The net worth of the world's richest people is exploding

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The net worth of the world's  richest people is  exploding. 
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Billionaires are out of the game. The first trillionaires are on  the way.
Five people are expected to amass at least $1 trillion in wealth  over the next decade, according to  Oxfam's annual inequality report, released Sunday. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, currently the  world's richest person  with a net worth  of more than $430 billion,  is expected to reach that milestone in just under five  years. They will soon be joined by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Meta CEO Mark  Zuckerberg, and LVMH CEO Bernard  Arnault, and  their families.
The Oxfam report, which  is based on data compiled by Forbes,  was released at the  start of the World Economic  Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, an elite gathering of some of the  world's richest people and leaders. Its release also comes  a day before  the inauguration of billionaire President-elect Donald  Trump.
2024 was a very  profitable year for the world's  richest individuals and families,  driven in part by  the rise of the U.S. stock market, Oxfam found. Their net worth  has grown so  rapidly that Oxfam revised its estimate last year that only one  billionaire would be crowned in the next  decade. "It's an unimaginable  amount," Rebecca Riddell, senior policy  officer at Oxfam America, said of $1 trillion.  "This extreme inequality is  no cause for celebration." »
Last year, the ranks of the billionaire class grew  from just over 200  people to  almost 2,770 Their wealth  grew by  $ 2.1 trillion, three times faster than the year  before, to a total of  $ 15 trillions. Only in the United  States, where 816 billionaires reside, the net worth of this group  increased by $1.4 trillion.  Also, if  one of the 10 richest  people lost 99% of  their wealth,  they would still be a billionaire, Oxfam  found.
At the same time, the number of people living in poverty is  almost the same as in 1990, according to the report,  which cites data from the World  Bank.
Inherited wealth
This  year's Oxfam report,  "Takers not  Makers," also  highlights that more than  a third of  billionaire wealth  comes from inheritance. In 2023,  for the first time, more billionaires  accumulated their wealth through inheritance than through  entrepreneurship. In addition, 17 billionaires under 30 had their  wealth passed  down.
This transfer of assets is  facilitated by the fact that two-thirds of countries  do not tax  inheritance on direct descendants, Riddell said.  In the United States,  inheritance taxes have been  eliminated by tax cuts and  tax avoidance strategies.
"If we don't act, we will see the  largest generational transfer of wealth in human history  – hard-earned and taxed,  if we  don't act," he said, adding that Oxfam is calling on governments to ensure that the rich and corporations pay their fair share of  taxes.
Growing political power
The  rich also  have increasing influence over politics. Oxfam  points to the incoming Trump  administration as a prime example. It  includes nearly a dozen people  who own at least $1 billion  alone or with their spouses, making  them among the richest in  history. Musk, who  has poured more than $260 million into Trump's 2024 campaign, is a  senior adviser to the president-elect and  co-heads the so-called Department of Government  Efficiency.

"Musk and the  tremendous influence he has  on politics and policy is  truly emblematic of the unchecked billionaire power  that now defines our economic and political system," Riddell  said.
In his farewell  speech from the Oval Office last week, President Joe Biden warned of the concentration of power  in the hands of "a very small number of ultra-wealthy  individuals."
"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in  America, with extreme wealth, power and  influence, that  threatens literally  all of our democracy, our basic rights and  freedoms, and  equal opportunity for  all," he said.

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