Elon Musk Is a Trillionaire, But Who Really Has the Most Power?

Elon Musk recently became the world's first trillionaire after his company SpaceX went public on the stock market. People have strong opinions about whether one person should own that much money. Some defend Musk by pointing to his successful companies and the thousands of employees who have become millionaires through SpaceX shares. Others say his money should be used to help fix major social problems.

Robert Lawson is an economics professor at SMU Dallas who studies economic freedom. He wrote an opinion piece saying that while Musk is very rich, the members of Congress actually hold far more economic power. He argues that people who are upset about wealth and power are looking in the wrong direction. Lawson wants Americans to think more carefully about who is truly in charge.

Congress is made up of 535 people — senators and representatives combined. Together, they spend about $7 trillion every year, which is around 23 percent of the entire U.S. economy. That means this small group controls nearly one quarter of all the money flowing through the country. In comparison, the 535 wealthiest Americans combined earn only about $400 billion per year.

Lawson did the math and found that Congress spends about 17.5 times more money each year than all of America's richest 535 people put together. That is a staggering difference. Even Musk's trillionaire status does not come close to the yearly spending power of Congress. This comparison helps show just how much financial muscle the government has.

Another big difference, Lawson says, is how each group affects everyday life. Wealthy people mostly run their companies and live separately from the rest of us. They do not usually hold meetings to plan how to control other people's lives. Congress, however, passes laws that touch almost everything — from health care and medicine to the type of light bulbs allowed in your home.

Lawson asks a pointed question: if Congress has 17.5 times more money to spend each year than the richest Americans, why hasn't it solved the problems people blame the wealthy for ignoring? He thinks this shows that government power deserves much more scrutiny than it gets. Blaming billionaires while overlooking Congressional spending, he argues, misses the point entirely.

Lawson uses the word 'oligarchs' to describe Congress members — a term for a small group that holds enormous power over everyone else. He believes that if Americans are truly worried about too much power in too few hands, they need to focus on Washington. Real accountability, he says, starts with the people voters send to Congress, not the people on the Forbes rich list.