Six months ago, the Wall Street Journal shared this stunning graphic from University of California-Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman.
In 2024, the Journal noted, the wealth of America’s top 0.00001 percent — our 19 richest billionaires — increased by $1 trillion, to about $2.6 trillion. Their share of the country’s wealth jumped from 1.2 percent in 2023 to 1.8 percent in 2024, the largest annual increase ever.
Did 2024 rate as just a one-off?
By all appearances, no. Last year simply rates as just another year in the ever increasing concentration of American wealth. And power. That concentrating has continued, at full speed, this year. As of October 28, the wealth of our top .00001 percent sits up an additional $670 billion, a whopping increase of 25.8 percent over its year-end 2024 level.
Our super-wealthy’s share of America’s total wealth has almost certainly increased substantially as well. We don’t yet have an updated estimate of that total wealth from Berkeley’s Zucman, but other indicators suggest an increase in that total that sits substantially lower than the increase in wealth of the top .00001 percent.
The S&P 500 Index, for instance, has jumped 17.4 percent so far this year. A great year, but well short of the year our top 19 billionaires are having. The Russell 2000 Index has increased only 12.3 percent since the beginning of the year. The Case-Shiller Index — the yardstick that tracks the value of residential real property, where the bulk of Americans hold most of their wealth — has increased only two percentage points so far this year.
This year’s increase in our nation’s total wealth figures to run, at most, around 15 percent. That would place the wealth share of our wealthiest top .00001 percent at just about 2.0 percent.
These three additional data points may help put that share in perspective:
- The wealth of our 916 billionaires, Americans for Tax Fairness reports, has just topped $8 trillion. Our richest 19 billionaires alone hold over 40 percent of the entire group’s wealth. And, remember, every person in that group of 916 is sitting on a fortune worth at least a thousand times more than the wealth of a mere millionaire.
- America has 50 states. The average state by population — think Indiana or Massachusetts — holds 2 percent of our nation’s wealth. Our 19 richest billionaires now hold as much wealth as an entire average state of 7 million people.
- Back in 1982, the deep pockets on the initial annual Forbes 400 list held, all together, less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth, 0.93 percent to be exact. Today’s five richest billionaires, all by themselves, hold that same share of our entire nation’s wealth.
Concentration of wealth equals concentration of power. Our current concentration has delivered unto us Donald Trump. And our democracy now hangs in the balance.
It’s time to tax our billionaires.