America has a billionaire problem.
If we continue to avoid it, our democracy will die, and our way of life will die with it.
The vast majority of Americans have never called for class warfare. They have no problem with, say, a heart surgeon making $1 million a year and enjoying the luxuries that come from his enormous contributions to society.
Wealth is not a moral failing, and Americans have long revered the entrepreneurial spirit that drives small business owners to build modest fortunes for themselves and their families.
But a growing class of nefarious oligarchs have launched a campaign to exert absolute control over our democratic institutions and our economy. The war is already on, and the billionaires have a huge advantage.
These individuals have amassed untold amounts of wealth, which they use to suppress critical media, hijack politics, and undermine the justice system. They rig the tax system so they pay significantly lower tax rates than workers. They consolidate corporate power to protect themselves from oversight.
We must choose either to stand up and resist, or to cede what little political self-determination remains to a handful of oligarchs.
Billionaire control has metastasized like a cancer into every aspect of America's socio-political and socio-economic system. They control the newspapers, the television stations, and every major social media platform. We learned the extent of oligarchic control over the judiciary last year when it was revealed that a handful of billionaires control the judiciary.Showering the Supreme Court JusticeLavish vacations and woefully inappropriate gifts.
They are using their wealth to overwhelm the campaign finance system.
May, Americans for Tax FairnessReportedAlready, 50 billionaire families have pledged more than $600 million to the 2024 election campaign, but that figure doesn't include the money billionaires recently spent on President Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Miriam Adelson, a physician and political donor, for example, is reportedly planning to make a donation.Over $90 millionDonate to a super PAC supporting Trump. We shouldn't be taken lightly. Donations are about rewards. Billionaires expect and get something in return for their donations. Adelson is giving back to his generosity.ReportedlyThey call for President Trump's support for Israel's annexation of the West Bank.
Last month, TrumptransactionHe promised oil company executives that he would roll back Biden's environmental policies that they didn't like if they donated $1 billion to his campaign.GuardianThe bill would provide the industry with a $110 billion tax cut. Of course, most of that $110 billion would go into the pockets of billionaires.
But most commonly, the political price of supporting billionaires is tax cuts.Fundraising DinnerSpeaking at the home of the billionaire hedge fund investor, who donated $50.5 million to the cause, Trump pledged to renew and expand the 2017 tax cuts.
Just one of the many benefits granted under President Trump's tax reform plan could be used to pay off 100% of your income in a single tax year.Four BillionairesA total of $170 million in tax evasion.
It gets even worse: In 2021, it was revealed that PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel had used a Roth IRA. Avoid $5 billion in taxesThe following year, Thiel publicly declared that democracy and freedom were not necessary.CompatibleHe used about 2 percent of the taxes he evaded to almost singlehandedly buy the Senate seat of Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), now the Republican vice presidential nominee.
It's hard to believe that Vance would vote against his benefactor, Peter Thiel.
It's a vicious cycle: billionaires spend millions to support politicians, who then support tax policies that enrich their billionaire donors, who then have even more surplus wealth to support the politicians.
Meanwhile, falling tax revenues are being used to justify austerity policies that put health care, education and a comfortable retirement out of reach for the average American.
Billionaires use their wealth to gain power, and their power to increase their wealth.The first trillionaireAs it gets closer, most of us are working hard.More than half1000s of Americans say they don't have the cash to cover an unexpected emergency expense, yet billionaires are using the companies they control to siphon money from the American people.Shrinkflation, drip pricing, dynamic pricingand even spending $200 would be difficult for most people.
Power, Frederick DouglassWarnedWe will not concede anything without demands. Let's face it, the oligarchs have infiltrated every aspect of our system, including our economy and our democracy.
Curbing their power will not be easy, but the first step is simple: We demand a tax system that prevents the accumulation of billions of dollars in wealth, and cuts the billions that already exist.
The danger now is not class warfare, but failure to recognize that a political conflict pitting billionaires against everyone else is already underway that, if ignored, could grow uglier and more violent, undermining the promise of American democracy.
Bob Lord, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, currently serves as senior adviser for tax policy at Patriotic Millionaires.
