2017 Billionaires Made More $$ Than Any Year In History, New Gilded Age

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'While the Rest of the World Burned,' Billionaires Made More Money in 2017 Than Any Other Year in History. "The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age." Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, Oct. 26, 2018.



"The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age," the UBS's annual billionaires report notes. "That period bred generations of families in the U.S. and Europe who went on to influence business, banking, politics, philanthropy, and the arts for more than 100 years."

During a year in which so much of the world faced deep poverty, the corrosive effects of austerity, and extreme weather caused by the worsening human-caused climate crisis—from devastating hurricanes to deadly wildfires and floods—one class of individuals raked in more money in 2017 than any other year in recorded history: the world's billionaires.

According to the Swiss bank UBS's fifth annual billionaires report published on Friday, billionaires across the globe increased their wealth by $1.4 trillion last year—an astonishing 20 percent—bringing their combined wealth to $8.9 trillion.

"The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age," the UBS report notes. "That period bred generations of families in the U.S. and Europe who went on to influence business, banking, politics, philanthropy, and the arts for more than 100 years."

UBS estimates that the world now has a total of 2,158 billionaires, with 179 billionaires created last year. The United States alone is home to 585 billionaires—the most in the world—up from 563 in 2017.

Meanwhile, according to a June report by U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston, 18.5 million Americans live in extreme poverty and "5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty."...

"No money for health or infrastructure, all the money in the world for yachts."
—Josh Shepperd

Read More, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/10/26/while-rest-world-burned-billionaires-made-more-money-2017-any-other-year-history
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/26/worlds-billionaires-became-20-richer-in-2017-report-reveals






The world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, has an estimated net worth of $146bn, more than any one person in history.




Monaco Yacht Show. More than 40 of the 179 new billionaires created last year inherited their wealth and the UBS report’s authors expect a further $3.4tn to be handed down over the next 20 years.

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1. "China Creates 2 Billionaires A Week" BBC, Oct. 26

China produced billionaires at the rate of two a week in 2017, says a report by Swiss bank UBS and auditors PwC.

The number of billionaires in the country saw a net increase from 318 to 373, with a joint wealth of $1.12 trillion (£874bn), said the survey. The report said China was currently the leading country for entrepreneurs to create wealth.

Worldwide, total billionaire wealth rose 19% to a record $8.9tn, shared among 2,158 individuals.

But the report also cautioned that China's billionaires have a high turnover. It said 106 people became billionaires but 51 dropped off the list, illustrating the risks of doing business in China.

"Over the last decade, Chinese billionaires have created some of the world's largest and most successful companies, raising living standards," said Josef Stadler, head of ultra-high net worth at UBS Global Management.

"But this is just the beginning. China's vast population, technology innovation and productivity growth combined with government support, are providing unprecedented opportunities for individuals not only to build businesses but also to change people's lives for the better." https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45989908