The Minority of the Opulent

The one Big Beautiful Bill passed the Republican-controlled House. It’s an awesome gift to the elite ruling class. The Economic Policy Institute wrote that it prioritized “lower taxes for the richest families while proposing steep cuts to the nation’s largest program aimed at alleviating poverty.” Food stamps (SNAP) get cut by $267 billion, and Medicaid gets cut by $700 billion.

In 1787, James Madison wrote that the government should “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” John Jay said, “The people who own the country ought to govern it.” The Founding Fathers elected the wealthy as our rulers. Today, poor and vulnerable Americans are kicked in the face by the Big Beautiful Bill. Meanwhile, the minority of the opulent are rewarded. This will continue even though the elite few have fueled the climate catastrophe. Nature Portfolio wrote, “The wealthiest population groups have disproportionately influenced present-day climate change.”

NASA said, “There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.” The insurance industry has sounded the alarms. Allianz SE is the largest insurance company in the world. Günther Thallinger from Allianz SE said, “We are fast approaching temperature levels—1.5°C, 2°C, 3°C—where insurers will no longer be able to offer coverage for many of these risks… A house that cannot be insured cannot be mortgaged. No bank will issue loans for uninsurable property. Credit markets freeze.” Business Insider wrote, “The climate crisis will erase $1.47 trillion in home values across the US by 2055.”

The Financial Times reported, “In 2024, the US alone suffered damage costing at least $182.7bn as a result of extreme weather and climate disasters.” NOAA wrote, “Tornadoes in March were more than double the monthly average and three separate outbreaks produced more than 200 tornadoes.” The New York Times reported that a fierce tornado on May 16th “carved a 16-mile path of destruction through Laurel County, [Kentucky].” It “looked like a war zone.” From Kentucky to Missouri, 70 tornadoes killed at least 28 people. The Times, unfortunately, had to admit that these climate disasters will get more frequent and worse. Hundreds of scientists in Australia stated, “if we don’t act, and quickly, the melting of Antarctica ice could cause catastrophic sea level rise around the globe.”

Those primarily responsible —big oil and gas— knew that burning fossil fuels would warm the planet. The Harvard Gazette wrote, “between 1977 and 2003, excellent scientists within Exxon modeled and predicted global warming with, frankly, shocking skill and accuracy only for the company to then spend the next couple of decades denying that very climate science.” Bloomberg said that “fossil-fuel companies inflicted $28 trillion in global damages between 1991 and 2020.” Yet, those who have to pay the consequences are the poor, vulnerable, and children. Meanwhile, the elite ruling class gets tax cuts. This is how capitalism functions. The minority of the opulent are protected against the working class majority. The wealthy own the country, and they govern it.

Anton Porcari

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