Billionaires are under the Brookings microscope. In his new book, Billionaire – Reflections on the Upper Crust, Darrell West analyzes the origins and consequences of the super-wealthy. He gives us so much to worry about.
First of all, “billionaire activities” can distort the political process. You may want to see significant cuts in taxes and welfare. You might want to legalize same-sex marriage. In any case, you probably don’t want these decisions to be heavily influenced by large injections of money from a few individuals.
Billionaire: What would Bertrand Russell say?
“Wealth itself is not the problem,” West writes. “The problem is how the rich translate economic power into political power for their own benefit.”
West follows in the footsteps of the British philosopher Bertrand Russell, who writes: “The basic concept of social science is force, in the same sense that energy is the basic concept of physics” (Power – new social analysis). Russell believed that the important task of social science is to understand how power is transformed from one form to another, and that the important task of politics is to prevent it.
Rich people pull up the ladder behind them.
West cites evidence that two out of three wealthy people come from poor backgrounds. They worked, thought, and innovated their way to the top, and perhaps had some luck along the way. One might therefore expect them to be enthusiastic advocates for policies that promote opportunity. Unfortunately not. Although most of the population agrees that the government should spend the resources necessary to ensure that all children have access to adequate public schools, only a third of the richest 1% remain.
Is there a glass floor at the top?
Of course, one reason wealthy people don’t care about public schools is that their children don’t attend them. They can opt out of the public system and spend large amounts of money on private education. The danger here is that while the wealthy do everything they can to prevent their children from downward movement (essentially buying “glass floors” to put under their children), for too many people Elite status is perpetuated because public schools remain inadequate.
A solid top of the American income distribution
There is some evidence that America’s income distribution has a “sticky top.” People born to fathers in the highest income brackets are more likely to fall by the 20th percentile down the income distribution in the United States than in Canada, according to a study by Miles Kolak, Matthew J. Lindquist, and Bashkar Mazumdar. is much lower.
Of course, billionaires make up a tiny fraction of the ultra-rich. However, as West demonstrates, their political influence contributes to the “enrichment” of politics. Social mobility may also be affected if high status becomes a genetic rather than an earned attribute.