Gavin Newsom Says Capitalism Isn’t Working’ – Because His Wealth Was Subsidized

Newsom says income inequality threatens American democracy, a SacBee.com headline says. California Governor Gavin Newsom has repeatedly said that “capitalism as we know it is not working.”

The statement is sophomoric, and for Gavin Newsom to claim this is half-witted. Gavin Newsom says capitalism isn’t working’ because his wealth was subsidized. He’s never had to be a strict adherent to capitalism the way actual entrepreneurs and innovators are.

Ask any entrepreneur of a small, medium or large business what they think of capitalism. Ask immigrants new to the country, who were able to open a business what they think of capitalism – especially if they came from a communist country, or one rooted in horrific corruption.

“From 2002 to today, Gavin Newsom’s net worth has grown from roughly $6.9 million to over $30 million,” Amy Curtis at Townhall noted. “Sure, he started out as the son of well-to-do parents, which is something most of us don’t get to do, but we live in America. Thanks to capitalism, we have a chance to create our own wealth.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom has repeatedly said that “capitalism as we know it is not working” or “doesn’t work”. If that’s the case, how did he achieve his wealth?

He continues to make this asinine statement, and in multiple appearances in 2025–2026, said:

• A C-SPAN-recorded event in South Carolina: “Capitalism as we know it is not working. Not at $7.25 minimum wage in South Carolina.” He pointed to wealth concentration (the top 10% owning roughly two-thirds of wealth and 93% of the stock market) and argued that saving democracy also requires “democratizing the economy.”
• “Something’s fundamentally broken here… I would argue socialism’s not gonna work, but capitalism as we know it doesn’t work either.”
• He has made broader comments that the current system is “broken,” that a 30-year-old is not doing better than their parents for the first time in history, and that the economy is built to serve billionaires rather than the working class.

He usually adds the qualifier “as we know it” rather than rejecting markets or private enterprise outright, proving that he is attempting to be provocative as he campaigns for President. 

He has also richly criticized “crony capitalism” and distinguished it from what he calls a more competitive, rules-based model – and at the same time has said socialism will not work.

Newsom’s own net worth grew substantially under the existing system and that California has high housing costs, poverty, and regulation. He has framed the comments as a diagnosis of inequality and stagnation that requires more than “tinkering.”

In 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported “Gavin Newsom is a career public servant and multimillionaire businessman. Here’s how he has made his wealth.”

The LAT proves my point in the first two paragraphs:

“For the last two decades, Gavin Newsom has been rising to the highest levels of California politics.

At the same time, he also has become a multimillionaire businessman, with an upscale chain of wine stores, wineries, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels and retail shops stretching from the Bay Area and Napa Valley to Lake Tahoe and Palm Springs. He built some of those businesses with the Gettys, heirs to an oil fortune who have deep connections to the Democratic lieutenant governor’s family.”

Newsom’s father, William Newsom, was a childhood friend of Gordon Getty and later served as a Getty family attorney, trustee, and administrator of family trusts. Gordon Getty has described Gavin as like a son; the families vacationed together, and Getty money and connections helped launch and expand PlumpJack (wine shops, restaurants, hotels, wineries). Contemporary reporting from the early 2000s identified Gordon Getty as the lead investor in most of Newsom’s businesses at the time. Getty family members have also been consistent political donors. Newsom has long enjoyed social, political and financial capital through his father and the Gettys.

Newsom even lives in a $9.1 million home in Marin County that his in-laws purchased, according to Jen Van Laar at Redstate. In November 2024, a 5,600-square-foot six-bedroom home in Kentfield, Marin County, sold for $9.1 million. The buyer was an LLC called “MHBD Farms, LLC,” tied to Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Jennifer Van Laar of RedState later reported that the LLC’s members include Jennifer Siebel Newsom and her parents, Ken and Judy Siebel, who also personally guaranteed a subsequent $6.5 million cash-out refinance on the property, Fox News reported.

Newsom’s “capitalism doesn’t work” line shows his unbridled hypocrisy. Newsom built a multimillion-dollar hospitality portfolio with elite backing inside a market economy, then is so clueless, he argues the same system is failing most people. Newsom is just an elite who used connections to gain wealth, and now claims to want to change the rules.

As an aside, several of us in the California political media have questioned how the Gavin and Jennifer Siebel Newsom funded the initial $9.1 million cash purchase of the Marin home, given their disclosed finances and the fact they still held the $3.8 million Fair Oaks home – also “gifted to them.”

Lastly, I stand by my statement that all elected politicians should be required to take Econ 101 prior to holding public office.