Everywhere Millionaires Shape Local Policy

A large, dispersed class of millionaires — typically older founders and owners of ordinary local firms (dealers, distributors, HVAC, etc.) — holds substantial wealth and uses local and federal tax and regulatory levers to protect profits, often by raising barriers to entry or weakening worker bargaining. They are not high‑profile tech or finance billionaires, but their cumulative economic and political power meaningfully affects labor markets, housing, and local governance. — Recognizing this group reframes inequality and political‑influence debates away from a billionaire focus toward the politics of many concentrated local fortunes, with different remedies (antitrust, permitting reform, tax code tweaks) than those aimed at billionaires alone.