Meet the people marching to support billionaires. (We're not joking.)

“Fuck the poor! Fuck the poor!”

That’s how the March for Billionaires kicked off on February 7 in Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco’s wealthiest neighborhoods, near a stretch of mansions known as Billionaires’ Row.

We went to see whether the event was satire or sincere. The answer was… yes, reports Amanda Pike.

Rally organizers insisted they were genuinely marching to defend the ultra-rich and protest California’s proposed “billionaire tax,” a one-time 5 percent levy on residents worth more than $1 billion. They argued it would drive the wealthy out of the state and cost California hundreds of millions in lost tax revenue.

Of the roughly 200 billionaires who live in California, none appeared to attend. However, a small group of counterprotestors came decked out in tiaras, fake moustaches, and Mr. Monopoly vibes. They sipped champagne and warned that billionaires are an endangered species. One heiress lamented she might have to use her Tuesday yacht on Wednesday.

For all its political theater, the rally hinted at the very real question of who should shoulder the cost of inequality. The debate was loud, but at least this time the billionaires themselves were silent.