There's a Mind-Boggling Number of Rich People in America

2026-09-18 · 60 min · 11 entities

episode page audio

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→ discusses Business concept

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Entities found in this episode

concepts 9

mentioned Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
mentioned Investing concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Investing
mentioned News Commentary concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: News Commentary
mentioned Business News concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business News
discusses Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
discusses News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: News
discusses Investing concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Investing
discusses News Commentary concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: News Commentary
discusses Business News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business News

companys 2

mentioned Bloomberg company

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Bloomberg
hosted by Bloomberg company

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Bloomberg

Episode description as stored

In 2014, the economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick were asked by the Treasury to conduct a study on the tax burden of private business owners. It was tricky to figure out how much these sorts of business owners — auto dealers, contractors, the like — actually owed in taxes: After Reagan's 1986 tax reforms, pass-through businesses and other accounting tricks became widespread enough to obscure this class of wealthy Americans hiding in plain sight. The research they conducted led to their new book The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There, and one of their central findings is that there are about three million private business owners who have an average wealth of around $25 million. They call this group “Main Street Millionaires” and their influence on the economy and politics in the US is considerable. We speak with Zidar and Zwick today about how they measured the actual number of rich people in America by sifting through reams of tax forms, why income inequality started to rise in tandem with the growing number of pass-through businesses, and how it's possible that the collective revenue of the nation's dentists far exceeds that of the NFL. Read more: Tech’s New Rich Are Suffering From ‘Sudden Wealth Syndrome’ Jobless Tech Workers Are Being Left Out of San Francisco’s AI Boom Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots Subscribe to the Odd Lots Newsletter Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.