George Hahn

The super wealthy have amassed vast fortunes without fear of mobs arriving with pitchforks.

U.S.

policies, turbocharged by a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the gates to unlimited spending on elections, have widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

As wealth concentrates, billionaire political spending rises higher, securing policy outcomes that further concentrate wealth.

The chaser is inflation, which transfers still more wealth from earners, whose purchasing power erodes, to owners, who are insulated.

A reckoning is underway, ignited by the mountain of Epstein documents, which are giving the public a window into the rarefied world where the 0.01% are protected by the law but not bound by it, while the rest of us are bound by the law but not protected by it.

Among hundreds of names appearing in the files are three of the nation's best-known billionaires, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates.

Americans are fed up, not just with the depravity of some people in the Epstein class, but also with the massive wealth they continue to accumulate while the working class struggles.

We aren't talking about beheadings today, but modern-day guillotines are on the way.

Shame and taxes.

The top 1% control almost one-third of the nation's wealth, their biggest share since World War II.

The top 0.1% increased their wealth by 40% in the last three years.

But UC Berkeley researchers say the top 400 paid only an estimated 23.8% of their income in taxes from 2018 to 2020, a smaller percentage than the average American, down from 30% between 2010 and 2017.

It's not just an American phenomenon.

Last year, the world's 500 richest people added more than $2 trillion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Governments around the world are putting the rich on notice, hoping to address this disparity, plug fiscal holes, raise money for defense, and address the challenge of aging populations.

A few examples...

In California, a proposed tax on billionaires would require those with a net worth above $1.1 billion to pay a one-time tax equal to 5% of their assets.

New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani has called for a two-percentage-point increase in income taxes on people earning more than $1 million a year.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves used the budget to shift some of the burden onto wealthier people targeting higher-value property and investment income.