Billionaires Feast While The Nation Starves

Guest article by Michael Cohen.

Picture the scene: a long table dripping with excess, chandeliers glowing above, the smell of wealth so thick it practically fogged the room. This wasn’t dinner; it was theater. A pageant of power dressed up as a “tech summit.” The titans of industry gathered not to brainstorm innovation or discuss how technology could serve humanity. No, they came to kiss the ring, to trade favors, and to make sure their slice of the future stayed locked in their vaults.

Notice who wasn’t there: Elon Musk. And that tells you everything. This wasn’t just a meeting of the brightest minds in technology; it was a curated guest list of insiders who understood the real assignment: pledge loyalty, secure access, and leave with the guarantee that when policy chips are dealt, their hands are always full. Musk may have the rockets and the tweets, but for this table, the price of admission wasn’t innovation. It was obedience. (Editors note: Musk, who practically lived at the White House for months before his very public fallout with Trump, claims he was unable to attend).

The rest showed up with bells on. CEOs, financiers, venture capitalists—all lining up for a photo op with power. They didn’t come for the steak or the wine, though you can bet it was flown in, aged perfectly, and poured from bottles that cost more than a month’s rent for most families. They came because proximity pays. One evening at that table is worth more than a year of lobbying. Influence doesn’t happen in legislation anymore; it happens in dining rooms, under chandeliers, between bites of foie gras.

Meanwhile, outside the Trump banquet dinner, America is crumbling. A mere 22,000 jobs were created last month—well below the expectation of 75,000. Wages are flat. Prices are up. Unemployment ticked up to 4.3%, a level not seen since September of 2017. Families are rationing groceries, skipping medical appointments, watching their savings vanish like smoke. The labor market is in the toilet, and the pain is finally hitting home; not on Wall Street, not in Silicon Valley, but in every checkout line across the country. And while working families count pennies, the richest men in the world count favors and their increased billions.

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