A Nation of Careless Millionaires

The average American family is worth well over a million dollars. But they don’t know it. So they live in unnecessary poverty.

What asset do they possess that gives them this tremendous unrealized wealth? Their vote.

America is a nation of 200 million voters. Together, they hold absolute power over everything within its borders, just as shareholders of a corporation have absolute power over the disposition of that company’s assets.

When you buy a share of a stock, what you’re buying is the right to one vote of that company. A democratic vote. If you control more than 50 percent of those shares you can do whatever you want. You have absolute power. You can fire the CEO, issue bonds, sell all the assets, paint everything pink — whatever you want.

Most shareholders don’t think like that, of course. Most are careless with their power. They just buy their shares and go along with the program. Most of them don’t know what that program is. They figure that if they’re buying shares in a widget company, that company will keep paying its employees to make widgets and sell them to its customers. They don’t see that they have any particular power beyond just the ability to be part of that arrangement.

Savvy players know their power. They know that if they can control enough shares, they can do whatever they want to that corporation and pocket the proceeds. They can turn the company on its head, strip the assets, raid the pension funds, fire all the employees, and…