Column: How To Make Billionaires Extinct

By Julia Strong

Do you think billionaires should exist in a world where millions of people do not have shelter, food, clean water or clean air to breathe? I don’t, and if you agree, read on.

Income equality is essential for a properly functioning democracy. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to spread. This really isn’t good for anybody. Of course, the rich and ultra-rich receive beneficial tax treatment regarding capital gains and unearned income. These issues are hard to address and take time and considerable effort to mitigate. Many billionaires become ultra-rich because they own shares of companies that sell products and / or services that many of us consume. If we stop consuming, the profit margins will fall, the stock price could drop, and the billionaires would be no more.

I shall list two well-known examples. Let’s start with Jeff Bezos.

Jeff Bezos is a billionaire mostly because of his Amazon stock ownership. Amazon is an almost-monopoly retail sales platform. It also is the largest cloud computing company in the world, according to Wikipedia. The company streams audio and video content and is heavily involved in artificial intelligence (AI).

There are two numbers that determine a company’s profits. The company’s revenues and its expenses. Amazon has a reputation of working its employees hard for very little money. Company leadership continues to fight against every effort taken by its own employees to form a union. According to the company’s logic, a push to unionize more employees and increase their pay, as well as improve their working conditions, will drive up expenses and reduce profits. The biggest benefits will be to the employees. Without them, Amazon could not deliver services and goods to customers.

If you are not an employee, you can limit or eliminate your purchases from Amazon. Amazon started out as an online bookstore. Now there are other options, like thriftbooks and Half Price Books. Of course, libraries are also an option. Buying from small locally-owned stores is a great way to keep your money local and ensure those businesses stay around and contribute to the local well-being — without creating billionaires.

One major profit center for the company is Amazon Prime. If you are already signed up for Prime, you can opt out. If you haven’t signed up, don’t. The subscription service is only beneficial if you are a big consumer. Of course, the more you consume, the less money you have and the more money Amazon has. Only buy what you absolutely need.

Next, let’s take a look at how to deflate Elon Musk’s growing empire.

Elon Musk is a billionaire mostly because of his ownership in Tesla and SpaceX. He has also fought back against his own employees who have attempted to unionize. He promotes robotics replacing human workers which would increase his profits, but create more desperation in the job market.

If you own a Tesla product, you can sell it; that will reduce the value of all Tesla products in the marketplace. If you don’t own one, don’t buy one. Tesla will have to lower the price of its products or reduce production to meet the reduced demand. This will impact their revenues negatively. If you own a different brand electric vehicle (EV), only use Tesla chargers as a last resort. Use other chargers when available.

SpaceX only makes one consumer product / service: Starlink, which is a high-speed internet service. There are many other options. Choose one of those.

Much of SpaceX’s funding comes from the government. You can contact your elected officials and ask them to increase funding for NASA, a federally-funded space program, and reduce funding to private contractors like SpaceX.

Lastly, there is X, which used to be called Twitter. This is currently not a profitable company, and the shared content has gone downhill since it was purchased by Musk and company. It is simple to deactivate your account. First, go to Settings and Support, then Settings and Privacy, then your Account, and then Deactivate your Account. Fewer users and less engagement will lead to fewer advertisers, further reducing revenues. Enjoy a competing app, like Bluesky or better yet, go for a walk and chat with your neighbor.

In these cases, billionaires require factories and data centers. Make sure to fight these, if they are proposed in your area. They may end up taking your drinking water for their operations. They surely will be big energy users and increase your electricity bills. If you already have them in your area, make sure they get their proper permits and adhere to the rules of their permits by participating in civil activities like City Council and County Commissioners Court meetings.

Without us, these billionaires wouldn’t exist. It is up to us to stop buying what they are selling. That will reduce their profits and their stock prices will fall. Only by low stock prices can we ensure there are billionaires no more!