How do politicians become millionaires on salaries under $200k a year? How do central bankers, corporate insiders, and their friends keep building fortunes while the rest of us struggle to keep up with grocery bills, housing costs, and credit card debt?

The answer lies in a centuries-old observation called the Cantillon Effect. It explains why the ruling class gets richer while you get squeezed. Those closest to the money printer, what I call the Cantillonaire Class, always win. And they win at your expense.

The Cantillon Effect, Explained Simply

Richard Cantillon, an 18th-century economist, noticed something profound: when new money enters an economy, it doesn’t affect everyone equally. The people who get that money first benefit the most.

Why? Because they can spend the fresh, un-debased money before prices rise. By the time that money trickles down to the rest of us, the damage is already done. Prices are higher, wages haven’t caught up, and the average person ends up footing the bill through inflation.

This is why inflation is often called a stealth tax. It doesn’t show up as a line item on your paycheck, but it eats away at your purchasing power all the same.

Meet the Cantillonaire Class

Who gets this “first access” money in today’s fiat matrix?

• Governments and politicians who pass trillion-dollar spending bills.

• Central banks who bail out Wall Street.

• Big corporations that benefit from zero-interest loans.

• Insiders and lobbyists who grease the system to secure contracts and subsidies.

  
  

Look at the U.S. Congress. Year after year, members of both parties mysteriously outperform the stock market. Senators and representatives making less than $200k a year somehow amass fortunes worth tens of millions. Ilhan Omar is just the latest example of a politician who, despite a modest official salary, has managed to build her personal wealth from essentially $0 in 2019 to $6M+ in 2025.

This isn’t magic. In Omar’s case above, her 2020 campaign paid her husband’s business, E Street Group, $2.9M dollars, comprising nearly 80% of the company’s total revenue. This is just one of countless examples of the Cantillon Effect in plain sight. They benefit because they are positioned closest to the money printer. 

The Trickledown Illusion

When trillions were printed in 2020 during COVID bailouts, who benefited first?

• Corporations bought back stock, pumping up equity markets.

• Banks and hedge funds scooped up assets while they were cheap.

• The elite used cheap money to buy real estate, commodities, and more.

By the time stimulus checks hit your account, housing prices were already skyrocketing. Groceries were climbing. Energy costs were soaring. The Cantillonaire Class spent fresh dollars at yesterday’s prices, while you spent your diluted dollars at tomorrow’s.

It’s a rigged game designed to make sure you never get ahead.

Inflation as a Weapon

The mainstream narrative tells us inflation is a natural phenomenon caused by “greedy corporations” or “supply chain issues.” But that’s gaslighting. Inflation is the direct result of deliberate policy: creating an endless supply of new money out of thin air.

And the beauty of it (for them) is that most people never question it. They just accept higher prices as the cost of living in a “modern economy.” Meanwhile, Cantillonaires quietly benefit as their portfolios swell, all while pitting us against each other in a fight over who is to blame.

Breaking the Stake

Here’s the truth: as long as money can be created without limit, those who control the spigot will always siphon off your life energy. Inflation and taxation are two sides of the same coin: mechanisms of control that keep you staked to the system.

So, what’s the alternative?

• Stop playing their game. Recognize that the system isn’t broken, rather it is working as designed to exploit you.

• Opt into scarcity. Assets that can’t be inflated away, like Bitcoin, represent the only real hedge. With a fixed supply of 21 million, Bitcoin neutralizes the Cantillon Effect by ensuring no one, not even governments, can print more for their own benefit.

• Reclaim sovereignty. Understand that money is more than numbers in an account—it’s a representation of your time, labor, and life energy. Treat it accordingly.

Conclusion: Who Benefits, Who Pays

The Cantillonaire Class thrives because we have historically been stuck with one system, the fiat matrix, that is rigged to benefit them at our expense. Every dollar they print buys them power, while every dollar you earn buys you less of the life you dream about living.

The next time you hear about another trillion-dollar spending bill, another bailout, or another politician miraculously growing rich on a government salary, remember the truth: they’re simply close to the money printer. You’re not.

But you don’t have to play their game. The choice is yours: stay staked to a system designed to drain you, or break the stake and reclaim your life energy in a system built on scarcity and fairness.

Jake Galt