Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and the Curse of Erysichthon

Anna Chen – First published 5 July 2025, Big Beautiful Bill

Capitalism eats itself: Erysichthon of Thessaly, cursed with an insatiable hunger by Demeter, goddess of the fertility of the earth. Trump’s Big Beautiful bill

Big Beautiful Bill burns the Earth to pay the rich

Not only does Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill turn his Blackshirt boot-boy ICE forces into his own army, bigger than the FBI, DEA, US Bureau of Prisons put together (as AOC points out), it takes money from vital climate change policies to give to his already bloated elite backers.

Trump’s promised huge tax cuts for the rich will be directly paid for by cutting tax incentives for renewable energy designed to save the planet. You’d think he’d baulk at ending climate change measures that created jobs in red states like Texas, but, no. Along with cuts to medicaid, MAGA are being hit by a triple-whammy from their hero.

A walking casebook of Greek tragedy character flaws, Trump sports inverse parallels with a raft of mythological and folk characters. One that often springs to mind is a composite Robin Hood and King Midas: robbing the poor to pay the rich and everything he touches turns to sh*t.

The curse of Erysichthon

Why do they do it? Loved One tells me of 700-800 US billionaires, 33 are estimated to make over a $billion a year. Millions suffer to enrich a tiny band for whom being the richest on the planet will never be enough.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast once related a conversation with a vulture capitalist and one-time Trump backer (worth: $6.1 billion). Asked why he bilked a petrol pump attendant when he was already so rich, he replied, “I want it all”.

That, dear reader, sums up the mindset of what we’re dealing with. I want it all.

The elite’s elite are stricken with a relentless hunger that can never be satisfied.

The most apt classical analogy in this instance is probably King Erysichthon of Thessaly. Demeter, goddess of the fertility of the earth, cursed him for being destructive and greedy. Disrespecting the gods by cutting down a sacred grove to build a feasting hall was surely gagging for a fitting punishment. She invoked Limos, the spirit of insatiable appetite, until he consumed everything he had and ended up devouring himself. Unfortunately, it’s us they’re feeding on.

Reverse Robin Hood in Britain

Similarly in Britain, PM Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves operate from the Monsters Handbook. They relentlessly take money from the poorest and most vulnerable whom capitalism had left behind and shovel it into the defence industry, whose stock is rocketing. Coincidentally, £5 billion a year “saved” in social funding cuts is the same amount given to Ukraine. No mandate, no discussion.

Starmer refuses to fund his pet projects and proxy wars by taxing the billionaires whose wealth has soared since Covid.

He won’t touch Amazon, which notoriously pays no tax in the UK despite the country making him £27 billion a year. Jeff Bezos is worth $220 billion, and makes $8.99 billion per month, $31 million per day, $8 million per hour, $3,715 per second. He can rub our faces in it by spending 34 million dollars or pounds or whatever fantasy profligacy it takes for a three-day wedding jamboree in Venice like the last days of the Roman Empire while the world burns.

Gloves are off. This is naked Class War.

See also The Trump Heist: the fall of the American Empire

Anna Chen — Writer, presenter and broadcaster: BBC and Guardian before the pivot to China; ResonanceFM. Asia Times, New Internationalist, South China Morning Post. TED speaker, Orwell Prize shortlisted, cultural outrider.