will impact every life in the United States and many around the world. When do you suppose is the last time either were in a grocery store? When was the last time either had to call the bank because a check bounced and now there’s a slew of $25 fees? When do you think they had to contact their health insurance carrier because a claim was denied? Are either of them concerned, or have to move, when their landlord raises their rent from $900 to $1,300 per month? Did they shop around for airline travel, got the cheapest flight and then the cost of the flight doubled because their baggage was one pound overweight?

Trump’s entire 2024 Cabinet -those running major government agencies all share similar backgrounds of wealth, corruption, incompetence, and, at a minimum inexperience (with the possible exception of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer).

Some have even been characterized as foreign agents.

Trust fund babies who inherit extreme wealth and then lobby to accumulate more wealth and power (instead of innovating and growing “the wealth pie” so all can benefit) are not only antithetical to a democratic society -they have had a deeply detrimental impact in the United States and globally. The nations who have embraced the extreme concentration of wealth all tend toward hardline right-wing dictatorships, because when democracy is offered as an alternative -the result of any meaningful democracy is to evolve toward equality and justice. This is why the three scariest words to Trump, Vance, Musk, Thiel, and the 1% are “Democracy, Justice, and Equality” -the concepts manifest in those three words would cause them to actually have to earn instead of simply steal from everyone else.

When a political party has two core concepts: concentrate wealth, divide people.

You’ve heard the phrase before. Those “Tax & Spend” Marxist, socialist, communist, tree-hugging, Prius-driving liberal elites want to take money from your well-earned paycheck and give most of it to the “Cadillac-driving Welfare Queen” -a famous quote by the worst 20th century President, Ronald Reagan. Terrorist criminals are pouring over open borders to steal your jobs, your televisions, and your women. Feminists and liberals are killing babies as soon as they are born. Liberals are coming for your guns. Hippies, no Antifa, no anti-war protestors, no Occupy … are desecrating and vandalizing our cities and towns. Liberals want you to wear masks and shutdown the economy because they hate America!

These terms and labels are all intended to create fear and hate, objectify others, divide us, and gaslight voters and they have worked wonders.

The right-wing extremists in the GOP, or anywhere else in the world have a very simple objective and plan. It is to concentrate wealth (and therefore consolidate power). And to use whatever means necessary to keep everyone divided and fighting -misdirected from their objective. The generational attacks on education, media consolidation, and political engagement are because they know the three key elements of any meaningful democracy are an educated, informed, and engaged society.

The Ultimate Gaslit Decision: ‘Citizens’ United vs. Federal Elections Commission

When the Supreme Court equated political donations as “free speech” it was a major death blow to a key guardrail of democracy. It was a 5-4 decision led by Justice Kennedy with Roberts, Scalia, and the bent Thomas, and Alito. Justice Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion with Justice Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor also dissenting. This was a major death blow to democracy in the United States.

In Greed, Incompetence, & Corruption We Trust.

Each new Trump nomination for Cabinet positions and Senior leadership in his administration is straight out of the speculative documentary Idiocracy. If you haven’t seen the movie just watch the headlines from now until 2029 when a new President is sworn in, if there are future elections and a country in which to swear in someone who embraces democracy, equality, and justice.

The MAGA anger and frustration in the United States is real. The anger has been fueled and intentionally misdirected in a multitude of ways.

Liberals are socialists, Marxists, communists, and/or fascists. Liberals hate America. Liberals want open borders to let every violent criminal rapist into the country, and/or those who are coming after high-paying jobs.

The 1% know that there is a “wealth pie” in the United States and the entire world. The GOP core economic policy of concentrating wealth to the top 1% is sold as THE METHOD to grow the economy. Give those who have “won the economic game” more money and they will grow more of the pie for America. The reality is they know this is a fraud. Most people who have accumulated vast wealth use every method available to them to hoard more wealth (or invest a little to influence the government to change tax policies and/or societal protections to accumulate more).

This is not growing anything other than the size of their investment portfolio, real estate holdings, and/or their wealth parked offshore evading taxation. And where are they accumulating this growth from?

It is coming from every pocketbook and wallet in America -and in the future earnings of your children and grandchildren. If I can take just one dollar from every man, woman, and child in the United States, that’s $345,999,999. If I can shift the national debt (and Trump grew it by $7 trillion in his first term) to every taxpayer and future taxpayer by $3 -that’s over a $ billion for me!

This is not using accumulated wealth to grow the “wealth pie” for current and future generations. It is not making the United States stronger. It is stealing, plain and simple.

If those wearing their red MAGA hats do the necessary mathematics to fully embrace this set of facts -there will be a reckoning in America.
Their anger, frustration, and generational despair are real and understandable.

It’s just been intentionally misdirected for multiple generations.