Abdul El-Sayed Would Rather Have 1,000 Millionaires Than 1 Billionaire. Here’s What He Gets Wrong.

Economics has never been the progressive movement’s strongest subject.

On Thursday, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed told a crowd that, in his ideal American economy, he would rather see 1,000 millionaires then a single billionaire. But El-Sayed misses the point: the more billionaires an economy produces, the more millionaires it tends to produce along the way. If he wants more billionaires, then he should welcome more trillionaires. And if he truly wants prosperity for the working-class American, than he needs more of all three.

Wealth held by millionaires, billionaires, and, eventually, trillionaires is not simply consolidated at the top. It helps grow the economic pie that is the American economy. And as that pie expands, its slices become larger and more plentiful for everyone else. 

That is not as simple as “trickle-down economics,” a term coined by the Left to demean the way wealth circulates through the economy. It is an acknowledgment that America’s wealthy invest their money in you. That investment gives you a better chance to improve your life, expand your opportunities, strengthen your economic security, and build your own American dream.

I’d rather have an economy that makes 1,000 millionaires than 1 billionaire. pic.twitter.com/pVEnetgo6l

— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) October 1, 2026

“I’d rather an economy that makes a thousand millionaires than one billionaire,” El-Sayed said. “And I articulated exactly why there’s actually a duality there.”

“Most billionaires don’t park their money making more businesses, they park their money in the stock market. That is not meaningfully investing in opportunity, it’s just investing in other billionaires,” he said. “Those corporations, where do their money go? You buy stock and you name it, Nvidia. Show me how that’s making jobs. Especially considering where we are with a Fortune 500 now. Top seven stocks make a ton of money and everyone else is kind of dipping. So how is it that a billionaire having more wealth is more productive for the economy?”

“It doesn’t make sense. So what you really need to be able to do is take that, if you’re serious about building the most productive possible economy, take that excess money that would have been parked into the S&P 500 and invest it in good schools, good infrastructure, healthcare, childcare, which by the way, all make jobs, a ton of jobs,” El-Sayed added. “Most of which are very difficult to automate. Try automating out childcare. Not a thing you can do. So I’m just saying that if we’re serious about this, like that’s what we gotta get serious about doing.”

El-Sayed is plainly wrong. Investing in the stock market is not money being passed around among billionaires like a very expensive game of Monopoly. It is investment in the companies driving American growth, innovation, and prosperity, the companies most capable of raising workers’ wages and living standards. 

Critics often describe today’s investment landscape as circular: wealthy companies and investors merely pouring money into one another. But that “circular” investment is now sending trillions of dollars toward artificial intelligence. Whatever one thinks of the technology, AI could become one of the greatest creators of wealth and prosperity the world has ever seen. Want a 20-hour workweek? AI may help make it possible. Want to start a business? AI makes it easier than ever. Want to eliminate the tedious work that consumes too much of the average workday? AI can automate much of it. Want more time with your family and the people you love? Greater efficiency could help make that possible, too. 

The money flowing into the stock market, from trillionaires, billionaires, and millionaires, is helping finance the next era of American prosperity. That means more opportunity and more money for you, more returns for investors, more revenue for government programs (whether we like those entitlements or not), and more resources for the country as a whole. 

Redistribution, like the kind El-Sayed promises, is little more than a short-term gain purchased at the expense of long-term loss, which may explain why El-Sayed found his career in politics rather than in building a business.

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it’s spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there’s nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.

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