Wealth of Top US Billionaires Soars Amid Rising Inequality Under Trump Administration
The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires increased by $698 billion over the past year, according to a recent report by Oxfam America. The report highlights that policies under the Trump administration could exacerbate income inequality, though it notes that both Republican and Democratic administrations have contributed to widening the wealth gap in recent decades.
Analysis of Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022 shows that the top 1% gained 101 times more wealth than the median household and 987 times more than the bottom 20%. The average wealth for the top 1% stands at $8.35 million per household, compared to $83,000 for the median household.
More than 40% of Americans are classified as low-income, which includes about half of all children, defined as families earning less than 200% of the poverty line. Among the OECD's 10 largest economies, the US has the highest relative poverty rate, the second-highest rates of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second-lowest life expectancy.
The report attributes rising inequality to deliberate policy choices, pointing to the dismantling of tax codes, social safety nets, and worker protections that have enabled the concentration of wealth. It identifies the Trump administration's May bill as one of the largest upward transfers of wealth in decades, involving significant tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
Over the past 40 years, bipartisan policy reforms have reduced taxes and weakened social safety programs, contributing to growing inequality. To address these issues, the report recommends reforms such as campaign finance reform and stronger antitrust enforcement, increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations, bolstering the social safety net, and protecting unions.
