For some billionaires, a billion dollars is just the warm-up lap. The fortune grows to $5 billion, then $50 billion, then $100 billion, and the appetite for more never seems to quit. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says ordinary Americans are the ones picking up the tab.
"Greed is not good," Sanders said Oct. 13 at the Abraham Chavez Theatre in El Paso, Texas, during a stop on his Fighting Oligarchy Tour in October. "Love and compassion is good. Empathy is good. But billionaires with more money than they can spend in a thousand lifetimes, who say, 'I need more and more and more, and I don't care what happens to ordinary people.' We have got to take that on full steam ahead."
Sanders Brings the Fight to Texas
Texas has been a regular stop this year for Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He delivered the keynote address at the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi over the summer, and he has framed the November midterm elections as a showdown over concentrated wealth and political influence.
His argument is that a small group of extremely rich people holds too much power while working families struggle with the cost of health care, education and everyday expenses. He has also said culture-war messaging can pull voters' attention away from those economic issues and from the sway wealthy individuals hold over public policy.
The Billionaire Club Keeps Getting Bigger
The numbers help explain why this is Sanders' favorite drum to beat. Forbes' 2026 billionaires list counted a record 989 billionaires in the United States, with combined wealth of $8.4 trillion. Back in 1990, Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans included just 66 billionaires.
Sanders has spent years criticizing that concentration of wealth. He argues that billionaires can use their fortunes to influence elections and push policies that favor the wealthy, leaving working families with less political and economic power.
A Tour Built on Kitchen Table Math
Sanders launched the Fighting Oligarchy Tour in early 2025, shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term. The stated goal is to hold discussions across America on how to take on the oligarchs and corporate interests with outsized power and influence.
Sanders keeps the agenda simple. His priorities include universal health care, free college, a higher minimum wage and stronger worker protections. In Texas, he also endorsed Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin for lieutenant governor and praised her plan to expand health coverage to uninsured Texans.
For Sanders, the issue goes beyond how much money billionaires have. His argument is that the economic and political systems should work for ordinary Americans instead of handing the people with the biggest fortunes an outsized say in the country's future. In other words, he wants somebody to tell the "more and more and more" crowd that the answer can be no.
