Time’s up? The prodigality of the super-rich

Can people have too much wealth? Does extreme wealth have negative consequences? Over the past thirty years, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of billionaires whose annual earnings are so large that they are often difficult to comprehend. To take but one example, it was estimated in 2022 by Forbes magazine that Elon Musk's personal assets were worth $219 billion and that, if he worked for forty-five years, his lifetime hourly rate from these assets was in the order of US$1,871,794.

Further, many of those in the ranks of the super-rich regularly engage in spectacular forms of conspicuous consumption that appear frivolous and wasteful – think of Jeff Bezos's 2021 flight into space – especially when one considers the extreme forms of poverty and unmet need that exist across the globe. It is unsurprising, when confronted by these forms of extravagance, that many find such extreme forms of wealth to be morally repugnant.

But this raises a question: should we place a limit upon how much any one individual can own? And how would we set such a maximum?