The underappreciated political importance of "everywhere millionaires"

From an opinionated blog post by the authors of The Everywhere Millionaire. (The book is based on their research. I previously posted a link to a review of their book in the New Yorker.)

Consider a few examples of what we mean. In “Oligarchy and the Great Evasion,” Krugman wrote:

The large majority of U.S. businesses are in fact pass-through businesses, and it’s fair to say that most of them aren’t “real” businesses like, say, car dealerships or restaurants. They are, instead, basically legal fictions created for tax purposes.

Most businesses in America are pass-through businesses. They account for nearly half of employment. Their industrial mix is far more representative of the American economy than traditional corporations. This statement reflects a failure to appreciate how much the structure of American business has transformed since the 1980s.

Moreover, as we have shown in our research and in our book, auto dealers and restaurants are some of the biggest generators of top pass-though profits in the economy. In fact, auto dealers are number 3 on our rankings of 4 digit pass-through profit generating industries with top-1% owners.

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We agree with Krugman that the recent rise in billionaire wealth has been dramatic. But it’s important to put the scale of Forbes billionaire growth into perspective with the other rich and powerful actors in American society. Even at the very frothy public market valuations of the current moment, the Forbes list amounts to around $8 trillion or roughly 4.3% of total household wealth. Meanwhile, based on the most recent SCF, Everywhere Millionaires are probably worth more than $63 trillion or 38% of total household wealth.

Likewise, we are not aware of any Everywhere Millionaires who have the power to shut off internet on the front lines in Ukraine. Scrutinizing economic and political power deployed in antidemocratic ways is an essential public service.

But let’s not blame every policy failure on a small number of billionaires, and, in doing so, absolve everybody else responsible for fixing our current policy problems. The power to legislate still resides with the Congress. The power to regulate many markets is reserved for the states and localities within them.

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Elon didn’t want the massive tax cuts in the OBBBA extended, which did not go to the tech billionaires. He didn’t benefit from the reduced EV demand, which came when the EV credits were abolished. He benefitted little from the new deduction for car loan interest passed in that bill, since financing car purchases is a small part of Tesla’s business.

Who drove these changes and reaped the rewards? The Everywhere Millionaire car dealers who reside in nearly every Congressional district and represent many of them directly. Elon lost big in the midterm election, despite spending half a billion dollars. Meanwhile, dozens of Everywhere Millionaires will return after the election to the new Congress and to state and local government positions across the country.