Do 728 billionaires personal extra wealth than half of American households?

Primary info:

• On April 9, 2023, Robert Reich on Twitter that “728 billionaires now personal extra wealth than half of American households.” Reich’s consultant cited Inequality.org, Forbes and the Federal Reserve as sources for his knowledge.
• Equally, Snopes discovered that as of the fourth quarter of 2022, 735 billionaires collectively owned extra wealth (a complete of $4.5 trillion) than the underside 50% of American households (a complete of $4.1 trillion ). (Sources: Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis and Forbes).
• Snopes additionally discovered that the wealth owned by the highest 1% of People was $43.45 trillion as of the fourth quarter of 2022, in comparison with $4.16 trillion owned by the underside 50% throughout the identical interval. (Supply: Federal Reserve).

On April 9, 2023, UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich tweeted that 728 billionaires personal extra wealth than 50% of American households.

“728 billionaires now personal extra wealth than half of American households.” on Twitter Friesen Professor of Public Coverage at UC Berkeley’s Goldman Faculty of Public Coverage. “Wealth inequality is consuming this nation alive.”

Reich didn’t cite the sources of his knowledge within the tweet, so we reached out to his workplace and obtained the next clarification through electronic mail from a consultant:

In response to Inequality.org, there are 728 billionaires with a mixed web value of $4.48 trillion as of Monday, November 21, 2022, a rise of $1.5 trillion from mid-March 2020, primarily based on Forbes Billionaires Information on the bottom. The full wealth of US billionaires earlier than the pandemic was just below $3 trillion.

As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the underside 50% of People personal $4.16 trillion in family wealth, in line with the Federal Reserve.

So $4.48 trillion exceeds $4.16 trillion.

We acquired comparable outcomes after we regarded into the declare ourselves. In response to Forbes, there have been 735 billionaires within the US by the tip of 2022. “The U.S. nonetheless boasts probably the most billionaires, with 735 members of the checklist value a mixed $4.5 trillion.” Forbes: experiences on billionaires in his 2023 article.

In response to the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis, the underside 50% of American households collectively owned $4.1 trillion on the finish of This fall 2022.

Which means 735 American billionaires have extra wealth ($0.4 trillion extra) than the underside 50% of American households.

Moreover, within the fourth quarter of 2022, the wealth owned by the highest 1% of People, in line with Federal Reserve, was $43.45 trillion, in comparison with $4.16 trillion for the underside 50% of People throughout the identical interval. In that high class, the highest 0.01% alone managed $17.6 trillion over the interval.

“Even within the midst of a pandemic recession that has rocked monetary markets, simply 719 billionaires have extra wealth than the underside half of People – not less than 165 million folks in 61 million households,” People for Tax Equity and The Institute for Coverage Research – Inequality Program wrote in a 2020 report.

One other Forbes article wrote that “the one billionaires on the Forbes 400 had extra wealth than the underside 64% of America“.

The wealth hole and revenue inequality in the US and elsewhere typically obtain broad protection.

By: International Inequality Report 2022 From the International Inequality Database, “the richest 10% of the worldwide inhabitants at present earns 52% of worldwide revenue, whereas the poorest half of the inhabitants earns 8.5% of it.

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