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Getting Hip to Bruce Springsteen’s Ruse
Getting Hip to Bruce Springsteen’s Ruse
Feb 11, 2026 8:17 AM

On his albums Bruce Springsteen may pose as a working-class hero. But as Bruce Edward Walker notes, in his real life he’s a crony corporatist:

Add in the concert receipts and song royalties, and you have a guy with an estimated net worth of $250 million who shouldn’t have too much trouble making the mortgage on his 200-acre plot in Joisey and other properties valued well over $5 million. Poor Bruce and family pay $138,000 each year for taxes on their house on three acres. But the Boss also receives a generous tax break from New Jersey on his 200 acres since he owns horses and grows tomatoes (organic, of course), qualifying him to write off the property as a “farm” for which he pays less than $5,000 in tax each year.

And yet, the champion of the 99 percent still churns out songs about the evils of fat-cats who have never soiled their hands with physical labor like writing songs, playing guitar, and buying $800,000 ponies for his little girl.

Pay no attention to that man when he’s off the stage, Dorothy.

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