“Greed, for lack of a greater phrase, is nice.” So mentioned Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gekko within the hit 1987 film “Wall Road.” The movie (a December launch) deftly articulated the materialistic ethos rampant within the monetary world of the rough-and-tumble Nineteen Eighties.
What’s Douglas as much as today? Nicely, nonetheless appearing, however a few of his recent comments to the press might give his flip as Gekko a run for its cash in capturing the second: “Proper now, our nation is flirting with autocracy [… .] The disappointing factor is that politics now appears to be for revenue.”
Though maybe the 2025 feedback aren’t fairly as lyrical, Douglas has some extent. In relation to rapacious capitalism, 2025 makes 1987 appear to be a toddler’s lemonade stand. Let’s peruse just a few of the methods wherein this 12 months was unprecedented in relation to greed.
Elon Musk Turns into Richest Individual In Historical past With Document-Setting Web Value
This December, Elon Musk grew to become the first person ever worth at least $600 billion. Simply 4 days later, Musk became the first person value greater than $700 billion. No different individual has ever been value even a paltry $500 billion.
Forbes most not too long ago pegged Musk’s web value at $749 billion, and I’m too disgusted to look once more to see if that rises any larger earlier than my deadline. Musk is nicely on his solution to turning into historical past’s first trillionaire.
Donald Trump Monetizes The Presidency Like By no means Earlier than
Although traditionally many former presidents had hassle with it, in trendy occasions it’s de rigueur for American heads of state to feather their very own nests. Invoice and Hillary Clinton, for instance, gave 729 paid speeches from February 2001 to Might 2016 in return for a mean payout of $210,795 per handle, incomes a complete of greater than $153 million.
That isn’t precisely demonstrating the restraint of Mom Teresa. Nonetheless, most presidents wait till after their ultimate time period to actually money in, and a haul within the low 9 figures is nearly quaint by 2025 requirements.
Quite a few consultants, utilizing quite a lot of methodologies, have calculated how a lot Donald Trump has profited off the presidency. The calculations with any credibility put the determine nicely into the billions of {dollars}, a considerable portion attributable to the president’s varied familial cryptocurrency schemes.
One very thorough evaluation discovered that Trump and his fast household had pocketed $3.4 billion throughout his total time within the White Home as of August. One other report, launched in October, discovered that President Trump, Melania Trump, and Trump’s two oldest sons amassed more than $1.8 billion “from promoting the presidency” since his 2024 reelection alone.
World’s Largest Nation Probably Surpasses 1 Million Casualties In Quest To Steal Even Extra Land
Russia is by far the largest country on this planet. It’s nearly twice the dimensions of the second-largest nation, Canada.
Russia additionally has a really low inhabitants density. It doesn’t want any extra land. But, that hasn’t stopped Russia from instigating and persevering with the most important battle in Europe since World Battle II, merely in order to steal land from its smaller neighbor, Ukraine.
Sadly, wars of territorial growth are widespread all through historical past. That being mentioned, Russia’s unprovoked battle towards Ukraine is exclusive in modernity, and this 12 months it possible reached a bloody milestone.
We don’t know for certain what number of casualties Russia has suffered thus far within the battle, as a result of Russia lies continuously about something that may make it look unhealthy. Western estimates will also be everywhere in the map (as an illustration, Trump put the number of Russian servicemen killed or injured in the course of the battle at 600,000 in December 2024 earlier than saying Russia had misplaced 1 million troops in the course of the battle only one month later).
With 2025 starting out on pace to be the battle’s deadliest 12 months, extra credible sources point out that Russia’s casualty depend might have surpassed 1 million this 12 months, with Ukraine’s estimated casualties so far within the battle at a bit lower than half of that. It’s a horrible lack of human life, particularly in pursuit of one thing that the aggressor already has extra of than it might ever realistically put to make use of.
Extra To Come?
Whereas these are just a few of essentially the most poignant examples of how 2025 was notably grasping, they’re removed from the one ones I might have chosen. To bastardize a Churchill quote, “By no means have so few taken a lot from so many.” Should you care concerning the obscenely rich getting much more wealthy off the backs of everybody else, 2025 was tough.
As for 2026? I don’t have a crystal ball. However there certain doesn’t appear to be something standing on the horizon to forestall extra of the identical.
Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and writer of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate hyperlink). He has taught authorized writing, written for all kinds of publications, and made it each his enterprise and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are most likely pure gold, however are nonetheless solely his personal and shouldn’t be attributed to any group with which he’s affiliated. He wouldn’t need to share the credit score anyway. He will be reached at [email protected].
