No Mercy / No Malice: The 1% Next Door

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

The episode explores the phenomenon of 'everywhere millionaires' in America, focusing on wealth generated through pass-through businesses ra

Key takeaways

• The United States contains 40% of the world's millionaires, more than the next 11 countries combined.
• Economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick found that over half of the income rise in the top 1% since 1985 came via pass-through businesses.

Main topics

• Everywhere Millionaires
• Pass-through business taxation

Notable quotes

The only way to predict the future is to make it.

Conclusion

True American economic strength relies on fostering widespread entrepr

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) Hey, everybody. Cassidy Hubberth here. This week on And Mom, we spoke with Grammy Award winning musician Corinne Bailey Ray about taking her kids on tour, becoming a widow at 29, and how she felt about having a home birth. Check out the latest episode of And Mom wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (0:20) I'm Mitch Purse, and this week on Confessions of an Elite Athlete, I'm sitting down with Matt Fries, goalkeeper for the U.S. men's national team and New York City FC. We discuss how to prepare for one of the biggest moments of your life. You can hear it all by listening to Confessions of an Elite Athlete on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (0:46) Hey, it's Sue Bird. This week on Bird's Eye View, I'm joined by Jessica Shepard of the Dallas Wings. Jess and I get into how playing overseas helped her rediscover her love of basketball, why Paige Beckers is one of the best teammates she's ever had, and what the Wings need to do to find success in the playoffs. Plus, in Sue's View, I share my thoughts on the 2026 WNBA Awards race, including the contest for MVP between this season's frontrunners Asia Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, and yes, rookie Olivia Miles. Check out this week's Bird's Eye View on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (1:20) I'm Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice. America has more millionaires than the next 11 countries combined. Who these people are and how they built their wealth is a case study in entrepreneurship and American economic dynamism. The 1 % Next Door, as read by George Hahn. Speaker 2 (1:50) It's more compelling and lucrative to be a catastrophist. History, however, is on the side of optimists. Any analyst, author, academic must adjust for history and ask, what could go right? And optimism is a prerequisite for entrepreneurs. No business I've ever started at the moment of inception made any sense until it did or didn't. The only way to predict the future is to make it, i.e. summon the irrational optimism necessary to advance, despite the risks, into the unknown. Speaker 2 (2:33) Macroeconomic conditions supply abundant reasons to catastrophize. What keeps me up at night? Answer, tariffs, Iran, inflation, the national debt, treasury yields, a stock market that's seven companies, consumer sentiment, and the K-shaped economy. Despite all this, there is always cause for optimism. And wealth creation in the U.S. is a bright spot. Speaker 2 (3:06) The wealth flowing to Wall Street and Silicon Valley drives an inequality narrative, but that obscures American economic dynamism. For their new book, The Everywhere Millionaire, economists Owen Zedar and Eric Zwick analyzed IRS and Federal Reserve data, finding that more than half of the rise in income among the top 1 % since 1985 came via... pass-through businesses. That's IRS speak for firms, most of them privately held, where the profits pass