Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the Paris School of Economics, argues that trillionaire wealth concentration is incompatible with democracy because extreme wealth always becomes extreme power. The Guardian published his full column on this argument. The post uses charged language—'sociopaths,' 'matter of life and death'—that goes beyond what the evidence supports. While policy analysts at organizations like Brookings and Oxfam do document how extreme fortunes can create political influence and preferential treatment, the specific framing around individual pathology and existential stakes reflects Zucman's editorial choices rather than established findings. The underlying concern that wealth concentration can erode democratic institutions is supported by mainstream economic analysis, but characterizing it as 'the defining issue of our time' and tying it to individual personality traits moves beyond what the available evidence sustains.