Turns out having a fortune of five billion dollars will only get you to #461 on the list of American billionaires. (Associated Press report October 16, 2020 on the prosecution of a billionaire tax cheat and his associates). No wonder the current occupant of the White House considers himself unfairly treated. He’s nowhere near the top of the heap in the class of elites he aspires to. In fact, with the participation of many millions of “disgusting people” called Americans, he may be homeless after November. Some wish that his new home will have bars on it, but that’s unlikely, given the unfairness of American justice.

The above billionaire is actually not the one being prosecuted. Faced with complicity in the crime of another billionaire, he has stepped up to cooperate with the Feds. Meanwhile, however, the taxes he himself evaded have bought him investments around the world–you know, the kind of dream properties you read about in the back pages of The Economist, after you’ve waded through the news about economic and political outrages, wars, poverty and starvation around the world. To give credit where credit is due, the billionaire stool pigeon has also provided substantial funds for charitable works. But how many seaside condos, ski retreats, and vacation homes can one family occupy in the course of a year?

How to spend five billion dollars? That could keep anyone awake at night, clearly an affliction for our subject and the 460 folks ahead of him in the scorekeeping. After the first billion or so, you just can’t keep the money from rolling in. You can’t get ahead of the accumulation simply with grocery shopping, apartment rent, shoes for the kiddies (even Louboutins), a dependable car, and medical care. It just keeps piling up.

I don’t doubt there may be professional skill behind amassing a huge fortune. There’s usually good luck in the ancestor lottery. Essentially, the extremely wealthy got born on the high side of “fair.” Taxation is unpopular, I know, especially with those who have already collected their billions. So how does a society that wants to lift all boats, including the luxury yachts, make that happen?

I’d like to see tax legislation that aims to close a lot of loopholes, make the rich pay more. Even if you’re only #461 on the list of billionaires, you probably won’t even miss it.

Me? I’m making a list of ways I’m going to spend the $10,000 prize in a poetry contest I’ve just entered—an unheard of reward for poetry. Long odds, but I’ve bought my ticket.