The Billionaire Subsidy

There is a myth in America about the ultra-wealthy being self-made. This is not true. The American ultra-wealthy are anything but self-made. They as a group are enabled and/or subsidized by the American Public and/or the US Government. Or in many cases, they just got lucky and picked the right parents.

Trust Fund Babies
First of all, the only thing a large percentage of the ultra-wealthy did right was pick the right parents which they had nothing to do with. According to Forbes, about one-third of billionaires inherited their wealth. They are trust fund babies. Think of the Walton children. Sam Walton started the company and all of his kids and their kids became billionaires by being his heir. Today’s most famous trust fund baby is our current President, Trump. His grandfather started the family fortune in Alaska by establishing a hotel/restaurant which is reported to also offer “private rooms” which some historians considered to be a nice name for a brothel. Trump’s father inherited from Trump’s grandfather and then left a fortune for his son, President Trump. The only reason Trump was able to become President was because of his wealth and the only reason he had wealth is he inherited it.

Born on third base.
What about the rest? First of all, there are no self-made billionaires. That’s a myth.

Mark Zuckerberg is obviously very bright but he was born into an upper class family with his father being a dentist and his mother a psychiatrist in a tech centered family. If he had born into a low-income family with minimal or no access to technology would have have been as successful, maybe, maybe not.
Jeff Bezos father gave him $250,000 in 1995 to launch his first online book store. Did he have a good idea. Yes. Would he have been as success if his father could not have given him $250,000. $250,000 in 1995 is the equivalent to $526,000 in 2025. $250,000 in 1995 or $526,000 today is a lot of money and only a small percentage of Americans could afford to invest in their child in this manner. Almost all Americans with a good idea would not have had access to this initial investment.
Bill Gates father was a successful attorney. He came from an upper middle income background and did not have to worry about money growing up.
Elon Musk, the de facto emperor of the US came from a very wealthy family in South Africa.

The US Made Them, Not the Opposite
But that’s just the beginning. All of the above and most every other billionaire in the US’s success is built on the the US’s growing economy overall and specifically the technology sector. But that’s just part of it.

Where would any billionaire be without the American public education system from K thru college or technical schools? They hire workers who are primarily educated in the US and then work for US companies. The space programs which Bezos/Musk are so proud of is based on foundation of research and experimentation done by engineers and scientists working for NASA which is tax payer funded. Without government research and long term space exploration programs they would be using bottles fueled by baking powder.

Zuckerberg benefited from the personal computer boom when he started Facebook with millions of Americans having the income to buy computers with the costs of PCs declining rapidly making them more affordable for the masses.

Did you know that 40% of Amazon packages are shipped through the US Postal Service and receive a discount on their shipping charges? Amazon can ship anywhere in part because of the US Postal Service.

Both Bezos and Musk benefited by roads and bridges built by American taxpayers.

Musk benefited from the electrical grid built and paid for by American taxpayers.

The Waltons benefited from hiring employees who were on Medicare so they did not have to provide them health insurance. They also made sure part-time employees did not qualify for health insurance and often ended up on Medicaid. Both Medicare and Medicaid are pay for by American taxpayers.

Tax Breaks
In the first Trump presidency, he and Republicans cut corporate tax rates which increased corporates profits. Many if not most corporations used these profits to buy back their own stocks which decreased the total number of shares on the market increasing the market value of the remaining stocks. The top 1% own over 50% of the stock market and the 10% own almost 90% of the stock market. The wealthy got richer because of this while the federal deficit increased by almost $8 Trillion. This was a direct subsidy to the very wealthy from the rest of the country.

Tax rates for the very wealthy since the 1960s have declined dramatically. This has benefited the wealthy and been detrimental for the rest of the US. It is primary reason for the exploding federal deficit.

Subsidy
Direct government subsidies to oil companies which are primarily if not exclusive owned by the very well exceed $20 Billion. But this is just the direct subsidy. One study estimates the cost unpriced externalities, the total subsidy exceeds $700 Billion. Oil companies do not need subsidies which in a very real way, go directly to the very wealthy.
A Rockefeller Institute found the total costs of gun violence exceed $550,000 Billion which is paid for by Americans one way or another. The owners of gun companies get rich paid for by Americans.
The US Government bought almost $160 Billion of product from U.S. arms manufacturers and arranged for an additional $80 to foreign governments. I am not saying this is bad. I am saying the owners of arms manufacturing companies have gotten rich from government contracts paid for by American taxes.

Summary
The percent of total US wealth held by the top 1% increased from 23% in 1989 to 31% in 2024. This group, an estimated 133 million households, has a total net worth in excess of $47 Trillion. Add in the next 9%, the total net worth of the top 10% is 67% of the US total net worth.

The financial mess our country is now in comes in a large part from the increasing wealth of the top 1% and the tax policies which made this possible. We as a country have to stop worshiping them and understanding that their wealth is benefit of US economic system and democracy.

There is only way out of the US’s current financial mess and that is to increase taxes on the very wealthy. Of course, the very wealthy know this. This is why in the last election cycle 100 Billionaires contributed over $2.6 Billion to campaigns with over 70% going to Republican candidates. Elon Musk by himself contributed over $290 Million. They did so because they do not want to pay more in taxes.

I do not believe either US democracy or free economic system can survive a complete takeover by the very wealthy who obtained and/or maintain their wealth thru the efforts of the vast majority of Americans. In every national election going forward, if one candidate is supported by billionaires, vote for the other. Your grandchildren will thank you in the future.