Billionaires: Rich, Powerful, and Useless

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Ethical Billionaires

Do they exist?

Can you even be ethical and that rich while the world still suffers from hunger, poverty, disease, and so much more?

“Ethical billionaire” sounds made up. And even in fiction, it’s hard to justify having that much wealth.

When I think “ethical billionaire,” my first thought goes to Batman, aka the Dark Crusader, aka Bruce Wayne, aka CEO of Wayne Enterprises, with an estimated net worth of $100 billion.

Not the richest billionaire we know, but still a billionaire nonetheless.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Batman. He’s my favorite DC superhero. But if we’re being honest, what has he actually done for Gotham? You know, the fictional city that’s supposed to represent the worst of NYC.

Yes, yes, he’s keeping the streets safe from danger and crime. But let’s look at who he’s fighting.

Gotham’s Real Problems

Almost all of Batman’s villains are victims, either of systemic failure or societal injustice.

Take the worst of the worst: The Joker. Yeah, I know, his backstory changes a lot. But let’s go with the most grounded version. Joker is a failed comedian who falls into a vat of chemicals after taking a job to assist in a robbery gone wrong.

The fall symbolizes his descent into madness, a physical transformation mirroring psychological collapse. He’s not just chaos in a suit, he’s a mentally ill man trying to take care of his family until the system breaks him.

He’s Batman’s arch enemy, but he’s also a product of Gotham’s failure to protect its most vulnerable.

Then there’s Mr. Freeze, a brilliant scientist who turns to crime to fund an experimental treatment for his terminally-ill wife. After a lab accident, he becomes dependent on sub-zero temperatures to survive. But even then, his mission doesn’t change: save his wife.

It’s almost romantic. I said almost.

He’s a victim of a failed healthcare system in a world where survival depends on wealth. Another person, pushed to the edge.

Gotham’s villains are symptoms. Of poverty. Of corruption. Of medical debt. Of trauma.

And Batman? He fights them — sure — but he rarely does anything to fix the systems that made them.

He definitely has the money to do it.

But instead of funding social programs or rebuilding communities, he invests in Batmobiles and gadgets to fight individuals one by one.

Batman might be a great superhero, but he’s also a failed ethical billionaire.

Let’s Talk Real Life

About one-third of the world’s billionaires live in the U.S. That’s around 902 people.

Meanwhile, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line. That’s roughly 40,000 people in poverty for every one billionaire.

And it gets worse: about 15 million of those people live in deep poverty, surviving on less than $7,000 a year.

Let that sink in: One person has enough money to launch themselves into space for fun, and 40,000 others can’t afford rent and groceries in the same economy.

And this isn’t just a U.S. problem. Globally, over 700 million people live in extreme poverty, often on less than $2.15 a day.

Experts estimate that eliminating poverty just in the U.S. would cost $175–278 billion a year.

That’s a number a few billionaires could collectively cover and still have more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime.

Enter: Lex Luthor IRL

Let’s take Elon Musk, aka the real-life Lex Luthor.

With a net worth that fluctuates around $200 billion, he could personally eliminate U.S. poverty for a year and still have about $25 billion more than Bruce Wayne ever had.

Instead, he’s playing with rockets, trying to escape the very planet he helped destroy, and publicly beefing with “DJT,” aka his orange ex, on X.

(Okay, I’m actually living for that one.)

So What Can a Billion Dollars Actually Do?

According to ChatGPT, here’s what a billion (or a few) can do:

• Provide clean drinking water to the entire world for a year? ~$10 billion
• House every homeless person in America? ~$20 billion
• End world hunger? $7–265 billion annually, depending on the scope
• End U.S. poverty? $175–278 billion

That’s not even the combined wealth of the top 10 richest Americans.

In other words, a single billionaire could drive massive systemic change. But instead, many spend their money on tax avoidance, space tourism, or buying social media platforms for the vibes.

And This Is Why Billionaires Shouldn’t Exist

It’s just too much money, and they’re doing nothing meaningful with it.

No one person deserves that much while others starve. And we, as a society, have failed by allowing this to happen.

And since ethical billionaires are fictional and we can’t rely on the real ones, maybe our only savior is an alien from a dying planet.