By
Huffington Post (12/27/19)
The world’s richest 500 people increased their collective wealth by 25% in 2019 ― a stark reminder of worsening income inequality, particularly in the U.S.
The 500 wealthiest people held a net worth of $5.9 trillion dollars ― collectively up $1.2 trillion over this year alone, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Topping the list of richest people were familiar names: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, French luxury group head Bernard Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The 400 richest people in the U.S. owned more than the 150 million people in the bottom 60% of the country ― and that since the early 1980s, those 400 richest Americans had tripled their wealth.
This news comes as income inequality and wealth concentrating in the hands of the few has become a much-discussed topic in the 2020 Democratic presidential race.
There are two billionaires among the Democratic 2020 contenders: California hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and former New York City mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg (whose new site publishes this daily ranking of the world’s wealthy).
Bloomberg News said it would stay out of investigations in the 2020 race after its founder and owner became a contender earlier this year ― but broke its own rule earlier this week in a report on progressive rivals Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). …
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Michael Moore’s Podcast ‘Rumble’ — The Cynical Sales Pitch Of The Rich: Sure, Maybe I Rob You, But I’m Woke!
While the majority of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and one emergency away from financial peril, a new study shows that the 500 richest people in the world gained a combined $1.2 trillion in wealth in 2019. In the U.S., the richest 0.1% now control a bigger share of the pie than at any time since the beginning of the Great Depression.
But what happens when the very people hoarding this wealth at the expense of democracy, the environment and an equitable society, re-brand themselves as the people who will fix society’s problems? What happens when the arsonists pose as the firefighters?
Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners take All: The Elite Charade Of Changing The World”, has been studying these questions and he joins Michael Moore to name names and discuss what to do about it.
Rumble Reads:
- The new survey about the wealthiest people in the world is here.