> What fascinates me is that the authors of The Asset Economy are not talking about what anthropologist Dave Graeber called the 1 percent—the Trumps and the Murdochs, the very, very rich. What about the, say 19 percent of Americans in the upper-class income tier, who will defend their right to be landlords, to increase their unearned wealth through their investments?

This is something I want to drum from the rooftops - the political effects of a handful of billionaires is vastly overrated compared to the sheer number of "merely" wealthy people. Your local zoning issues aren't because Jeff Bezos has taken a personal interest in destroying the lives of poor people in your neighborhood, it's because there are enough doctors and lawyers and children of doctors and lawyers acting selfishly to protect their investments.

In this regard, I wish more people would read Progress and Poverty. The book is a lightning flash of clarity. Especially in the last decade, it has become shockingly prescient.