Somebody can make more money in one afternoon than an average employee will earn in several lifetimes, while the person helping keep that business running is trying to figure out whether they can afford groceries until Friday. And we're supposed to call that the American Dream?

Let's ask a question that makes people uncomfortable: why have we become so protective of billionaires that we sometimes defend their wealth more aggressively than we defend the people working for them?

You'll see someone working two jobs, struggling with rent, and living paycheck to paycheck, but they'll spend their entire lunch break arguing online that a billionaire deserves every dollar they have.

Listen, I'm not against people becoming wealthy. Build a company. Create something valuable. Take risks. Make billions if you can. Nobody should be punished simply because they succeeded.

But when did asking whether employees deserve better wages become an attack on success?

A company can report record profits, celebrate another billion-dollar quarter, announce executive bonuses, and still tell employees there's no money available for raises.

Apparently, the money exists when it's time to reward leadership, but disappears when the people doing the actual work ask for a little more.

And here's where the debate gets interesting: if a business cannot afford to pay its workers enough to maintain a basic standard of living, should taxpayers be expected to help those workers survive through public assistance?

In other words, is the public indirectly helping subsidize a business model that keeps labor costs low while the company retains the profits?

That's not an argument against every company or every wealthy person. It's a legitimate question about how the rewards and costs of doing business are distributed.

Then there's the billionaire worship. People defend executives they've never met, whose lifestyles they'll never experience, and whose financial interests may be completely different from their own.

They'll argue about whether a billionaire should pay another percentage point in taxes while ignoring the fact that their own insurance premium just increased and their paycheck didn't.

And before someone says, "Well, they created the jobs," yes, businesses create employment. But employees also create value. It's a relationship, not an act of charity. Workers aren't supposed to spend their lives being grateful for permission to earn a paycheck.

We can respect entrepreneurship and still demand fair compensation. We can celebrate innovation and still question executive pay. We can admire wealth without pretending every decision made by wealthy people is automatically justified.

Here's the question: Why do ordinary people sometimes defend billionaire wealth more passionately than they defend their own financial interests?

And if a company can afford to make its executives richer every year, but can't afford to give the people keeping it operational a meaningful raise, is that business success—or a very profitable arrangement for the people at the top?

Because apparently everybody wants a piece of the American Dream, but some people are getting the mansion while everybody else is paying the electric bill. 😂