12 Zeros

Titled “First the Rich,” a prominent newspaper recently reported that it takes 12 zeros to write about the total wealth of the 2,682 billionaires in the world with individual fortunes of at least $1 billion.

Together, they have accumulated an estimated $14 trillion ($14,000,000,000,000). This suggests that if these tycoons were to form a country, they would rank seventh among the richest countries in the world,after the United States, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and India.

The world’s population is estimated at just over 8.2 billion people, which means that this tiny group of super-privileged individuals represents barely 0.00003% of that total. Their accumulated wealth is enormous.

According to Swiss wealth management company UBS Group AG, “In just one year, between 2023 and 2024, the wealth of the billionaires in the world increased by $2 trillion.” For further reference, if needed, note that UBS is one of the largest Swiss institutions in personal wealth management. In this small world of the privileged, “U.S. billionaires accumulated the biggest gains in 2024.” It is striking that in spite of this wealth, concentrated, of course, in only a few hands, the U.S. also ranks as one of the highest in inequality among developed countries.

As we have suggested before, the generation of wealth does not lead directly to creating equity. That it would is probably one of the most notoriously false dogmas of the economic growth model that has prevailed globally in recent decades. Mexico is included in maintaining that the market is an equalizing mechanism par excellence. This has been questioned only recently, in light of ensuing disparities over the years, as well as the scandalous and progressively widening gap between the rich and poor in the world and within societies.

To ensure that this continues — apparently they are never satisfied — Donald Trump has nominated the wealthiest Cabinet in modern times. Together they are worth at least $10 billion, not including $360 billion, the personal fortune of Elon Musk, the next president’s “first buddy.”

Among Trump’s initial acts will be a tax cut for the wealthiest. Few things could be as paradoxical as this man as president, who at the polls received the support of broad sectors of the country’s working class.