World's witnessing(ˈwitnis) a new Gilded(ˈgildid) Age as billionaires’ wealth(welTH) swells(swel) to $6tn

World’s witnessing(ˈwitnis) a new Gilded(ˈgildid) Age as billionaires’ wealth(welTH) swells(swel) to $6tn

Not since the time of the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts at the turn of the 20th century(ˈsenCH(ə)rē) was so much owned by so few

By Rupert Neate

The world’s super-rich hold the greatest concentration(ˌkänsənˈtrāSHən) of wealth since the US Gilded Age at the turn of the 20th century, when families(ˈfam(ə)lē) like the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts controlled vast(vast) fortunes(ˈfôrCHən).

Billionaires increased their combined(ˈkämˌbīn) global wealth by almost a fifth last year to a record $6tn (£4.5tn) – more than twice the GDP of the UK. There are now 1,542 dollar billionaires across the world, after 145 multi-millionaires saw their wealth tick(tik) over into nine-zero fortunes last year, according to the UBS / PwC Billionaires report.

Josef Stadler, the lead(led,lēd) author of the report and UBS’s head of global ultra(ˈəltrə) high net(net) worth, said his billionaire clients were concerned(kənˈsərnd) that growing inequality(ˌiniˈkwälitē) between rich and poor could lead to a “strike(strīk) back”.

“We’re at an inflection(inˈflekSHən) point,” Stadler said. “Wealth concentration is as high as in 1905, this is something billionaires are concerned about. The problem is the power of interest on interest – that makes big money bigger and, the question is to what extent(ikˈstent) is that sustainable(səˈstānəbəl) and at what point will society(səˈsīətē) intervene(ˌintərˈvēn) and strike back?”

Stadler added(ad): “We are now two years into the peak of the second Gilded Age.”

He said the “$1bn question” was how society would react to the concentration of so much money in the hands of so few.

Anger(ˈaNGgər) at so-called robber(ˈräbər) baron(ˈbarən) families who built up vast fortunes from monopolies(məˈnäpəlē) in US rail(rāl), oil, steel(stēl) and banking in the late 19th century, an era(ˈerə,ˈi(ə)rə) of rapid(ˈrapid) industrialisation and growing inequality in America(əˈmerikə) that became known as the Gilded Age, led to President Roosevelt breaking up companies and trusts and increasing taxes(taks) on the wealthy(ˈwelTHē) in the early 1900s.

“Will there be similarities(ˌsiməˈlaritē) in the way society reacts to this gilded age?,” Stadler asked. “Will the second age end or will it proceed(prō-,prəˈsēd)?”