The rich get richer even quicker

Oct 22, 2007

Eighty-two billionaires could not make it into the latest Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest people in the U.S. This year, a billion dollars was not enough to get you on the list.

In 1982, the richest guy in the U.S., Daniel Ludwig, had 2 billion dollars. That wouldn’t even put him halfway up the list today.

Since 2002, the combined worth of the wealthiest 400 has jumped from 860 billion dollars to over 1.5 trillion. That’s an increase of 79 per cent in five years.

There’s plenty of money around. It’s just going into fewer and fewer hands.