The Number of Billionaires Is Growing Across the Planet, as Global Inequality Spreads

01/11/13
Author: 
AlterNet
Billionaires

Gone are the days when U.S. billionaires accounted for over 40 percent of the list. With the help of  Forbes magazine, we and colleagues at the  Institute for Policy Studies have been tracking the world’s billionaires and rising inequality the world over for several decades. Just as a drop of water gives us a clue into the chemical composition of the sea, these billionaires offer fascinating clues into the changing face of global power and inequality. After our initial gawking at the extravagance of  this year’s list of 1,426, we looked closer. This list reveals the major power shift in the world today: the decline of the West and the rise of the rest. Gone are the days when U.S. billionaires accounted for over 40 percent of the list, with Western Europe and Japan making up most of the rest. Today, the Asia-Pacific region hosts 386 billionaires, 20 more than all of Europe and Russia combined...
 

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