It’s also worth noting that the U.S. economy used to get along fine without nearly as many billionaires as it has now.

American economic history since World War II falls fairly neatly into two halves: a first era, ending roughly in 1980, during which progressive taxation, strong unions and social norms limited extreme wealth accumulation at the top, and the era of soaring inequality since then. Did the new prosperity of plutocrats “ trickle down” to the nation as a whole? Not according to any measure I know. For example, “multifactor productivity,” the standard economic measure of technological progress (don’t ask), has risen only half as much since the 1980 turning point as it did in the previous era.

What about politics? Many people on Wall Street and a significant part of the punditocracy are socially liberal but economically conservative, or at least leaning that way. That is, they are for racial equality and LGBTQ rights, but against major tax increases on the wealthy and big expansion in social programs. And that’s a perfectly coherent point of view.

Inside the billionaire bubble, however, people also imagine that it’s a view with broad popular appeal. Well, it isn’t. Most people, including many self-identified Republicans, want to see higher taxes on the rich and increased spending on social programs; however, quite a few people combine these sentiments with racial hostility and social illiberalism, which is why they seem to vote against their own economic interests.

As best we can tell, the constituency for social liberalism plus fiscal conservatism comprises only a few percent of the electorate. When Howard Schultz — remember him? — ran that combination up the flagpole to see if anyone saluted, only about 4 percent of voters approved. And early indications don’t show Bloomberg doing much better, even though as someone who successfully ran New York he has a much better case to offer.

I’m not saying that the U.S. public is necessarily ready for the likes of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. I worry in particular about the politics of Medicare for All, not because of the cost, but because proposing the abolition of private insurance could unnerve tens of millions of middle-class voters.

But the idea that America is just waiting for a billionaire businessman to save the day by riding in on a white horse — or, actually, being driven over in a black limo — is just silly. It is, in fact, the kind of thing only a billionaire could believe.