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For many individuals in the United States, the financial landscape over the recent five-year span has been difficult. Costs have soared while salaries remains unchanged. Steep mortgage rates have made purchasing property a grim prospect. The rate of unemployment has been slowly rising.

Many Americans have reported they're delaying major life decisions, including having kids or changing careers, because of economic uncertainty. But for a tiny fraction of people, the past five-year period couldn't have been more prosperous.

The Billionaire Boom

The wealth of the world's billionaires expanded 54% in 2020, at the climax of the pandemic. And even throughout all the economic instability, the stock market has only continued to grow. This expansion has primarily advantaged just a small number of Americans: 10% of the population controls 93% of stock market wealth.

As uneven as this allocation seems, it's the system working as it is presently configured.

"Rich elites have purchased their jets, they've purchased their multiple houses and mansions, but now they're acquiring senators and media outlets," stated economic inequality analyst Chuck Collins. "We're now moving into this other chapter of maximum resource removal where the wealthy are exploiting the system of inequality."

Understanding Wealth Tiers

To help others understand what exactly it means to be "wealthy" in the US, Collins adopts a concept from journalist Robert Frank who, in a 2007 book on the rich, envisioned the different levels of wealth as "Wealthville" villages: Wealth Borough, Lower Richistan, Middle Richistan, Upper Richistan and Billionaireville.

To modernize the concept, Collins organizes these "affluence districts" based on income levels:

• At the base level, Affluent Town, are the 10 million Americans who have a household income of at least $110,000 and an net worth of over $1.5m.
• The villages get more restricted as wealth goes up: Lower Richistan has 2.6 million households who have wealth between $6m and $13m.
• Middle Richistan has 1.3 million households who have assets worth an average of $37m.
• Upper Richistan, made up of 130,000 Americans (roughly the size of a small city) has between $60m to $1bn in wealth.

Altogether, the residents of these villages comprise the top 10% of the wealth income distribution, about 14 million Americans altogether, though their circumstances vary dramatically.

"You could be in Lower Richistan, and you're still flying in the coach section of a commercial plane," Collins explained. "Whereas in Upper Richistan, you're flying in a private jet. That's a really distinct lifestyle. You fly private, you have no interest in the commercial aviation system. You don't care if the whole system shuts down – you're set."

Ultra-Wealth Impact

The highest hill in "Richistan" is Billionaireville, which is made up of about 800 American billionaires who are some of the world's wealthiest. The control that this group has far surpasses those who are simply affluent, let alone the typical citizen who doesn't reside in "Richistan" at all.

But Collins thinks the political catchphrase "billionaires shouldn't exist" doesn't capture the real problem and has a "suggestion of eradication" to it.

"It's the separation between personal actions and a system of rules," Collins explained. "We should be focused on an economic system that funnels so much wealth upward to the billionaires."

The Four Pillars of Billionaire Wealth

To understand how wealth at the billionaire level works, Collins breaks it down into four parts: getting the wealth, securing fortune, government influence and extreme wealth removal.

When many Americans think about wealth, they usually think solely about the first step, Collins said. People can create a modest amount of wealth through establishing or managing a successful business, which could get them admission in Affluent Town.

But getting to Billionaireville requires significant resources and planning in those next three steps. Collins describes what he calls the "wealth defense industry": the tax lawyers, accountants and wealth managers who use their knowledge to ensure that the super rich are being deliberate about their taxes.

"Wealth defense professionals use a extensive selection of tools such as financial instruments, international accounts, secret corporations, charitable foundations and other mechanisms to hold assets," he writes.

Government Power and Extreme Wealth Removal

To further a wealth defense strategy, a family needs political support. Wealth of over $40m translates to political power, Collins says, and can be used to protect assets and maintain expansion.

The last stage is a different kind of wealth accumulation, one that Collins calls "hyper extraction" to describe how the wealthy have come to touch nearly every single part of an Americans' daily existence largely through private equity, which allows wealthy individuals to support private companies.

"Private equity is looking for those corners of the economy where they can extract value a little bit harder," Collins said. "One thing I don't think people comprehend is these billionaire private-equity funds are what happens when so much wealth is stored in so few hands, and they can basically shift and say, 'Where else can we squeeze money out of the economy?' Healthcare? Great. Mobile home parks? These people can't go anywhere, [so] you can raise their rents."

Actual Impacts

The consequences of this inequality go beyond the wealth getting wealthier. It's about people paying more for their healthcare, rent and vet bills without seeing any meaningful wage increases. And Collins said the hardship and discontent of this kind of society can lead to deep discontent.

"The most powerful wealthy elites understand people are being excluded [and] are monetarily hurting," Collins said, adding that right-leaning leaders have been good at accessing a potent "phony populism".

Political Reality

The irony, Collins points out in his book, is that elected representatives have appointed a string of billionaires to cabinet positions. Along with wealthy entrepreneurs who had temporary but significant roles overseeing massive cuts to the federal workforce, other important roles for commerce, treasury, education and the interior are also all billionaires.

This government structure, along with help from congressional allies, helped pass significant fiscal policies, which will make enduring decreases for the wealthy and corporations.

Future Solutions

While political parties continue to argue that border policies and poor economic deals are the source of everyone's economic problems, "the question becomes: Will the alternative political group, which has also been captured by the billionaires and big money, be able to seriously confront the underlying harms?" Collins said.

Liberal leaders, he argues, know what policies are needed to "alter economic flow", including significant reforms to the tax system, boosting the minimum wage and supporting labor organizations.

"It was so, so close, and the law really did embody the will of the majority of people who really want lawmakers to solve some of these critical challenges," Collins said. "Elite control is not about developing so much as stopping. It's easier to block than it is to make something meaningful happen, but the muscle memory is there. We know what that looks like."

Collins is positive that there can be change, but said it would require continuous government action.

"It may be quickly that the balance shifts, and then it really is about preserving a ongoing grassroots effort to make progress on this severe disparity we're living in," he said. "We can solve this. It is solvable."