Three completely different stories landed at the same time.
They all point in the same direction.
The Trump administration has taken $27 billion in equity stakes across 30 private companies since January 2025.
Senate Republicans also added a Pentagon Defense Equity Investment Account that could invest up to $500 million in private firms tied to batteries, critical minerals, chemicals, and other strategic industries.
Ron Paul argues this crosses into corporatism.
Companies may still be privately owned on paper, but government becomes another shareholder with its own priorities.
Then you look at housing.
Some billionaires are reportedly buying neighboring properties and entire blocks to build private compounds with their own amenities.
Meanwhile, the average Manhattan one bedroom now rents for $5,408 a month.
Brooklyn averages $4,297.
NYC median rents are up 8% from a year ago, even with roughly 57,000 rent stabilized apartments sitting vacant.
It’s hard not to notice who keeps accumulating ownership.
Government is buying pieces of companies.
Billionaires are buying more land.
Everyone else is trying to keep up with record rents.
Ownership has become the dividing line.
The people with capital keep collecting more assets.
The people without it are paying more every year just to use someone else’s.
Ron Paul Institute on congressional ratification of Trump corporatism: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/congressional-ratification-of-president-trumps-corporatism/
Archive.is mirror: https://archive.is/rLqXl
FT on Trump accounts (paywalled): https://www.ft.com/content/f98d880c-6e7f-486c-8336-4a26186a5955
WSJ on landmaxxing real estate: https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/landmaxxing-real-estate-b5c919a9
NY Post on NYC housing crisis and record rents: https://nypost.com/2026/07/13/us-news/nyc-housing-crisis-hits-defcon-1-as-rents-jump-to-more-all-time-highs/
Analyze Ron Paul’s libertarian economic theory
Explore historical examples of government equity stakes
Expand the Ron Paul section with more quotes
Think Harder