Guns vs. Butter—It’s Our Choice
In an April 2, 2026, New York Times article titled, “Five Takeaways From Trump’s Address on Iran,” by Luke Broadwater and Tyler Pager, Trump declared:
“Over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
This declaration exposes the essence of capitalism— nothing is more sacred than private profits and massive accumulation of wealth—even if it means bombing the world back to the stone age.
And in an April 3, 2026, New York Times article titled, “Trump’s Defense Spending Request Could be Offset in Part by Steep Cuts to Domestic Programs,” by Tony Romm:
“With the United States at war with Iran and embroiled in conflicts around the world, the White House said on Friday that it would ask Congress to approve about $1.5 trillion for defense in the 2027 fiscal year. If enacted, that amount would set military spending at its highest level in modern history. The request, which arrived on Friday as part of President Trump’s new budget, would amount to a roughly 40 percent bump from what the United States spent on the Pentagon this fiscal year. The administration said it would couple the proposed increase with a call for $73 billion in cuts across domestic agencies, including the elimination of some climate, housing and education programs. … Some of the proposed cuts would target programs that serve minority groups and their communities, under the presumption that the spending—meant to expand access to lending, bolster minority-owned businesses and combat housing discrimination—is ‘woke,’ ‘weaponized’ or facilitates ‘cultural Marxism.’ … The administration signaled it would reserve its most significant increases for law enforcement, including more than $40 billion for the Justice Department, a 13 percent increase.”
Just how wealthy are the wealthiest 0.1 percent?
A March 2, 2026, New York Times article by Katie Benner and Steven Rich, titled, “Five Takeaways on America’s Boom in Billionaires” included these facts:
- Supercharged by Trump-era tax cuts and other policies that favor the rich, America’s wealthy minority has more power over the country than at any time in the last century.
- The richest Americans saw their net worth soar by 120 percent from 2017 to 2025
- The top one percent of American households, which have a minimum net worth of $11.1 million, now collectively own about $25.6 trillion worth of stocks and mutual funds, the same amount as the remaining 99 percent of the country, according to the Federal Reserve.
- Of the $25.6 trillion worth of stock owned by the one percent, more than half is in the hands of the top 0.1 percent.”
- And as for corporations, “Typically, fewer than one percent of corporations now account for more than 90 percent of corporate profits.”1
But let’s put these figures in perspective
As of March 2026, there is a record-breaking 3,428 billionaires worldwide, according to Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List.2 That’s only 3,428 people—from the capitalist class—that owns the wealth of the entire world! That’s 3,428 people in power over 8.3 billion3 people who actually do the work to create all that wealth!
As of early 2026, the United States has the highest number of billionaires in the world, with a record high of 989. Another recent report indicates that number could be as high as 1,135, with a combined net worth of roughly $5.7 trillion. The U.S. leads billionaires globally ahead of China and India, with the majority concentrated in California.4
And what about millionaires?
As of late 2025/early 2026, there are approximately 58 to 60 million millionaires worldwide out of 8.3 billion people. This affluent group represents about 1.5 percent of the global adult population. The United States leads significantly with over 22–24 million millionaires, accounting for roughly 40-41 percent of the global total. The top countries with the most millionaires are the U.S. (23.8M), China (6.3M), France (2.9M), Japan (2.7M), and Germany (2.7M).5
And what does world capitalism plan to do with all this wealth?
According to an April 5, 2026, New York Times article by Sheera Frenkel, Paul Mozur and Adam Satariano, titled, “Mutually Automated Destruction: The Escalating Global A.I. Arms Race:”
“Russia, China and the United States are all building A.I. arms as a deterrent and for ‘mutually assured destruction,’ Palmer Luckey, Anduril’s founder, said in an interview in February. The buildup has been compared to the dawn of the nuclear age in the 1940s, when the atomic bomb’s destructive power forced rival nations into an uneasy standoff, leading to more than four decades of nuclear weapons brinkmanship. But while the implications of nuclear weapons are well understood, A.I.’s military capabilities are just beginning to be known. The technology—which does not need to pause, eat, drink or sleep—is set to upend warfare by making battles faster and more unpredictable, officials said. … Even as the specifics of the technologies remain veiled, the intentions are clear. In 2017, Mr. Putin declared that whoever leads in A.I. ‘will become the ruler of the world.’ Mr. Xi said in 2024 that technology would be the ‘main battleground’ of geopolitical competition. In January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed all branches of the U.S. military to adopt A.I., saying they needed to ‘accelerate like hell.’”
The capitalists’ only goal is to build up their global war machines in competition for the world’s resources—so that the most powerful military will rule the world. The USA is already at the top of that list, and it certainly intends to remain at the top at any cost—including bombing the world back into the stone age.
But who creates the wealth that this tiny, capitalist minority owns and controls?
The vast majority of the workers of the world—we, the 8.2 billion rest of humanity—workers and professionals of all kinds—farmers, teachers, doctors, nurses, health workers, builders, shippers, delivery workers, rail, bus, train and airplane workers, factory workers, restaurant workers, sales people—everyone who must collect wages to live, we are the ones who create all the wealth in the world. The capitalists—the tiny minority of humanity—own the means of production and all the wealth and profits created by our labor.
We get only a small portion of the wealth we create by our work, and we have to fight tooth and nail to get barely enough to feed and house ourselves and our families.
And all over the world, masses of people are being bombed, starved and driven from their homes by this tiny minority of wealthy despots who steal the resources of the world only to blow it up again to protect their dictatorship over the wealth that we create—all 8.2 billion of us.
We can be divided no more!
The capitalist minority has done a great job of pitting worker against worker everywhere and for every reason they can think of—race, religion, national origin, language, sexual orientation, economic standing, education—any kind of difference they can think of to divide us and keep us ignorant of the tremendous power we can have if we had democratic control over the means of production and all the wealth we create.
If we are united, we have the power to end private profits for capitalists altogether—to take the ownership of the means of production out of their hands and into our hands and for the good of all.
The world has no use for capitalism whatsoever. We have no use for war, borders, armies, or police—we could share the wealth of the world equally.
With a completely democratized workforce—we can make sure everyone has all the necessities and joys of life—housing, healthcare, education and ample free time to explore all our talents to the fullest.
We can do away with the production of war machines and turn our production towards supplying the needs of all based upon freedom, democracy and economic and social equality and rational planning.
We, all 8.2 billion of us, can create the kind of world we want to live and raise our children in. We know how to create the things we need and want—things of quality for everyone. All we have to do is end the capitalist dictatorship—and leave all the decisions to us, the majority of humanity.
1 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/business/dealbook/corporate-profits-record.html