Recent data shows that the world’s richest people own a larger share of the world’s wealth than ever, making a mockery of the ‘trickle-down’ effect and threatening democracy. Aleta Moriarty reports.
The Oxfam report, “Defending Freedom Against Billionaire Power”, shows how our leaders have sold out democracy to the highest bidders. It indicates that billionaire wealth expanded three times more rapidly in the year following Donald Trump’s November 2024 election than the five-year average that preceded it.
Whilst US billionaires experienced the most dramatic increases, their counterparts worldwide also saw their fortunes surge by double digits. According to The Guardian,
Australian billionaires increased their wealth by almost $600,000 a day on average.
For the first time in history, the planet now hosts more than 3,000 billionaires, marking an unprecedented peak in concentrated wealth. Last October, Elon Musk broke new ground by becoming the world’s first half-trillionaire.
At the same time, a quarter of all people on Earth struggle with hunger. The world is on track to have five trillionaires within a decade, whilst the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.
Image by Oxfam
Last year’s billionaire wealth gains alone amount to enough money to distribute US$250 to every human being, whilst still leaving these ultra-wealthy individuals over US$500 billion richer than before. The dozen wealthiest billionaires now control more resources than the bottom half of humanity, four billion people.
Rising food Insecurity and poverty
The longtime economic justification for these pro-rich policies, the trickle-down effect, which holds that a rising tide will lift all ships, is dead (as it was on arrival. Editor’s note). Since 2020, progress in alleviating poverty has stalled, with African nations actually seeing poverty rates climb.
By 2022, 3.83 billion people, nearly half of humanity, were living in poverty.
A quarter of the world’s population now experiences moderate to severe food insecurity, representing a 42.6% surge between 2015 and 2024. A nutritious meal cost 30% more in 2024 than it did in 2020. Those living in poverty in poorer nations must dedicate a far larger portion of their income to basic nutrition than their counterparts in wealthier countries. As billionaire wealth multiplies, billions cannot afford to eat.
Government investment in food security has simultaneously contracted, having fallen 10.6% as a share of total expenditure since 2019, even as conflicts, wars, and the climate crisis exact a devastating toll.
Wealthy nations are slashing foreign aid at unprecedented rates, compounding the crisis. Aid budgets are expected to drop by 17% in 2025, following a 9% reduction in 2024. Forecasting models suggest that these funding cuts, including the shuttering of USAID, may result in over 14 million excess deaths by decade’s end, averaging 2.4 million deaths annually from 2025 onwards.
Amongst the projected casualties: 4.5 million children under five, equating to more than 700,000 young lives lost each year.
Inequality undermining democracy
A century ago, Justice Louis Brandeis framed the fundamental choice: “We must make our choice. Either we can have extreme wealth in the hands of the few, or we can have democracy. We cannot have both.”
Countries with high inequality face up to seven times the risk of democratic breakdown compared to more equal societies. Few factors predict democratic collapse more reliably than rising inequality.
In 2024, freedom of expression was curtailed in a quarter of the world’s countries. According to Freedom House, 2024 marked the nineteenth successive year of global democratic decline, with over 60 countries experiencing deterioration in political rights and civil liberties.
All over the world, we are witnessing the erosion and rolling back of civil and political rights,
the suppression of protests, and the silencing of dissent.
The ultra-wealthy have engineered their political dominance through a three-pronged strategy: direct purchase of political influence, investment in institutions that legitimise elite control, and personal occupation of government positions.
During 2024, donations from just 100 billionaire families comprised one-sixth of all dollars spent by US candidates, parties, and committees, a record-breaking US$2.6B. Polling by the World Values Survey found that nearly half of respondents globally believe the wealthy routinely purchase elections in their nations.
Buying influence
More than 11% of the world’s billionaires have either held or pursued political office. Oxfam estimates billionaires are at least 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people. An oligarchy with better branding.
Billionaires control not just governments but information itself. Over half of the world’s largest media companies have billionaire owners. Nine of the top 10 social media companies are run by just six billionaires. Eight of the top 10 AI companies, overlapping with media companies, are billionaire-controlled, with just three commanding nearly 90% of the generative AI chatbot market.
They own the narrative, the platform, and increasingly, the algorithm that determines what truth looks like.
Billionaires have long used their vast wealth to buy politicians and political parties, subverting the power of the majority in favour of an unjust system of ‘one dollar, one vote’.
The companies associated with the 10 richest men in the world spent US$88m lobbying in the US in 2024, exceeding the combined spending of all trade unions, which totalled US$55m. When capital outspends labour by this margin, the fix is in.
Image by Oxfam
The way forward
To curb billionaire political power, the Oxfam report highlights the need for governments to build strong firewalls between wealth and politics, including:
- regulating lobbying and closing revolving doors between public office and private interests through independent regulatory bodies;
- mandatory public lobby registries;
- mandatory disclosure of lobbying activities;
- stronger conflict of interest rules, and cooling-off periods;
- strengthening transparency and setting clear limits to campaign financing;
- public financing of elections to reduce reliance on large private donations.
They also highlight the importance of promoting greater media independence by limiting ownership concentration, supporting alternative public and independent media (now, there’s an idea! Editors’ note.), regulating for algorithmic transparency, and establishing oversight through state-funded bodies independent of billionaire influence.
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Practitioner researcher in human rights, disability inclusion and gender. Completing PhD at University of Melbourne. Twenty years experience working across agencies like the United Nations, UN Women, World Bank , The University of Melbourne.