From the technological Olympus of Silicon Valley to the urban canyons of Wall Street, a narrow club of vastly wealthy plutocrats sits on a ballooning share of the nation’s resources. One percent of Americans at the apex of the economy are hoarding over 31% of the nation’s total wealth, a cool $55tn in net worth.
Getting them to share with the rest of society, to fund redistribution or pay for public goods, is proving pretty much impossible. Their ability to move resources around, hide profit across jurisdictions, and minimize income to hoard wealth until they die appears to put them beyond the reach of taxation.
One recent research paper found that the country’s richest 384 oligarchs paid only 24% of their economic income in 2025, compared with 30% for the average taxpayer. And not all of them are getting top notch tax advice. Reporting by ProPublica revealed that some of the richest Americans – like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg – live largely tax free.
I like how I’m the one demanding systemic reform, you’re advocating petty vengeance but I’m the one reacting emotionally. It is the imbalance of power and influence that money represents that is the fundamental threat. A system where one man can apply more economic pressure than a third of the country is inevitably going to corrupt, it’s not a question of who, it’s a question of how long it takes.
And yes, their indulgent excesses are in fact a net harm for humanity. It is the definition of gluttony, and it deserves to be shamed and derided. I’m not jealous, I wouldn’t live like that if I could, those people have abandoned their own humanity. They are animals without conscience, without ethical restraint, and without even cognitive empathy. A system that condones and tolerates that kind of behaviour is contemptible and either needs to be corrected or eliminated. They’re a festering wound on humanity and they need to be amputated.
punishing specific evil is less petty vengence than generalizing on savings accumulation choices.
You can play whatever semantic games help you sleep at night, but that does not change that the black hole grade market distortion created by that kind of wealth accumulation artificially inflates asset prices and creates and unjustifiable socioeconomic stratification that cannot help but corrupt a democratic society. Rule of law cannot withstand the Epstein class. Sic semper tyrannis.