Guess who was seated in the front row at the Trump inauguration? None other than the three richest men in the world: Mark Zuckerberg (net worth 211.8 billion), Jeff Bezos (239.4 billion), and Elon Musk (433.9 billion). Who gave a Nazi salute – twice? Elon Musk.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that the three richest men in the world represent us for one second. You could accumulate one billion dollars if you worked full-time at the federal minimum wage ($7.25) for about 69,000 years. Trying to catch up to Elon? Try working for about 30 million years. The top three richest men in the world represent monstrous ego, unfathomable selfishness, and unfathomable waste.
Some might call it jealousy to view these people with disdain, but I’m not jealous of people who have billions of dollars that can’t make them an ounce happier or turn them into good people. They are not doing good in the world. They could solve homelessness in the U.S. They could fund research to find a cure for cancer. Instead, they fantasize about who will send the biggest and best rocket to space while millions worldwide starve.
We have far more in common with a homeless person than we ever would a multi-billionaire. Still, those of us living paycheck to paycheck could be caught cheering on these men and the incoming administration seeking to collaborate with them. None other than a worship of hyper-individualism and pure capitalism has gotten us here. And, what good is it really doing us? We have abysmally low pay while the cost of living skyrockets. Healthcare costs are out of control. We could have better labor laws, but, instead, we glorify excessively working to get by. Meanwhile, we lose time that could be spent raising our families, getting educated, and living better lives.
Make no mistake: The incoming administration is not going to work in your favor. Worse, Elon’s blatant Nazi salutes (he will deny that is what they were in the coming days) signal that they are not working for all of us, no matter who we are or where we come from. Clearly, we are becoming more of an oligarchy with a side of bigotry. Something completely antithetical to the American Dream we’ve all been spoon-fed, but that seems to always be just out of reach.
I hope we find our way back to real working-class values, like standing with your neighbors, no matter who they are or where they come from. The working class fights for better pay and better working conditions for everyone. We make sure that the least of us are taken care of. We center our diverse families and communities so that we can all thrive. The ultra-rich and the people in power who collaborate with them are not like us. The sooner we acknowledge that reality, the better off we will be.
Cecile Pérez is a concerned citizen who wants to make a difference. She is a Chicane serving on the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee as chair of legislative district 32.