Making Millionaires Matter

 AS OF THIS MOMENT, there are 657 billionaires in America. Thirty five years ago there were eighteen. There are four centi-billionaires, one hundred billionaires; Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. We in America claim Musk although he is South African.During the pandemic the net worth of all the billionaires has increased by more than one trillion,  and the big four have nearly doubled their personal fortunes, despite Gates' ongoing never ending attempt to give his money away, despite Bezos' divorce, Zuckerberg's legal difficulties, and Musk's speculative behavior. Enter Chuck Collins, the great grand son of Oscar Meyer, the German immigrant meat packing mogul of wiener fame and fortune. When he was twenty one, he inherited a fortune. At twenty six, after five years of privilege and introspection, he decided to give his fortune away, and try to make it on his own. ..he made it on his own. He currently works for a progressive think tank, the Policy Institute, researching and writing about  wealth, economic inequality in America, and the forces which drive it. He also suggests and articulates public policies which might be helpful in mitigating its harmful effects on American society and economic health. He has written two books: "Born On Third Base", and "The wealth Hoarders" Both are concerned with the phenomenon of inherited wealth and the processes by which the extremely wealthy increase their wealth from generation to generation. As the titles imply, Collins is not a fan of of inherited inter-generational wealth, and strongly favors a wealth tax, raising income taxes on the very wealthy, and the reestablishment of an estate tax. Like Warren Buffet, Collins is strongly opposed to financial family dynasties. Like many political and social scholars, he disparages our system in which the wealthy purchase political power, then retain it and use it to enact policies which favor the further accumulation of personal wealth for the already wealthy. IN a society of extreme economic inequality, he points out, the wealthy also suffer negative consequences. The most glaring example of this is the recent revelation by the New York Times that Donald Trump, a self proclaimed proud billionaire, has paid almost no income tax during the past decade. The president takes pride in his ability to avoid the responsibility. Not all wealthy people are self absorbed narcissists, preoccupied with greed. Many contribute much to charity and society. The "Patriotic Millionaires" is an organization of several hundred,including media mogul heiress Abigail Disney, which seeks to reform legal and economic systems to provide greater systemic economic equality. Disney fondly recalss a more compassionate corporate culture of her childhood, when her uncle Walt would take her aorund Disneyland, reminding her to always respect all workers, and insisting that they be paid well. Now, many of them live on food stamps. Quite simply, the more widely throughout society wealth is distributed, the more people with purchasing power, the greater the aggregate demand for goods and services, the greater the incentive for production and distribution, and the more prosperous society becomes. As we all like to say but seem to seldom do: we are all in this together.