In a recent article I wrote about the birth and death of the Superconducting Super-Collider. That project could have led the world decades ago to fundamental physics discoveries that are still outside the reach of any existing or planned instrument. The reasons that the SSC were canceled in mid-construction weren’t strictly because related to its price tag, but that was the biggest factor in a Congress suddenly concerned about deficits—a concern that grew after a series of tax cuts shifted billions from public funds into private fortunes.
Starting with the Reagan era, productivity and average income parted ways as changes in laws allowed millionaires and billionaires to funnel more and more wealth directly into their own pockets instead of putting it back into business … and employees. When Michael Bloomberg runs a commercial saying he “created 400,000 jobs,” it needs to be remembered that he didn’t create anything. He employed 400,000 people, all of whom contributed labor toward increasing Bloomberg’s wealth.
That’s how we entered an age where this is possible:
Wealth of the 15 richest Americans in 2019 vs. cost of large-scale public projects
There are a couple of public projects actually larger than any of the fortunes listed above. The total cost of the interstate highway system is now over $450 billion. But that expenditure has come over six decades. The International Space Station is also often listed at a cost of $150 billion, but that includes the cost of every trip bringing crew and supplies to the station in addition to the cost, again, over a period of decades.
But we’re in an age in which the least wealthy person on this list, Mackenzie Bezos, could pay for the invention of the first practical fusion reactor, the operation the Large Hadron Collider, and the building the Freedom Tower—and still be a billionaire. And she would then own everything of value that any of those projects produced.
“To turn $100 into $110 is work. To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.” — Edgar Bronfman
