About the Ultra-Rich
There are more than 150,000 American households classified as ultra-rich.
This group includes billionaires – like the wealthiest person on the planet, Elon Musk – but it’s made up of anyone who owns $30 million or more in assets.
The ultra-rich have a lot of wealth and power, which leads to even greater inequality because they can influence decision-makers to help them increase and protect their wealth. Their influence has led to excessive wealth-building policies, like lowering taxes on investment income and removing caps on executive pay.
The salaries of the CEOs of the largest 350 companies in America have skyrocketed from 48 times the average worker’s salary in 1995 to 372 times the average worker’s salary in 2021.
The end result of this influence is that the concentration of wealth has increased exponentially in the past 40 years. Now, a larger number of individuals can be classified as ultra-rich and their wealth is greater than ever before.
Meanwhile, the average pay of workers has decreased by ___ percent since 1982, and median wealth for the poor has gone from $6,900 in 1983 to -$8,900 in 2016 (that’s a negative in front of the dollar sign).
Watch this video to learn more about excessive wealth inequality and its effects on our democracy, economy, and civil society: