The Alarming Rise of Wealth Concentration and Corporate Control

If you’ve ever felt like the financial world is becoming harder to understand—and even harder to participate in—you’re not imagining it. We’re living through a massive shift in who owns what, and it’s having real consequences for jobs, innovation, entrepreneurship, and everyday financial security.

Let’s start with the big picture: fewer people own more of America than ever before. The top 10% of Americans now own 93% of all publicly listed stocks. That means the vast majority of Americans have very little influence over the companies shaping our economy. And it’s not just stocks—wealthy individuals and institutions are scooping up essential assets like housing, business equity, food systems, and even water rights.

Private equity alone now controls about 20% of the U.S. economy, with $13 trillion in assets as of last year—and it’s likely even more now. What started as a niche investment strategy has grown into a powerhouse, in part because going public as a company has become less attractive. The regulatory headaches of being a public company, combined with the fact that only a tiny portion of the population owns stocks, means fewer companies are going public. In fact, the number of publicly listed companies in the U.S. has been cut in half since the 1990s—even though our economy has tripled in size.

And when these companies don’t go public, they don’t face the same transparency. Private equity and index funds like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street control vast portions of the economy—but we, the public, have no idea what’s happening behind the scenes. If you’ve got a pension fund, your money might be invested in private equity deals you can’t see or influence.

This isn’t just an issue for Wall Street. It’s changing the job market, too. In many small towns and cities, local businesses are no longer independent—they’re owned by the same private holding companies. That means fewer choices for workers, less room to negotiate wages, and a harder time switching jobs for better pay. The rise of corporate consolidation is making it harder to start a business, and harder to work for one that’s not part of a massive conglomerate.

Even the world of youth sports isn’t immune. Private equity has moved in, creating local monopolies in industries like kids’ sports leagues, now a $30 billion market. Costs are rising, competition is shrinking, and the Federal Trade Commission—tasked with breaking up monopolies—is so underfunded and understaffed that it simply can’t keep up.

For would-be entrepreneurs, the deck is stacked. If you want access to incubators like Y Combinator, you better have connections and a résumé that screams “investable.” Most early-stage investors today aren’t looking to solve real-world problems—they’re looking for scalable companies they can sell to big players. That changes the very nature of innovation, shifting it from public good to private exit.

And let’s not forget the debt problem. Private equity doesn’t just buy companies—they often leverage them, loading them with debt to finance the acquisition. That debt gets paid back by cutting jobs, trimming services, and selling off assets. We’re now approaching corporate debt levels that rival the worst moments of the 2008 financial crisis and the early COVID stimulus era. That’s not just a business problem—it’s a systemic risk.

So what’s the takeaway here? It’s that wealth and power are concentrating faster than most people realize. And while this shift benefits the ultra-wealthy and the institutions they control, it comes at the expense of transparency, opportunity, and economic resilience for the rest of us.

We can’t rely on regulatory bodies alone to fix this—they’re outmatched and under-resourced. But awareness is the first step. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, worker, or simply someone trying to build a stable future, it’s time to recognize the landscape for what it is: increasingly concentrated, increasingly closed-off, and in need of serious reform.

Because the question we should all be asking isn’t “how do I get a piece of the pie?”—it’s “who’s deciding how the pie gets sliced in the first place?”

All writings are for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not provide investment or financial advice of any kind.