The UBS/PwC report on the “new Gilded Age” of the billionaire class, and the Paradise Papers reveal ways corporations and the ultrawealthy avoid taxes.
The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There
From two leading economists comes a groundbreaking new portrait of the hidden fortunes of Main Street business owners—ordinary Americans who built extraordinary wealth and are quietly rewriting the rules of money and power. Most people think the path to great wealth runs through Wall Street or Silicon Valley. We’re told you must be a Zuckerberg, a Musk, or a Jamie Dimon to get rich. But this story is wrong. Drawing on unprecedented data from a decade of research and vivid real-life stories of entrepreneurs—from a self-made hot-dog stand billionaire to the heirs of an auto dealer—Zidar and Zwick reveal a surprising truth: prosperity is more attainable, more widely distributed, and closer to home than we imagine. A multitude of Americans have built staggering fortunes by running often unglamorous businesses far from the spotlight. A quiet revolution in the business world—the rise of “pass-through” firms like S-corporations and partnerships—supercharged this wealth, channeling vast income directly to business owners rather than traditional corporations.Part economic detective story, part roadmap to riches, this book reveals: —The Hidden 1%: They might be a local beer distributor, a dentist with a regional network of practices, a commercial HVAC contractor with trucks around town, or a restaurateur who keeps opening new locations. For every public company CEO, more than a thousand private business owners each have transformational wealth.— The Blueprint for Wealth: Zidar and Zwick describe where Main Street Millionaires come from, how they grew rich, and how much money they make. Their stories suggest the American Dream is not dead and many paths to prosperity remain open today. — Power Brokers: Armed with their fortunes, Main Street Millionaires wield power in city halls, statehouses, and Washington, often bending policy to protect what they’ve built. They are both growing the economic pie and grabbing bigger slices for themselves.The Everywhere Millionaire celebrates the stories of entrepreneurs who seized opportunities while asking hard questions about how concentrated wealth and power shape society. It is an essential guide to seeing the economy as it really is and recognizing the surprising paths to prosperity—and influence—everywhere.
Why the super rich are inevitable
Why some mathematicians argue the economy is designed to create a few super rich people – unless we stop it.
One State Found a Way to Make Billionaires Pay. Your State Could Be Next.
The 1% hide their money offshore – then use it to corrupt our democracy | Aditya Chakrabortty
From US billionaires to City barons, the super-rich are buying political influence as never before. Our politicians now work for them, not for us
Why The Rich Think The Poor Are Lazy
annotations: A propos de la super-implication des super-riches dans la politique américaine
Blog de sciences économiques et sociales de Martin Anota. Traductions, revues de presse.
Opinion: What the case of Jeffrey Epstein tells us about America's sickening worship of billionaire gods
The religion of money goes back centuries in America. Our country has always believed that you can do anything with human lives so long as you have enough cash to throw around
Billionaires Gone Wild
Understanding the oligarchs’ power grab and the dire threat to American democracy
Systems: How the Ultra-Wealthy Think About Money - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
David Graeber: "Spotlight on the financial sector did make apparent just how bizarrely skewed our economy is in terms of who gets rewarded"
David Graeber explains why the more your job helps others, the less you get paid
It’s Not Just Elon Musk — These Billionaires Are Also Neurodivergent
Some billionaires say their conditions helped them succeed in business.
Get the Money out of Politics
There’s a really simple way of ensuring that politics belongs to the people, not to the ultra-rich.
“What we’ve got to understand is that this epistemic chaos, this collective psychosis, has risen as a result of the shareholder-driven model of global capitalism. What we’ve got to do is look at the mechanisms of that wealth pump itself & start to change that.” theecologist.org/2026/sep/09/soft-body-turtle
The soft body of the turtle
theecologist.org