Millionaires and Billionaires

Published on Oct 19, 2025, filed under misc, advocacy. (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

In a system in which money is everything, including freedom, money comes with responsibility. And yet in a system that doesn’t promote responsibility, we observe that money leads to recklessness.

That’s one way of looking at wealth and how it’s being used.

From what we can observe, most people with significant wealth seem to be peculiar in two particular ways:

1. Appearing not wise enough to recognize and know

   • that their wealth means another’s poverty and that that’s actually relevant because ultimately, they can only be truly well if everyone is well, and

   • that they, too, live in a climate catastrophe from which they cannot escape, even if they built themselves the most sophisticated bunker.

2. Appearing not courageous enough to act

   • to use their fortunes for the greater good and for everyone’s well-being, because they seem so afraid they would not have enough, even though they already have way more than enough (and will keep enough) to live a comfortable and fulfilling life, and

   • to move away from their ways of “making” money, especially when these ways include exploiting and damaging people, animals, or planet, out of the same fear of not having enough, or other fears like not being able to replicate their success or being admired for it.

There’s some superb (and superbly sad) irony here that millionaires and billionaires are in the best position to be role models, by doing amazing things for the well-being and advancement of mankind (and all species)—

—and yet by often doing the opposite, by exploiting, hoarding, wasting, domineering, and not even paying their share of taxes, most have made themselves net negatives that prevent our progress on this planet.

Together, we need to take care of everyone, including all species, including our environment—not take care of some select few, many, many times more than others who we drop and let suffer.

In other words, no one is entitled to live at the expense of another living being, and everyone deserves a decent life on a healthy planet. Only when both are ensured will we find peace, contentment, and a future that we can look forward to.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)