Wealth begets wealth. The looming question now: Who will be the world's first trillionaire? — Michael's essay

This used to happen to my friend once or twice a year — a real estate pest would appear at his front door.

The real estate person would ask if my friend was thinking of selling his house.

My friend would reply, "Right. Absolutely. It's yours for a million dollars."

That was years ago. He would never say that today because his house is worth a lot more than a million dollars.

In my long-ago youth and my friend's, a million dollars was almost impossible to imagine.

The only millionaire I ever heard about growing up was E.P. Taylor. And I remember him mostly as the owner of Northern Dancer, one of the greatest thoroughbreds in history.

In the 1950s, C.D. Howe, a legendary Liberal cabinet minister, said during a House of Commons debate on a budget, "What's a million?"

The word "billion" was never used except in describing the federal budget. I rarely heard the word billionaire to describe someone with that amount of personal wealth.

The notion of changing wealth is fascinating. For example, I think I was well into my 20s before I saw a 50-dollar bill.

Now my local ATM readily spits them out.

I once asked a very wealthy friend over lunch if it would kill him to give me a million dollars.

He replied, "No, but it would change the nature of our friendship."

I said I was willing to take the risk.

According to his biographers, John D. Rockefeller was the first confirmed billionaire in history.

The noxious old tightwad became a billionaire in 1916 through his control of Standard Oil and its many subsidiaries.

Now billionaires seem to be everywhere. Millionaires are mere peasants in comparison. There are more than 11-million households in the United States that qualify for millionaire status.

Of course, inflation accounts for much of the increase in personal wealth. But I have to think that  rich people today are richer than rich people of 30 or 40 years ago, when the wealth gap was not so profound.

And nowhere is the power of this wealth displayed more openly and more promiscuously than in American politics.

At the moment there are three billionaires fighting to become the next president.

And offstage, other billionaires — like George Soros on the left and the Walton family on the right — are working to carve political frameworks into which their ideologies fit nicely.

Money buys power in the U.S. It outmaneuvers democracy. It challenges the underpinnings of what the Framers in Philadelphia wrote into the Constitution.

Money plays an important part in Canadian politics, as well, but so far, we have been spared the experience of a billionaire running for office.

Wealth begets wealth. The looming question now: who will be the world's first trillionaire?

A trillion dollars is a lot of money. It's just about equal to the GDP of South Korea and Mexico.

Right now, of the five richest men in the world, four are American. Chances are good the first trillionaire will be an American — perhaps Mark Zuckerberg who is just 35.

The other day, my son and I were tossing around thoughts and ideas about millions and billions.

Suddenly he asked, "Is it immoral to have that much money?"

I didn't have an answer.

Click 'listen' above to hear the full essay.