Naomi Klein and Ilana Glazer are calling for wealth taxes on billionaires and legal measures to block what they describe as reckless technology initial public offerings (IPOs), particularly those involving artificial intelligence companies.
In their argument, the authors say millions of Americans are struggling with employment, living costs and access to health insurance while billionaire wealth has risen sharply. They cite a 40% increase in billionaire wealth over the past two years and say the combined wealth of almost 3,000 billionaires worldwide is equivalent to one-fifth of annual global economic output. Nearly 1,000 billionaires, they add, live and operate in the United States.
Klein and Glazer identify tax loopholes, corporate mergers and IPOs as mechanisms that allow wealthy founders and investors to expand their influence. They argue that going public can transfer the risks of private companies to ordinary investors, including people whose retirement funds may become exposed to those stocks.
The authors point to Elon Musk, Larry Ellison and Google co-founder Sergey Brin as examples of billionaires whose wealth or political activity illustrates the influence of the technology sector. They also argue that corporate consolidation and political spending can affect workers, public services and entire industries.
Their concerns focus particularly on Anthropic and OpenAI, which they say intend to go public in the near future. According to the article, both companies have faced recently exposed security problems and acknowledge extremely large debts. The authors warn that a public listing could significantly increase the private fortunes of their founders and investors while leaving Americans exposed if the companies fail to meet their financial expectations.
Klein and Glazer also argue that the US economy has become excessively dependent on technology, noting that the 10 most valuable public companies are in the sector. They compare the potential consequences of an AI market collapse with previous financial bubbles and warn that an economic downturn would affect people regardless of whether they directly invested in the companies involved.
The authors advocate legislation beginning in California and New York to tax billionaire wealth, while acknowledging that measures in those states alone would not be sufficient. They conclude by urging collective action to prevent new technology IPOs from creating additional billionaires and shifting the industry's risks onto the wider public.
Sources: The Guardian Business.