As New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration looms, the wealthiest Americans are being targeted as a rallying cry. In recent weeks, Mamdani’s criticism of millionaires and billionaires has been echoed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, megamillionaire singer Billie Eilish, and even an entity called “Patriotic Millionaires,” which demands higher taxes on those wealthier than they.

Of course, philanthropy is patriotic. While the United States has the most billionaires and millionaires in the world, with 902 billionaires and almost 60 million millionaires, we are also the most philanthropic country across many financial and nonfinancial measures. And you certainly don’t have to be a high-net-worth individual to donate your money and time.

But calling billionaires policy failures is not about fairness. The rich pay much more than their “fair” share, with the top 5% paying 60% of all taxes collected in the U.S. It is a “luxury belief,” proclaiming an opinion to earn status.

Debating exactly how much money people should or shouldn’t earn pushes a cultural narrative that frowns on success, disdains merit and the pursuit of meaning, promotes zero-sum thinking, and completely misunderstands the system that led to that wealth and its vast benefits for society.

Critics forget the quintessential American Dream stories that have made the U.S. the land of opportunity. Politicians like Mamdani ignore the myriad of risk-takers and innovators who created job opportunities for millions and improved standards of living for everyone (including his own family ).

One of the best examples is Sam Walton, whose goal was to provide lower-cost items, so people had more disposable income. Walmart now employs 2.5 million people, and both the current and newly appointed Walmart CEOs started as store associates.

The world’s first self-made woman millionaire, Madame C. J. Walker, was a single mother, born to freed slaves. Was she too successful?

Other stories of people pursuing their purpose in life and becoming financially successful abound, such as FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith; Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts; and my own favorite, Walt Disney, who was born to a poor family with five kids and built an entertainment empire. All of these benefit society.

Financial success follows value creation. Less of it, either by disincentivizing or frowning upon that success, makes us all worse off. Creative entrepreneurial people leave countries that penalize success, such as the United Kingdom, France and more recently Norway. In countries that penalize success, inheritance matters more than effort. In the U.S., 73% of high-net-worth individuals are self-made, while in Norway and Sweden it’s only 47% and 42%, respectively.

Current discontent on affordability misleadingly attributed to billionaires has a clear root cause: lack of housing, “NIMBY” zoning, excessive fiscal spending, energy prices fueled by poor government policies, and even President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But two wrongs don’t make a right when it comes to affordability, and research has shown that there is an anti-profit bias narrative.

Let’s hope that New York’s experiment with democratic socialism is short-lived, and confined to the Big Apple alone. Let’s focus on upward mobility and less on the polarizing, zero-sum narrative of income inequality. Human flourishing comes from positive-sum narratives and from people pursuing their financial success.

Billionaires are the result of innovation, value creation and expanded opportunity that has enabled more paths to human flourishing for billions of people across the world. Dismissing the wealthy as policy failures might score political points, but it can destroy the foundation of a system that has done infinitely more good than harm.

As New York braces for Mamdani, all Americans should rally around the system that supports the American Dream for millionaires, billionaires and all of us who are empowered to flourish too.

Gonzalo Schwarz is president and CEO of the Archbridge Institute. He wrote this column for the Chicago Tribune.

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Today is Sunday, Dec. 28, the 362nd day of 2025. There are three days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 28, 2014, the U.S. war in Afghanistan came to a formal end after 13 years with a quiet flag-lowering ceremony in Kabul, marking the transition of fighting from U.S.-led combat troops to the country’s own security forces. More than 2,200 Americans had died in Afghanistan since the war began.

Also on this date:

In 1895, the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, held the first public showing of their films in Paris.

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From an Olympic snowboarder to an accused drug kingpin and killer

In 1908, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami devastated the Italian cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, killing at least 70,000 people.

In 1912, San Francisco’s Municipal Railway began operations with Mayor James Rolph Jr. at the controls of Streetcar No. 1 as 50,000 spectators looked on.

In 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1972, Kim Il Sung, the premier of North Korea, was named the country’s president under a new constitution.

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was signed by President Richard Nixon, a law designed to protect plants and animals from extinction.

In 1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American “test-tube” baby, was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1991, nine people died in a crush of people trying to get into a celebrity charity basketball game at City College in New York that was headlined by hip-hop stars.

In 2015, a grand jury in Cleveland declined to indict two white police officers in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was Black. He was shot while carrying what turned out to be a toy pellet gun.

In 2019, a truck bomb exploded at a a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, killing at least 78 people, including many students.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Denzel Washington is 71.
TV personality Gayle King is 71.
Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque is 65.
Linux creator Linus Torvalds is 56.
Political commentator Ana Navarro is 54.
TV host-comedian Seth Meyers is 52.
Actor Joe Manganiello is 49.
Musician John Legend is 47.
Actor André Holland is 46.
Actor Noomi Rapace is 46.
Actor Sienna Miller is 44.
Actor Jessie Buckley is 36.
Singer and songwriter David Archuleta is 35.

Brooklyn is good at the moment — as in, one of the best teams in the NBA this month. Despite a rotation that’s 40% rookies, the Nets are 7-3 in December with the NBA’s second-best net rating in the span.

Yet, because they entered Saturday’s game in Minneapolis with only nine wins, they didn’t get the respect and effort the Wolves often reserve from the league’s elite.

The ensuing result was predictable, as Minnesota was embarrassed by the Nets, falling 123-107 on its home floor. Par for the course for the Wolves, who pick and choose — from quarter to quarter, night to night —when to do the little things necessarily to win.

On Saturday, the Wolves issued a “hard pass” on championship standards. They were out-worked and out-disciplined by a young, scrappy, engaged Nets roster. The local supporters were disgusted with Minnesota’s performance, which they demonstrated via audible boos in the final minute.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards lies on the court after being fouled during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)

“I’m with the fans. I would’ve booed us, too,” Wolves guard Anthony Edwards said. “Lack of energy, I don’t know what’s going on. I guess this is just Timberwolves basketball.”

It’s not supposed to be. The Timberwolves’ identity should be rooted in consistent, aggressive tenacity, with defense that turns into offense and hustle and effort plays that set Target Center ablaze. That standard was set during the 2023-24 campaign, which resulted in a Western Conference Finals berth.

It’s slowly slipped ever since.

In the last three weeks alone, Phoenix, Memphis and now Brooklyn have come into Minneapolis and simply out-worked the Timberwolves to secure victories. Also included in that stretch was a seismic win over the defending-champion Thunder.

On that night, the Wolves flashed their teeth and possessed substantial amounts of both bark and bite. It’s clear they deem *that* opponent to be worthy of such efforts, but not others.

The Wolves have played with their food against substandard opponents for much of the first 40% of their season. But oftentimes, they’re so talented they’re able to rally and win games with as little as a quarter of effort-filled basketball.

On Saturday, they had paid the price. Because the Nets were one of the more disciplined teams Minnesota has battled this season. They wouldn’t crack, nor demean themselves with anything less than their best basketball.

“They just played with more physicality, they played with more energy,” Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “And that’s the type of team that they are.”

And who Minnesota only idealizes itself to be.

“We have spurts that that’s what we can do. That’s not necessarily who we are,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s what we need to become.”

That’s always the problem for Minnesota. It picks its spots to deliver complete-game performances that remind the masses who the Wolves can be — usually against a Denver or Oklahoma City in nationally-televised contests — before retreating back into hibernation with designs of re-emerging on a more consistent basis in April and May.

DiVincenzo and Rudy Gobert both noted Saturday that Minnesota tends to overly rely on its talent level. The Wolves can walk into the gym with less than their best and beat a number of NBA teams. But that doesn’t help them develop habits required to beat the league’s best four times in a seven-game series.

Gobert noted Minnesota’s roster is probably better than those of the best teams he played on in Utah. But the Jazz were more consistent, particularly in executing their non-negotiables, regardless of any game’s particular circumstances.

The Wolves don’t have that. If the moment doesn’t specifically call for high levels of urgency, they don’t bring it. And, in the long run, that won’t cut it.

“We want to be champions. With champions, it doesn’t  matter who you play, it’s who you are. You don’t pick and choose. You play every night to … define who you are on the team,” Gobert said. “We have to be conscious about it. … Whatever switch we find that can make us realize that we don’t just compete with OKC, Denver. … We compete with them also when we play, everybody else. We also, more importantly, compete with ourselves.”

One of the more interesting facets of the situation is the players recognize and admit their shortcomings in the department of consistent energy and performance..

“But if you’re really self aware,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said, “then you do something about it.”

That, Finch said, is on the players. He added the Wolves need someone to “galvanize” the roster and spark urgency and intensity on a night-to-night basis.

“It’s where our leadership needs to step forward,” he said.

Perhaps that’s Rudy Gobert, who so frequently is the knight who rides in to save Minnesota from bad losses via his interior dominance. Maybe it’s DiVincenzo, who has an increasingly large voice in the locker room. Ideally, it’d be Edwards — the best teams are led by their best players.

Whoever is going to raise their hand needs to do so in short order.

The Wolves may still be in sixth place in the West, but true championship contenders establish themselves as such by the midway point of the season. The clock is ticking.

“We can’t just look at the season like it’s a failure, but we have to address it of what it is and we have to become what we know we can,” DiVincenzo said. “We can’t rely on talent. We have to come in and use our talent, but every night the energy has to be there. Every night, the competitive spirit has to be there, and it can’t be up and down on a night-to-night basis.”

“I guess we’ve got to change something,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what it is.”

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The Timberwolves were a 20-win team entering Saturday’s contest at Target Center.

Brooklyn was 9-19.

Yet there was zero doubt throughout the evening as to who was the better basketball team. The Nets outclassed Minnesota in every possible department en route to a 123-107 win.

Brooklyn was more disciplined and tougher defensively. It moved, played in transition and made the right plays on offense.

You know, everything good NBA teams do — and what the Wolves can only be bothered to deliver on a sporadic basis.

Perhaps Minnesota — 44 hours removed from a heartbreaking loss to Denver — had Saturday chalked up as a win when it entered the arena. That would’ve been a jarring case of ignorance.

Brooklyn has now won seven of its last 10 games and entered Saturday allowing the NBA’s fewest points per game in December (102.7)

The Nets selected five players in the first round of the June NBA draft and, understandably, started the season slow out of the gates. But Brooklyn has developed a clear brand of basketball that entails doing just about everything the right way.

And Brooklyn received an added boost Saturday in the return of scoring guard Cam Thomas, who missed nearly two months with a hamstring injury. Thomas scored 30 points off the bench in just 20 minutes and served as the Nets’ closer when Minnesota made a mini push in the middle of the final frame.

The Wolves tend to reserve their best basketball for the best opponents. That’s a bad habit, and one that did them in against a team that’s far better than its record indicates.

The Wolves have now lost two straight and are now set to embark on a four-game road trip, beginning Monday in Chicago.

Anthony Edwards scored 28 points in the loss.

Shannon out

Second-year wing Terrence Shannon Jr. will be re-evaluated in two weeks after an MRI revealed a left foot abductor hallucis strain.

Shannon exited in the third quarter of Minnesota’s game Thursday in Denver with the injury.

His absence figures to make Jaylen Clark a more consistent part of Minnesota’s rotation for the time being.

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