🌅 U.S. Inequality Is Heading for New Heights

SOURCE

Oxfam

WHAT TO KNOW

• The 10 richest U.S. billionaires have added $698 billion to their collective wealth in the year since Donald Trump won reelection, underscoring the administration’s work to appease the wealthiest earners at the expense of nearly all other Americans. The new report from Oxfam found Trump’s policies have put the U.S. on the path to a modern Gilded Age, as his approach to taxes, labor, and trade are pushing income inequality to “new heights.”

WHY IT MATTERS

• Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which Congress passed in July—will reduce the tax bill for the top 0.1% of U.S. earners by an estimated $311,000 in 2027, while the lowest-earning households will actually face a tax increase. By cutting taxes for corporations and the highest earners, the bill will amount to one of the single largest upward transfers of wealth in recent history.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• However, while Trump’s agenda is indeed accelerating inequality in the U.S., America’s problems existed long before he decided to become a politician. From 1980 to 2022, the share of national income going to the top 1% of earners doubled, while the share going to the bottom 50% decreased by one-third. Today, the wealthiest 1% of earners own 49.9% of the entire U.S. stock market, while the bottom half owns just 1.1%. Beyond that, as of 2024, 40% of the U.S. population—including 48.9% of all children—are considered poor or low income, with family earnings that are less than 200% of the national poverty line.