Today's Billionaires Are Playing a Game They Cannot Win

Keith Raffel
Tue, 30 Dec 2025 21:00:00 -0800
Opinion

The frenzy of the gift-giving season is over. Children have received their toys. Billionaires, too.

Do you remember that old bumper sticker that said, "He who dies with the most toys wins"? More money, more things is winning at the Game of Life?
Updated: Wed Dec 31, 2025

The frenzy of the gift-giving season is over. Children have received their toys. Billionaires, too.

Do you remember that old bumper sticker that said, "He who dies with the most toys wins"? More money, more things is winning at the Game of Life?

Topping the Forbes list of billionaires, the ones who can afford the most toys, are Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison. And how have they shown their holiday spirit over the years?

Musk threatened to leave Tesla unless the board granted him a pay package potentially worth over $1 trillion, roughly the annual GDP of Switzerland. He headed up President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency where he slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development's budget for medicine and food. According to a tracker maintained by a Boston University professor, those cuts have caused over 700,000 deaths this year, including almost half a million children. As Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said, "The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one."

In his book, "Zucked," investor Roger McNamee describes how Facebook CEO Zuckerberg ignored warnings about the rise of Russian meddling on the company's platform during the 2016 presidential campaign. The recent bestseller "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook's former director of public policy, describes how Zuckerberg chose profits over lives when he did nothing to stop Facebook from being used to incite the violence against Myanmar's Muslim minority.

In a special gift to low-income families, Zuckerberg's foundation announced this year that it is shutting down a 10-year-old tuition-free school for low-income students located near Facebook headquarters and his home. Zuckerberg's estimated wealth exceeds $220 billion.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, bought The Washington Post for $250 million and gave it free rein to report on the Trump administration during his first term. According to a 2019 lawsuit, Amazon lost a $10 billion Pentagon contract after to Trump vowed to "screw Amazon" in retaliation for the paper's coverage. Four years later, Bezos later sat in the front row at Trump's inauguration ceremony after Amazon donated $1 million to the inaugural committee. A month later he announced the Post's opinion pages would pivot to a more right-wing tack, writing daily in support of "personal liberties and free markets." Amazon also paid $40 million for Melania Trump's documentary, almost three times more than the next highest bidder. Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, is also lobbying to increase its NASA contracts.

My old boss Larry Ellison funded the purchase of CBS by Skydance, owned by his son. President Trump reportedly said Ellison assured him he would make CBS News coverage more favorable to the current administration. Ellison seems to be delivering. Bari Weiss, known for her outspoken criticism of progressivism and "wokeness," has become editor-in-chief. Recently, she delayed a "60 Minutes" story critical of the administration's handling of ICE roundups. Reports also indicate that a bid for Warner/Discovery, including CNN, would bring pro-Trump changes to its news coverage.

Each of these men wants more, and the administration is giving it to them. The only legislation of note passed in the past year is the "The One Big Beautiful Bill." According to the Center for American Progress, it delivers $1 trillion in tax cuts to the top 1% while cutting roughly the same amount from SNAP, Medicaid and other programs serving the poorest Americans. Merry Christmas to you, from Elon, Jeff, Mark and Larry.

What kind of example does Trump himself set? Most recent presidents have put their assets into a blind trust. Not Trump. He has used the second term of his presidency to help pump up his net worth by an estimated $3 billion. According to Time Magazine, much of the increase comes from investors pouring money into his social media company and from the Trump meme coin, launched three days before taking office. He's also awaiting delivery of a $400 million jetliner gifted by the Mideast petrostate Qatar.

During the school year, I live with college students. What kind of lessons are the four richest Americans and the country's leader setting for the future leaders of tomorrow? Money above principle? Graft pays?

The signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged "our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" to secure the rights of all men. This was not meaningless rhetoric. John Hancock, the richest man in New England, signed with a flourish. George Washington, one of the richest men in the 13 colonies, commanded the new country's troops. Can anyone imagine Trump risking his riches in a similar manner?

And what about the contrast between the robber barons of the past and today's tech lords? Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller set up the Rockefeller Foundation, the funder of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Harvard School of Public Health. Steelman Andrew Carnegie funded 2,509 libraries worldwide between 1883 and 1929. There are lots more examples of the robber barons seeing the light: Stanford, Vanderbilt, Mellon. Tech lords, what about you?

In a 2007 speech, John Bogle, Vanguard founder, told a story recounted by the novelist Kurt Vonnegut. At a party Vonnegut informs his pal, fellow author Joseph Heller, that their host, a billionaire hedge fund manager, had earned more money in a single day than Heller had earned over the years from his classic novel "Catch-22." Heller responds, "Yes, but I have something he will never have — ENOUGH."

Our priorities are screwed up. Here during the holiday season, it wouldn't hurt to remember what Jesus asks in the New Testament: "For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?"

I wish you all a happy new year and send hopes that you will find enough.