With the increases in gas and food prices as well as the rising inflation and cost of living, day-to-day life can feel quite overwhelming. This is true even without the added stress of the societal and humanitarian issues of the country and of the world. So, the next time you are struggling to pay for basic necessities or are thinking about how there is less than a decade to prevent irreversible climate change, take some time to think about these billionaires who do not have these issues or concerns. 

1. Elon Musk

Known as the wealthiest man on Earth, with a net worth of $ 246.6 billion, Elon Musk is the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. SpaceX, a private company, pushed us into the era of commercialized space flight, so say goodbye to space exploration and research done for the public, and hello to luxurious space travel for the megarich. While a mere 2% of Musk’s wealth could help end world hunger, Musk is concerned with more important things, such as recently buying Twitter for $44 billion. What else would you do when you have more money than is possible to spend? Especially since he may be the first person to become a trillionaire — if $40 were spent per second, it would take a few years to spend it a trillion, precisely 792.5 years. Maybe Musk will find a way to live that long.

2. Jeff Bezos

Coming up in a close second place is Jeff Bezos, who is worth only $ 177.5 billion USD. Most of his wealth he accumulated during his time as the president and CEO of Amazon, which he founded but has recently, thankfully, stepped down from. You may know Amazon from your own personal purchases, a company in which you can order almost anything from. You may also know it for its amazing treatment of its workers — that is if you consider backbreaking labor, automated tracking systems that constantly track the workers, having to pee in bottles since there are limited bathroom breaks, and prevention of unions — amazing treatment. Bezos recently traveled to space (billionaires love space, maybe it’s because they know they’re killing the planet) in which only 300 tons of carbon dioxide were emitted into the upper atmosphere, where it can stay for years. Maybe next time, he’ll stay up there. 

3. Warren Buffet

With a net worth of $ 124.3 billion, Warren Buffet is considered the most successful investor of the 20th century. Most of his wealth comes from the conglomerate holding company which he owns and is CEO of — Berkshire Hathaway. Buffet claims that philanthropy is the “easiest deed in the world,” and wants to distribute his wealth before he dies. It may be a good reminder that according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would only take 20 billion to end homelessness in the United States. A small percentage of his total wealth. Similarly, while his wealth increased by the tens of billions between the years 2014 to 2018, he only paid taxes at a rate of 0.1. At the age of 91, we’re getting closer to seeing exactly how philanthropic he really plans on being. 

4. Bill Gates

Co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation and making roughly $ 32.8 million every day, Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of $ 132.3 billion USD. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done more for global health than any government. The only teenzy downside is that it is fueled by corporate interests which leads to uprooting sustainable, indigenous practices in agriculture in favor of globalized agribusiness. It’s okay, though, everyone makes mistakes. Bill Gates would agree since according to him, meeting with Jeffrey Epstein — a convicted sex offender — was a “huge mistake” he made only “a number of times.”

5. Mark Zuckerberg

Coming in hot as the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, Mark Zuckerberg has a net worth of $ 79.8 billion USD. It may be advisable to be careful of what you say on these platforms, but Facebook has let Nazi and hate groups thrive despite being reported, so you may be fine. Recently, Zuckerberg has helped Facebook rebrand itself into “Meta” as a way to start his focus on the metaverse, which would be an “immersive online realm that would encompass entire digital societies and economies.” Don’t worry, it only sounds a little bit like the beginning of a dystopian novel. Like other billionaires, Zuckerberg is rather ambitious, considering that he has also been suing Native Hawaiians to force them to sell their land; regardless of the century, it seems that colonizing never goes out of style.