Why Do Billionaires Insist They’re Middle Class? Shocking Study Reveals Unexpected Answers
“The billionaires we surveyed spoke a great deal of the challenges they face just keeping up with all their bills,” said study co-author Simon Mendoza, who observed that while economic data suggests the wealthiest 0.0001% are doing better now than at any point in U.S. history, most do not feel this is reflected in their personal experience. “Many described themselves as simple small business owners who, for example, are often forced to lay off hundreds or even thousands of employees just to keep the lights on in all their vacation homes.”
He added, “Others cited structural disadvantages, such as supply constraints that continue to squeeze some billionaires out of private island ownership.”
Among the typical middle-class concerns shared by those who participated in the study was the increasing cost of putting kids through college. Many billionaires complained that a donation of a few million dollars was no longer sufficient to guarantee acceptance to elite universities, which now expect parents to subsidize a new research facility, performing arts center, or library before agreeing to admit their academically unqualified children.
Billionaires who perceived themselves as middle class also expressed anger over healthcare expenses, lamenting in particular the skyrocketing price of on-call concierge physicians, routine full-body MRIs, anti-aging stem-cell therapies, jawline surgery, and continuous infusions of blood from a healthy young person.
“A million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to, that’s for sure,” said survey respondent and candy magnate John Mars, 89, who told researchers that, despite working his entire life to inherit a fortune now worth more than $40 billion, he worried about what he would leave behind for his own children. “The cost of lobbying members of Congress so I can avoid paying taxes has gone through the roof. And elections are getting more expensive all the time. I spent the best years of my life trying to repeal the estate tax, and I still have nothing to show for it.”
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