Billionaires' Wealth Rockets to Record High

[riversedge]

Source: daily beast



LET THEM EAT CAKE
Wiktoria Gucia Published 01.19.26 11:40AM EST


Billionaire wealth in 2025 surged at a rate three times faster than average over the past five years, according to a report released on Sunday by Oxfam. According to the Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power report, the number of billionaires worldwide has surpassed 3,000, and their wealth has reached a record $18.3 trillion—higher than at any point in history. As nearly half of the world’s population lives in poverty, the planet’s twelve richest billionaires now hold more wealth than roughly four billion people—half of the population. The 2025 Forbes list of the world’s richest people places Elon Musk, 54, at the top with $342 billion, followed by Mark Zuckerberg, 41, in second with $216 billion, and Jeff Bezos, 62, in third with $215 billion. The report links the surge in wealth accumulation to the policies of President Donald Trump—himself a billionaire—who, in his second administration, cut taxes, rolled back environmental and financial regulations on corporations, and placed billionaires in positions of political power. “The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s International Executive Director.


Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaires-wealth-rockets-to-record-high/

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Yes, Trumps polices are to blame IMHO.---with the help of a Republican Congress.

[Initech]

1. And also the help of Fox News!

Without which, we would not have the GOP Congress or a 2nd term of Trump.

[ck4829]

2. Every billionaire is a policy failure

[SWBTATTReg]

3. To the age-old question...when does too much money get to be too much money?

Being from an Economics / Accounting background, I always worried about the ultra-concentration of wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people. What happens when this concentration is so concentrated, so overwhelming, that the Economy starts contracting due to the sheer lack of spendable money circulating through the Economy? The Federal Reserve can't keep printing money endlessly, it would trigger inflationary pressures making money/dollars' worth less.

Services would shrink to a halt, businesses and such would stop spending cash for needed business expenses/inventory, and prices for stuff would go sky-high. No end in sight, and one result perhaps of this concentration would be the overall value of all of the dollars held by the ultra-wealthy would shrink, as well as the value of all of their assets, stocks, bonds, land, etc., leading to a cascading collapse of the Economy due to the actual lack of cash to enable the Economy to function.

[bluestarone]

4. They can buy ,buy, buy, but they will be real surprised when the end comes, as to what they will get

For their money, THAT i really believe. (IF TSF controls this)

[IronLionZion]

5. They'll trickle it down to everyone else very soon

[BigmanPigman]

6. I'm fairly certain that the mothers of the GOP

worked hard to put a cheap meal for a family of 8 on the table every day. Yes, by saving every penny earned, working 6 day weeks and 10 hour days and being responsibly frugal is exactly how they became billionaires.

Did the GOP's mothers' average, daily meal while growing up in poverty or during the depression consist of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and "one other thing"?

I doubt it.

[slightlv]

7. I do hope we have the courage to do what must be done

once we have taken back our country. And I think one of the main things that must be achieved is adjusting the tax rates to those that have proven before to work to everyone's benefit. I believe that was the 50's and 60's, wasn't it? Or was it earlier than that? But yes... I do think there's a high cutoff to money. Just as I think UNearned income should be taxed at higher rates than EARNED income. Passive income should come with more accountability and taxes than the measly amount earned by most workers in the U.S. And I think there should be a formula for the highest income level at a corporation or business... like, no person should be making 1000x more than the lowest paid worker. I don't know what the formula's numbers should be; again, I say look to the past to see what worked; but I do believe these are the types of issues we need to be thinking about early on when we regain the nation.

[AllyCat]

8. Let them eat...

…the rich.