In the midst of an article about Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a favorite retreat for the super-rich, we learned about the expansion of America’s billionaires.
That so much wealth could co-exist with so much poverty is no accident. It is a consequence of policy.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
A New York Times analysis shows the stunning velocity at which the fortunes of the 1 percent have increased across the country since President Trump first took office in 2017. The richest Americans saw their net worth soar 120 percent between 2017 and 2025, a colossal leap from the 45 percent growth they had seen over the previous nine years.
The number of U.S. billionaires jumped 50 percent by some estimates between 2017 and 2025, to more than 900 people.
More and more billionaires
The United States added new billionaires in 20 out of the last 25 years, as fortunes grew.
Source: New York Times analysis of the Forbes billionaires list.
Karl Russell/The New York Times
The list includes Elon Musk, who could become a trillionaire, and celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Bruce Springsteen and Jerry Seinfeld. But it also includes a number of people who are largely unknown to most Americans, people whose fortunes were lifted by investments and assets whose values have skyrocketed.
The minting of dozens of new billionaires occurred in the immediate wake of the 2017 tax cuts championed by Mr. Trump at the beginning of his first term, the nation’s biggest tax overhaul since 1986. The legislation, which slashed personal income taxes and doubled the estate tax exemption, was billed by Mr. Trump as “tax cuts for American families.” But the Times analysis, backed up by a range of new studies, shows that it disproportionately benefited wealthier taxpayers.
Most important, it cut the corporate tax rate and laid the groundwork for a surge in stock prices — creating a phenomenal accretion of wealth. The coronavirus pandemic intensified the dynamic. Tech prices soared as employees geared up to work at home and inflation tripled, weighing on the middle class and devastating the poor.
While the rich have been getting richer at a fairly steady pace over the years, the analysis shows that the net worths of those who were already billionaires experienced a pronounced shift after the tax cuts were signed into law, growing by 49 percent over eight years.
The irony in this significant u crease in billionaires is that it started with Trump’s tax cuts in 2017 and expanded with his tax cuts in 2025. And all the while, he was elected and re-elected by people who got the short end of the stick. MAGA was a front for the super-rich. It did nothing for Trump’s loyal base. He played them.
It worked.
Giving credit where it’s due: Andrew Tobias brought this article to my attention in his newsletter.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trump has always been an advocate for the ultra-wealthy, but his cult refuses to see it. He is no “man of the people,” and those that believe him vote against their own self-interest. How is it possible that according to Real Clear Polls, his job approval rating remains at 43.8%? The only explanation is that much his cult remains intact despite his policies that create more billionaires and undermine American families, or the polls are bunk.
LikeLike
Trump is a salesman. He could sell ice to people in Iceland. He sold half the American people on the absurd idea that he was on their side, when in reality he is fleecing them.
LikeLike
I don’t know how it works today, but if I could say that my education failed me when I was in school it would be because I was never required to take a course in Economics. I don’t recall there being such courses in the schools I attended in lower education, and while they no doubt existed in the higher education schools that I attended, none were required courses.
45 years ago, I realized that I was psychology addicted to marijuana and I loved my job as a Kindergarten teacher then so much that I didn’t want to put it at risk, so I gave up everything I owned and put myself in a halfway house for treatment, where I lived for almost a year. They required that everyone attend classes in Finances, which they provided there. After that, my goal was to return to college in 5 years, so I did and I earned 3 more college degrees.
The closest I ever came to studying about Economics were those Finances classes though, where I learned mostly about budgeting (the very low minimum wage that I was paid back then). It was something, but clearly, it wasn’t much or enough. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that I should take Economics as an elective in college, so now I’m as poor as a lot of people with just a high school diploma. I learned very little about economics at home because, I was told, my (nonexistent) husband would take care of that one day.
I think Economics should have been required in at least one of the schools that I attended, because then maybe lot more of us would be wealthier today. Does anyone know where at least one course in Economics is required anywhere today for everyone in lower ed or higher ed schools?
LikeLike
if you go back further, you can see that the massive cuts that began under Reagan has had the same effect.
LikeLike