It’s not difficult to see why super uber duper rich people are sometimes villainized in today’s America. For one thing – although it’s an entirely unfair thought – it’s easy to believe that it’s impossible for someone to make that much money without some sort of moral deficiency or shady behavior.
Plus, it’s not easy to reconcile social justice and capitalism. On one hand, you have the promise of the American Dream, where every American can achieve success and prosperity, regardless of their originating circumstances. On the other hand, you have statistics that reveal a shocking level of income inequality in America.
It can also be maddening when money seems to make life so much easier, at least in the short-term, for people who do bad things (à la Jeffrey Epstein) or super entitled things (college admissions bribery scandal).
Listen, we have seen people born in the most devastating conditions imaginable work four jobs just to pay the bare minimum of their bills. We have also seen plenty of people raised with a ton of money and opportunity who have crashed and burned.
However – from our experience and with minor exceptions – this last group seems to miraculously rebound virtually unscathed from their mistakes and bad decisions. Redemption seems to come much easier when you can afford rehab and qualified attorneys. It’s funny how prosperity can hide a multitude of sins.
But these are separate issues that seem to get unfairly wound up in one another. The truth is that most wealthy Americans not only greatly enhance our society and democracy, but they are also incredible public relations ambassadors for the United States on a global scale. As a nation, many of them make us all look good.
All in, Americans donated a record $617.2 billion to charity in 2025 alone.
That number is enormous. It’s a shame there is no line item for this on the U.S. Balance Sheet because it’s nearly impossible to quantify exactly how much this generosity boosts the entire American economy – but there is no question it has a significant impact.
One question we've heard repeatedly, asked in response to these huge donations, is: While the generosity is greatly appreciated, why do we live in a country where this is even possible? How can these people even have that much money to give when many others can’t even put food on their table?
Again, we understand the frustration behind this question, especially these days, and we really dig into this and other social justice issues throughout this website. But for now, maybe we should show a little more gratitude.
Rich people also spend lots of money, which, although not to the degree advertised by the Republicans, does indeed help spark economic growth. The top 10 percent of U.S. households account for 49.7 percent of all spending. Moody’s Analytics estimates that this spending alone is responsible for around one-third of our gross domestic product.
But this is not to say that rich people don’t need to pay their fair share because they certainly do. In 2021, ProPublica published a special report based on “troves” of federal tax documents involving thousands of the wealthiest Americans – including President Trump – over a fifteen-year period. < The documents were leaked to ProPublica and The New York Times by Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor. Littlejohn was sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information. >
In what the president of ProPublica Richard Tofel called “the most important story we have ever published,” the investigation revealed:
“In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes. Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row.”
In their words, ProPublica’s investigation “demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. The IRS records show that the wealthiest can – perfectly legally – pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.”
< Sidebar: That said, The Wall Street Journal reported that “figures for 2021 show that the top 1 percent of Americans reported 26.3 percent of the country’s adjusted gross income, while paying 45.8 percent of total income taxes… the top 10 percent of earners in 2021 provided 75.8 percent of the revenue.” >
But regardless, if the uber rich don’t pay their fair share that’s technically not their fault. As Warren Buffett said in a 2011 article titled Stop Coddling the Super-Rich:
“Our leaders have asked for ‘shared sacrifice.’ But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. While the poor and middle-class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as ‘carried interest,’ thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors. These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.”
That’s a pretty solid point, don’t ya think?