A New Billionaire Is Minted Every Two Days
A new billionaire is minted every two days, according to an Oxfam study. As a result, the top 0.1 percent owns a greater share of the nation’s wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
The richest dynastic families in the United States have seen their wealth expand at a dizzying pace. The three wealthiest families—the Waltons, the Kochs, and the Mars—increased their wealth by nearly 6,000 percent since 1983.
In other words, the rich in the United States has accumulated a metric crap ton of money. And what are they doing with this immense wealth and power?
Daniel Snyder (#368 on the Forbes 400) just bought the world’s first mega-yacht, with an IMAX theater on it, for $100 million. Hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin (#45) just broke the record for the highest price ever paid for a house — $238 million — for an apartment in Manhattan’s “Billionaires’ Row.”
Add in a few private jets, a couple of absurd presidential runs, and those Trump tax cuts, and you get a pretty accurate depiction of the priorities of billionaire spending.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country isn’t shopping for yachts and jets. Most families are forced to work longer hours for lower wages just to make ends meet.
Despite massive increases in growth and productivity, the median family saw their wealth go down over the past three decades, not up. The proportion of families with zero or negative wealth (meaning they owe more than they own) jumped from 1 in 6 to 1 in 5.
Relatedly, our roads and bridges are crumbling and our public schools are desperately underfunded.
It doesn’t take an economist to tell you this isn’t sustainable. So what about those policies to do something about it?
Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed a robust addition to the federal estate tax. Billionaires under his plan would pay a top rate of 77 percent on whatever they bequeath to their heirs over $1 billion. But, in all honesty, how is taxing the wealthy going to make joe citizen rich?
Well… it won’t, but we are ready to see the rich pay their fair share.
Are you awake yet?
Are you or someone you know thinking about buying a new or used car?
