According to the 2015-2016 Billionaire Census by international market research firm Wealth-X, which bills itself as "the global authority on wealth intelligence," the billionaire population grew by 6.4 percent last year and now totals 2,473 people worldwide. The combined wealth of those individuals also increased by 5.4 percent, amounting to $7.7 trillion—which is more than every country's gross domestic product (GDP), except the United States ($17.9 tr) and China ($11 tr).
Billionaires, defined as individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or above, are not all created equal. While North America trails Europe in the number of billionaires—628 compared with 806, respectively—they hold more wealth ($2,561 bn versus $2,330 bn) than their cross-Atlantic compatriots.
Wealth-X attributes the overall billionaire population growth largely to inherited wealth. According to the report, "billionaires with partially inherited wealth continue to be the fastest growing segment of this population, up 29.9% year on year, while responsible for nearly two thirds of total billionaire additions." Also, Wealth-X found that fear of a global market collapse has prompted many to liquidate their assets, further shoring up their wealth and adding to the overall rise in combined net worth.
"Liquidity has been in the midst of an upward trend since 2012 and, currently at 22.2% of net worth, is at the highest level we have seen since tracking billionaires," notes Wealth-X, which uses public records and an international research staff to manually track the habits of the ultra-rich. "Billionaires are taking money off the table where available, while uncertainties in the economy and the historical highs found in deals have resulted in cash-flush portfolios."
The billionaire surge is not surprising as it comes at the same time that global wealth inequality has also reached record levels. A report issued earlier this year by the international aid organization Oxfam found that the richest one percent now hold more wealth than the rest of the world combined. "It is simply unacceptable that the poorest half of the world's population owns no more than a few dozen super-rich people who could fit onto one bus," Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said at the time. "The richest can no longer pretend their wealth benefits everyone—their extreme wealth in fact shows an ailing global economy. The recent explosion in the wealth of the super-rich has come at the expense of the majority and particularly the poorest people."
The nature of this thing called "Capital" is that the more you have the more you get. This system and its rules are set up by those that hold that Capital. Those in power set the rules so they remain so. That some small fraction of a percentage can go from poor to rich, and this number so small so as to be insignificant , is so that the masses believe if they "work harder" within the system they too can achieve that great success. The nature of the media ensures these type of "Success stories" are always reported on. For every one person that "makes it rich" there 10 million and more that do not and for every one person that makes it rich there 10 million news articles written about it.
The French Revolution (1789) was a capitalist liberation movement. The bourgeoisie class wanted the liberty to make money and to buy the labor of the serfs. So they overthrew the monarchy who held a monopoly on both labor and money. From then until today wealth has been accumulating at the top. So much so that the bourgeoisie class (plutocrats) of today have become the new monarchy (oligarchy) and we the people have once again become the serfs in their feudal system. Would anyone like to explain how our current political system benefits anybody but the wealthy? As the rich get richer, they get more powerful, and the 1% hold political power exceeding all the rest of us tiogether.
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