Chuck Collins is not a household name, and I had not heard of him until recently.*1 But his new (2025) book, Burned by Billionaires (BbB) is an excellent work that is especially pertinent now, as for the first time a billionaire occupies the White House and has surrounded himself with fellow billionaires and “centi-millionaires” (people whose net worth is over $100 million).
Collins was “born on third base,” as he says
in an earlier book.*2 He is the great‑grandson of Oscar F. Mayer,
the meat‑packing magnate. In 1985 (when he was 26), Chuck inherited roughly
$500,000 from his family’s Oscar Mayer fortune. That same year, he donated the
entire amount to foundations and community organizations. He later left to live
in a commune.
When his father, a libertarian
conservative, learned of what Chuck had done, he said he was afraid his son had
become a Marxist. Chuck responded by saying that he would rather be called
a “Gandhian or Christian.”*3 He explained that he didn’t
want to spend his life “managing inherited wealth” and that giving it away
freed him to pursue community organizing and economic‑justice work.
Collins is now widely known for his
work exposing how wealth is accumulated, hidden, and protected in the U.S. He
says in the Introduction of BbB “The drive by billionaires to amass ever
greater wealth is warping the nonprofit sector, dictating what’s on your dinner
plate, and shaping the news you consume.”
How Concentrated Wealth and Power are
Ruining Our Lives and Planet
is the subtitle of BbB. Collins writes, “With their inordinate wealth
and power, billionaires are hijacking our political system with their campaign
contributions, paid lobbyists, communication firms, and dark money
contributions."
I cannot even introduce here the important
chapters in this book, but I strongly recommend reading it. It is a bit pricey
to buy, but many public libraries likely have it. (There are several copies in the
various Kansas City metro libraries.)
“An Agenda to Reduce Billionaire Power and Improve Our Lives” is the
title of the final chapter before the Conclusion, and it includes four major
topics with about two dozen subtopics. They are all good suggestions, but they
are not very helpful regarding what we ordinary “peons” can do—other than vote
for legislators who do have power to follow those suggestions.
At the end of the Conclusion, Collins offers this advice: “Get your
information from sources that are not owned and controlled by billionaires.”
That is one small thing I did before reading Collins’ book: I quit subscribing
to and reading The Washington Post. In doing that, I was following the
actions of Jen Rubin, who was the leading opinion article writer of the Post.
In protest to a Jeff Bezos directive in 2025, Rubin left her prominent
position and became co-founder of an online publication called “The
Contrarian,” which I now read daily. That Substack blog, which started with the
tagline “Not owned by anybody,” now has nearly 500,000 subscribers. She allows
“tightwads” like me read it for free, and here is a link if you would like to
try it out: The
Contrarian | Substack.
Ever since the One Big Beautiful (=Ugly) Bill was signed into law on
July 4, 2025, I have been concerned about the growing
control of billionaires and the extremely wealthy over American life—and
incensed that financial resources continue to flow upward to those who need
them least, while the poor suffer even more.
That bill delivered $1 trillion in tax cuts to the top 1% of
taxpayers, while cutting roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP—programs
used by the poorest Americans. Nearly half of those tax cuts went to the top
0.1% of earners.
And consider who the POTUS took with him to China last week: 17 CEOs,
several of whom were billionaires. Why were they in his entourage? Mainly because
of the donations they had made to Trump. Several of them had previously donated
$1 million or more to his inaugural fund. So, the president took them along so
they could negotiate with China on behalf of their own business interests. The
appearance of a quid pro quo is hard to miss.
It is also hard to miss the judgmental words of the prophet Amos, pronouncing
woe on the wealthy who “trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land”
(8:4, CEB)—and it is easy to see that Chuck Collins is a present-day Amos.
_____
*1 The cover of
the December issue of Sojourners magazine was emblazoned with the words
“The Big Steal,” and the cover story was on “The Wealth Extractors: Billionaires
are upending our lives and our economy.” It featured an interview of Collins by
Julie Polter, the editor of Sojourners.
*2 Collins previously
authored a book titled Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case
for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common
Good (2016). The main title is said to be the words of Barry Switzer, the
famous football coach, but they were not original with him.
*3 Collins has
been a lifelong member of the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Note: Research and wording assistance was provided by Claude (Anthropic A.I.).
Interesting article Leroy and I had several Billionaires as Mentors and they were All Great and Wondeful people.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to lean toward the impression that All Billionaires are Bad and there are by Far more Bad poor people than Bad Billionaires.
Just my two cents worth!
John Tim, the first two sections of my blog were about Chuck Collins, and I encourage you to read more by or about him. He was born into a very wealthy family--"born on third base," as he put it in his 2016 book. In their personal lives, most billionaires might not be "bad," and Collins doesn't ever label them that way. But he insists, correctly I think, that billionaires are ruining our lives and planet. That does seem very bad to me.
DeleteIf by bad, you mean people who drink too much, men who beat their wives, bank robbers, etc., sure, there may well be far more bad poor people than bad billionaires. Of course, there are thousands and thousands of times more poor people than billionaires. But in spite of their great number, they are not ruining our lives and planet the way Collins says, correctly I think, that the billionaires are.
My main criticism, though, is the power of the billionaires over the U.S. government now. They are exerting influence and power so that they are increasingly getting wealthier and many poor people are increasingly struggling financially. In the last few years there has been a steady flow of wealth from the poorer segments of society to those at the top. That, too, seems bad to me.
Since you are a strong Bible-believing Christian, perhaps you could give some more thought to what Jesus said to the "rich young ruler" (as he is often called) in Matthew 19:16-22.
Thank you Leroy. I love your sense of justice for the poor!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew! I always appreciate hearing from you, my only Thinking Friend in Great Britain.
DeleteThanks, Leroy. I’ve posted it on FB as well”essential reading.”
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anton. I much appreciate you posting a link to this blog article on Facebook--and for referring to it as "essential reading"!
DeleteHere are brief comments received very early this morning from Thinking Friend Nancy Garner:
ReplyDelete"Thanks so much for this. Wealth inequality is one of the worst things in our world.
Thanks for reading and responding, Nancy. It was good to hear from you again. And thanks for highlighting the problem of wealth inequality, which perhaps I didn't emphasize sufficiently. But Collins is heavily involved in dealing with the huge problem of wealth inequality. He is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org.
DeleteLocal Thinking Friend Bob Southard shares these comments:
ReplyDelete"This is so important! Thx for sharing. You might want to check out my FB post this morning. I’m switching to a credit union instead of BoA who is currently paying $72M to Epstein victims with my money and I’m also cutting investments as I can from Schwab who supports Trump and pressing my finance people to rethink Schwab for their go to source. Financial changes sometimes require a slow process but can happen. An ethical vote once every year is much stronger if we are voting with dollars year round. Fair trade shopping, ethical investments, oversight in business practices, educated voters, healthy court systems, constitutional guards, independent media…so much plays in. Thx for leading the way!"
Bob, thanks for responding and for sharing concrete ways you are seeking to protest the control of the country by billionaires working with, or over, the billionaire President. It will take a lot more of us doing a lot more to make significant difference, but for all of us, doing something is much better than doing nothing. Thanks (again) for all that you are doing.
DeleteAnd then Ed Kail, another local Thinking Friend, wrote,
ReplyDelete"Thanks for the referral. This surely is one of the most crucial issues of our time. One can’t help but think that there will need to be a massive public movement to change the current dynamics that you describe. Where do you think it will come from?"
Thanks for your comments and question, Ed.
DeleteSenator Elizabeth Warren is a leader in the Senate now, and her work is important and needs greater support. She is the leading proponent of a federal wealth tax in the U.S., centered on her Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which she re-introduced in March 2026. Among other things, It would impose an annual tax on the net worth of the ultra-wealthy.
In addition to Senator Warren, I think those identifying as Democratic Socialists play a leading role in working for needed changes, people such as Sen. Sanders, Rep. AOC, and Mayor Mamdani in NYC.
A few minutes ago I saw these words by Sen. Bernie Sanders posted on Facebook:
Delete"The anger over massive income and wealth inequality i NOT envy of billionaires' yachts and jewelry.
"It's that the working class is suffering. It's that seniors living in poverty die 9 years younger than the wealthy."
I think Chuck Collins would agree with Bernie. I know I do.
DeleteVery early this morning, Paul Krugman posted the following on his Substack account:
ReplyDelete". . . centi-billionaires Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Ellison, and other robber barons — paid for Trump’s 2024 election, his inauguration, and his ballroom and are major donors to Senate and House Republicans. They’ve shown up at Trump’s inauguration, White House dinners, and official visits to China.
"In return, these oligarchs have been allowed to monopolize and drive up the prices we pay and silence Trump critics."
Thanks for an enlightening—a confirmational—blog on the problem of these plusiarchs who subvert much of what they touch. I think here and again of an ancient Greek polis named Sybaris.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your pertinent comments, Jerry -- and thanks for helping me learn new words/place names. I am familiar with many words that end in "arch," but I don't remember hearing plusiarch before (and Grammarly didn't know it either, as it is underlined in red). Co-Pilot, though, tells me that "A plusiarch (more commonly spelled plutarch in standard usage, though that traditionally refers to the ancient Greek biographer) would mean 'a ruler by virtue of wealth' — essentially a billionaire or extremely wealthy person who holds power or influence due to their riches." And that is exactly what I was talking about in the last part of my blog article.
DeleteAnd then I also learned that Sybaris is the name of an ancient Greek city-state that was founded about 720 BCE. It became widely known for extreme luxury and indulgence of its inhabitants.
Bro. Leroy, perhaps it was you or someone else who must remain anonymous has said, "Billionaires cannot become such or remain such by practicing/living out Christian ethics." Whoever said it says much against those who would seek power by the use of their wealth. Many of us live comfortably, but hopefully we are using some of our "comfort" to ease the "discomfort" of those around us and farther away. If a person refuses to be open about their taxes as public officials, the amount of their gifts to charities seeking to relieve the plight of the poor is open to suspicion. The craving for wealth and power, and through them personal significance, is a terrible and evil addiction.
ReplyDeleteIn her 2014 book "This Changes Everything" Naomi Klein subtitles Chapter 7, No Messiahs, as "The Green Billionaires Won't Save Us." She then uses the chapter to run through a list of prominent "green" billionaires and show how they had more gesture than commitment. Billionaires included in the chapter were Richard Branson, Warren Buffett, Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, and T. Boone Pickens. She gives a counter-example in Jeremy Grantham, a wealthy man who quietly put money into green projects without grandstanding, and in his quarterly reports bleakly mused about environment catastrophe flowing from capitalism. Even he, though, kept making money from his investment management company. Well, the environment and the Iranian army may well teach capitalism quite a lesson this year. Of course, those capitalists know "never let a disaster go to waste."
ReplyDeleteI've never been too big of fan of the Timothy books, but I have come to respect the little essay in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, which ends with the famous line about "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." (Which was even more graphic in King James.) In verse 8 we are told "but if we have food and clothing we will be content with these." Well, forget the food part, and maybe even the clothing. The billionaires are taking us down the path to destruction, and major famine will probably stalk the earth within a few months, all so the American Empire can try to control the world oil supply. Too bad the people falling into destruction in verse 9 are going to be mostly everybody except the billionaires. I am glad Chuck Collins is trying to stop all this.
Amen!
ReplyDelete