Laissez Faire, Laissez Mourir

There is an economic arrangement in which whoever cannot pay to survive is told, “Die, then.” We live in it. The world minted its first trillionaire in June 2026, when SpaceX went public and Elon Musk’s net worth passed $1 trillion. That is a quarter of what the bottom half of America (66 million households) owns combined,1 and the entire wealth of five million median families. This is what a trillion looks like. ▼ each speck is one million dollars (the median family owns a fifth of one) $10 billion $20 billion $30 billion $40 billion $50 billion $60 billion $70 billion $80 billion $90 billion one hundred billion $110 billion $120 billion $130 billion $140 billion $150 billion $160 billion $170 billion $180 billion $190 billion two hundred billion $210 billion $220 billion $230 billion $240 billion $250 billion $260 billion $270 billion $280 billion $290 billion three hundred billion $310 billion $320 billion $330 billion $340 billion $350 billion $360 billion $370 billion $380…