Stop the Billionaire Heist
There are many ways to describe and to analyze what is happening in the federal government since Donald Trump was inaugurated. But the clearest and most consistent pattern is that the billionaires have taken over and have started to destroy anything that interferes with them becoming richer and richer. Their greed appears to know no bounds. I find this truly frightening.
Two of the biggest casualties are 1.) the idea that we work together for the common good and 2.) the idea that we take care of each other. The federal government’s role, at least since the 1930’s, has included taxes, health care, education, human rights, democracy, health and safety regulations, and protection from the excesses of big business. The ultra-rich see each of these as limiting their pursuit of unlimited wealth. They are out to eliminate or disable all of them.
There are ongoing debates about ideology, efficiency, and power. These may be real and significant, but at the moment, they are serving primarily to distract us from the massive theft being carried out by the very wealthy.
The best description of this that I’ve found comes from social justice activist and writer Scot Nakagawa. He writes:
What we are witnessing … is what happens when you let super billionaires take charge of government: they strip it for parts, rig the economy for themselves, and leave the rest of us to fend for scraps. What we’re seeing right now—the gutting of regulatory agencies, the privatization of public assets, and the consolidation of political and economic power by a handful of ultra-wealthy elites—is not just corruption. It is the deliberate restructuring of society into a corporate autocracy, where the richest rule unchecked and workers, consumers, and ordinary people have no say.
This is a heist. It’s a political coup wrapped in the language of efficiency and innovation—but it’s really about creating a system where Musk, Trump, and their billionaire class own everything, and the rest of us lose our rights, our economic security, and our ability to fight back.
Scot Nakagawa
The rich are getting richer
Time Magazine reports that in just the first two days of the Trump Administration the wealth of 15 fossil fuel billionaires went up more than $3 billion. (Note the industry contributed nearly $23 million to Trump’s campaign.)
Americans for Tax Fairness reports that the members of the key congressional committees that will advance Trump’s tax cut bill will personally reap a total of $24 million in tax cuts for themselves.
The Republican Congress has passed a budget resolution that calls for extending tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy (some $4.5 trillion over 10 years) and which calls for cutting $2 trillion from the budget, which will almost certainly come from Medicaid, food programs, and other programs that benefit those with middle and low incomes.
It is unknown what billions Musk will reap in from his theft of data from the U.S. government, his dismantling of regulatory agencies that would limit his excesses, and the dropping of government actions against his previous violations of laws and regulation.
Again, this is a heist and the creation of a plutocracy (rule by the rich).
Framing things in this way has several advantages (as Scot Nakagawa points out).
It taps into the broad public resentment against the super-rich. Polling shows that 67% of the public think billionaires should pay higher taxes. Even most Republicans and Independents think the rich have too much control over the government. An AP poll in January found only 12% thought it was a good thing that Trump relies on billionaires for advice about government policy and 60% thought it was a bad thing.
Framing the issue this way bridges political divides. Enriching billionaires is widely opposed by conservatives and independents, as well as liberals and progressives. Just when Trump is trying to divide us, this is a potential issue around which many people can come together despite other political differences.
Again quoting Scot Nakagawa, “When we say ‘This is what happens when you let billionaires run the government,’ we turn this into a populist, unifying fight—not a left vs. right issue, but a people vs. elite oligarchs issue.”
Worsening climate disaster and attacking immigrants
Note that the denial of climate change, elimination of support for renewable energy, and expanded extraction of fossil fuels that the Trump Administration is engaged in, is a direct support to their many ultra-rich supporters who built their fortunes in the fossil fuel industry and rely on fossil fuels to continue to grow their wealth. Throughout the world, authoritarian forces are firmly aligned with fossil fuel billionaires and their interests.
Similarly, attacking immigrants and blaming them for the problems of the nation is a global authoritarian tactic which distracts public upset from the disastrous effects of the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. It manipulates racial grievances and resentments and our history of white supremacy to disguise the theft of power and wealth by the plutocrats.
We can act
We need to keep coming together to fight billionaire rule. We need to fight for people, for economic, political and human rights. Every time I’ve managed to take some action it has helped me feel less hopeless and more connected to others who are taking action. We can join rallies, protests, and economic boycotts, push our politicians to lead more boldly on this issue, spread the word on social media, support unions, and stand with all the vulnerable. We don’t know exactly what it will take, but if we all take some action, there are more of us than there are of them.
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The photo above was taken at Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area in Montville, NJ, by Amy Vernon-Jones
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