Is America's billionaire boom good for government, democracy? Tell us.
Billionaires are having a day.
The White House is a good example of this happy time for the wealthiest among us, since it is the residence (once more) of our first billionaire president, Donald Trump. It was there that he was joined briefly by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who slashed his way through much of the federal government, then exited to go tend to rockets, electric cars and other ventures.
But not to worry. Left behind are five billionaires brought into office by Trump, the most of any administration. Those magnates spent hundreds of millions of dollars to reelect Trump and to throw him an inaugural party.
Opinion: What's an oligarchy? With Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' bill, we're living in one.
As a national phenomenon, the number of billionaires has grown from one in the 1920s (industrialist Henry Ford) to more than 900. Since the start of the 21st century, that group's wealth has expanded nine times, aided by Trump's 2017 tax cuts. For the country's lower half of earners, the expansion was double, mostly due to stimulus checks.
I say all this to set up the question for you: What do we think of this conspicuous power of America's billionaires?
Is it something to fear, as President Joe Biden warned on his way out the door, saying there is a growing oligarchy that "threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead"?
Or are these exceptional people whom we should celebrate? They are, after all, the group that brought us Starlink, a satellite system that kept Ukraine afloat in its war against Russia. And Amazon. (Boy, I like not going to the store to buy that thingy to fix my dryer. And I get it the next day!)
Opinion: You're not really mad at the Bezos, Sánchez luxury Venice wedding. You're just poor.
We want to know what you think. Take our poll below, or send us an email with the subject line "Forum billionaires" to forum@usatoday.com. We'll publish a collection of responses from all sides of the conversation in our next installment of the Opinion Forum.
Do you want to take part in our next Forum? Join the conversation by emailing forum@usatoday.com.You can also follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and sign up for our Opinion newsletter to stay updated on future Forum posts.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should billionaires be running the country? Tell us | Opinion
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