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Very rough numbers, a bit out of date: Allegedly about 2100 billionaires - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Billionaires https://en.wikipedia.org/wi

Very rough numbers, a bit out of date: Allegedly about 2100 billionaires - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Billionaires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Billionaires A couple of years ago all the millionaires put together controlled about 45% of global wealth - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-wealth-concentration/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-wealth-concentration... Since billionaires are a subset of those, then they cannot possibly control any more than 45%, so certainly less than half. Can't find a source showing just billionaires, at the moment, but the first source suggests that the billionaires have a net worth on the order of 9 to 10 trillion; if billionaires control 10 trillion, and about 130 trillion is 45% of the wealth, then billionaires are in control of somewhere around 4% of global wealth. As a rough calculation in sixty seconds, this does appear to support your assertion that billionaires control a small proportion of wealth. If you team them up with all the millionaires, they're up to almost 50%, but just the billionaires on their own; not so much.

BurningFrog 6y ago
Thanks for doing the work! Another angle is that Jeff Bezos, richest man in the world, has $184B. That's $550 per American, or $24 per human. Undeniably a lot of money, but also far from a sum that would change the world if it got redistributed.
- rospaya 6y ago
  His wealth is mostly stock, right? In fact most of the billionaires have their weight in stocks. In a theoretical situation where Bezos goes to unload all of his stocks to end world hunger, who would be there to buy it? Would the stock devalue the moment he starts selling it? It's complicated.
  - tomhoward 6y ago
    Spot on. This is the point most people seem to overlook/ignore/dismiss when they advocate taxing billionaires' capital to fund state programs.
s1artibartfast 6y ago
re is a very accusable article on the topic of millionaires in the US with some good sources. There are 19 million millionaires in the US, or 5-6% of the population. Hhttps://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are-millionaires/ https://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are...

BurningFrog 6y ago

Thanks for doing the work! Another angle is that Jeff Bezos, richest man in the world, has $184B. That's $550 per American, or $24 per human. Undeniably a lot of money, but also far from a sum that would change the world if it got redistributed.

rospaya 6y ago
His wealth is mostly stock, right? In fact most of the billionaires have their weight in stocks. In a theoretical situation where Bezos goes to unload all of his stocks to end world hunger, who would be there to buy it? Would the stock devalue the moment he starts selling it? It's complicated.
- tomhoward 6y ago
  Spot on. This is the point most people seem to overlook/ignore/dismiss when they advocate taxing billionaires' capital to fund state programs.

s1artibartfast 6y ago

re is a very accusable article on the topic of millionaires in the US with some good sources. There are 19 million millionaires in the US, or 5-6% of the population. Hhttps://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are-millionaires/ https://spendmenot.com/blog/what-percentage-of-americans-are...