The Empathy Switch: Why Our Systems Built on Billionaire Compassion Will Always Fail
Amanda Lynn | @anOriginalCreation
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Personal and Political Collision
The Myth of Empathy at the Top
The Psychology of Wealth: When Empathy Fades
Historical Echoes: Warnings from the Past
The Structural Flaw: A System Misunderstanding Empathy
Real-Life Impact: How Policies Built on Misplaced Trust Fail Working Families
Case Study: The 2017 TCJA and the Big Beautiful Bill
The Upper Middle Class: Trapped Between Fear and Privilege
Why “Eating the Rich” and Cutting Social Programs are Two Sides of the Same Coin
Rebuilding Empathy or Redesigning Systems? A Path Forward
Call to Action: Toward a Policy Conversation That Acknowledges Reality
Introduction: The Personal and Political Collision
I've spent years trying to untangle why, despite my family working hard—two adults working full-time with three kids—we still found ourselves worse off after the supposed "middle-class tax cuts" of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). While we struggled, people around us seemed to thrive. Were we doing something wrong, or was the system itself flawed?
The answer I found was complicated: it wasn’t just economics—it was empathy. Specifically, the dangerous assumption that empathy would trickle down from billionaires and the ultra-wealthy to everyone else.
The Myth of Empathy at the Top
We are told the wealthy will "give back," that compassion naturally accompanies success. Billionaires become philanthropists. Wealth equates to wisdom. But is this true?
Historically and psychologically, the answer is no.
The Psychology of Wealth: When Empathy Fades
Numerous studies, including prominent research from UC Berkeley, reveal disturbing truths: as people gain wealth, their empathy often diminishes. They become more entitled and less responsive to suffering. Neuroimaging studies even show reduced brain activity related to empathy in wealthy individuals. Their experiences are so insulated from struggle that their nervous systems literally lose the capacity to empathize.
The rich aren't evil—they are simply disconnected, shielded from the consequences of their decisions. Yet, our entire economic and political structure is built around the assumption of their inherent compassion.
Historical Echoes: Warnings from the Past
In a startling find, a newspaper clipping from 1897 hauntingly echoed today's crises:
"To feel for another you must feel like another… A millionaire has no heart in him and can have none."
The article understood something we’ve chosen to ignore for over a century: expecting the wealthy to maintain a compassionate connection with society is fundamentally flawed.
The Structural Flaw: A System Misunderstanding Empathy
The real problem is that we built our policies on empathy that doesn't exist. We rely on the wealthy to voluntarily fund charity, pay fair wages, and not exploit loopholes. Yet, the wealthy consistently demonstrate behaviors like stock buybacks and tax evasion instead of genuine generosity.
The system itself rewards hoarding over sharing. When policies are built around billionaire empathy, they inevitably collapse.
Real-Life Impact: How Policies Built on Misplaced Trust Fail Working Families
My family experienced firsthand how misleading tax policies disguised as "relief" actually harmed working-class households. While we lost personal exemptions that had previously benefited us greatly, the upper-middle class and wealthy received substantial tax cuts. My internal dialogue grappled with feelings of inadequacy—until I realized the system was never designed to help us.
Case Study: The 2017 TCJA and the Big Beautiful Bill
The TCJA reduced corporate taxes dramatically and enriched top earners, promising wage growth and job creation. The reality? Stock buybacks surged, enriching shareholders, while wages stagnated.
The Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) continues this pattern. It extends tax cuts benefiting those at the top, disguised behind small benefits for upper-middle earners, while drastically cutting vital social programs like SNAP and Medicaid—programs crucial even to those who think they don't rely on them.
The Upper Middle Class: Trapped Between Fear and Privilege
Households making $100K–$400K often believe they’re secure. However, one illness or economic downturn could dismantle their stability overnight. They are encouraged to identify upward, protecting the ultra-rich while fearing the working class below. They’re both privileged and precarious, manipulated into voting against their long-term interests.
Why “Eating the Rich” and Cutting Social Programs are Two Sides of the Same Coin
The visceral anger behind slogans like "Eat the Rich" mirrors the cruelty of cutting social programs—both outcomes of the empathy void built into our system. Anger from the bottom arises because empathy from the top has failed. Each side sees the other as undeserving; the rich see the poor as lazy, the poor see the rich as callous.
This dichotomy benefits only those already in power.
Rebuilding Empathy or Redesigning Systems? A Path Forward
Expecting the wealthy to spontaneously reconnect with empathy is unrealistic. Instead, we must build policies that protect human dignity regardless of individual compassion.
Policies should include:
Wealth and capital gains taxes specifically funding universal healthcare, housing, and food security.
Robust safety nets designed around collective well-being, not dependent on billionaire generosity.
Transparency and accountability in economic legislation to prevent hidden harms to working-class families.
Call to Action: Toward a Policy Conversation That Acknowledges Reality
We must move toward policy discussions that acknowledge the realities of human psychology and the historical lessons we've ignored. This is not about vilifying the wealthy; it’s about creating systems that work independently of empathy switches.
I invite journalists, policymakers, educators, and activists to openly engage in this nuanced conversation. The real choice is not between empathy and cruelty but between systems that rely on imaginary compassion and systems designed for resilience, dignity, and fairness.
This conversation is overdue, but it's not too late.
Amanda Lynn (@anOriginalCreation) is an advocate and writer focused on deconstructing myths around various topics including wealth, empathy, and systemic inequality.